Global technology/business coverage. Sources re-read 24 October 2026.

A labelled audio project contains two related kinds of information: the sound and notes about where something happens in it. Audacity’s development manual states that a label track itself contains no audio. That makes a label export useful for a handoff only when the recipient also knows which recording the timings describe.

A point is not a passage

The manual distinguishes point labels from region labels. A point identifies a moment; a region identifies a span with start and end times. Those choices express different editorial intentions. “Question begins” can mark a moment, while “candidate excerpt” needs a span if another editor is expected to understand the proposed selection.

A label’s wording should make its role clear. It might identify a topic, a review question or an editing instruction. Those are not the same claim. A note saying “check this name” does not establish that a spoken name has been verified, and a note proposing an excerpt does not mean the excerpt has been approved for publication.

Preserve the recording relationship

The manual describes labels being saved with an Audacity project and exported or imported as tab-delimited plain text. A plain-text list can be convenient for another application or a human reviewer, but it does not carry the recording itself. The relationship between the timings and the sound therefore needs to be named in the handoff.

A useful note identifies the corresponding recording and its version. If the audio has been shortened or rearranged, an older timing list may no longer identify the same passages. This article does not test Audacity’s timing updates during editing; it simply highlights why an exported list should not be separated from the version it describes.

Do not treat annotations as a transcript

Labels can contain text, but a short topic marker is not automatically a complete or accurate transcript. Nor does a label verify the truth of what was said in the recording. Editors should distinguish navigation notes from verbatim transcription and fact checking.

For a spoken-word project, the handoff might include a recording, a concise timing list and a separate review status. Keeping those elements distinct prevents a recipient from interpreting “marked” as “finished”. The exact process depends on the project; no recording or transcript has been reviewed for this article.

Match the manual to the installed release

The source read here is explicitly a development manual. A conceptual explanation of labels should not become a promise that every current build has the same menu or export option. Before writing step-by-step instructions for a team, confirm the installed release and the relevant official documentation.

The durable principle is simple: a time-coded annotation is a map to material, not the material itself. Use point and region labels to express the intended reference, retain the matching audio identity and explain whether the note is descriptive or requests further review. That gives a collaborator something intelligible to work with without mistaking a small text file for a finished recording or an approved editorial decision.

A label-file handoff record

Field	Record or question
Audio identity	Name the matching recording and edit version; the label track does not contain that audio.
Timing meaning	Use a point for a moment and a region for a span. Define whether text is a topic, proposed edit or review question.
Export check	The development manual documents tab-delimited text; keep the exact installed version and matched recording with the exported list.

Sources and scope

• Official primary source — Audacity Development Manual, Label Tracks, point/region and text import/export sections read 24 October 2026. Concepts are version-scoped, not a tested installed-release workflow.

Development-manual concepts only. Interface, export availability and timing behaviour in a particular installed release were not tested; version matching remains necessary.

Related reading: Technology coverage and the product-launch source checklist.