Old thread, but I have to add my +1 to "Entire Mix" not actually meaning "Entire Mix". I see the other options people mention and eventually found them, but it was a frustrating road that killed creativity until the next day.
 
Also, when the documentation for the Export Audio dialog says "If you select any data in your project, only that data is included when you choose to export audio", it would be helpful to point out that there's a Select, None item in the Edit menu. Because simply making sure that you don't have a track selected isn't enough. Try this: select one audio track, then click it again to de-select it, then try the File, Export, Audio menu item -- you'll get an error dialog saying there's no audio in the select track, which is also not intuitive.
 
Chris
 

Sanderxpander
It's powerful but definitely confusing. I don't think I've ever used the selection to define exports (except for song length)...

 
It's an essential function if you export sections of a song as loops. 
 
I depend on the many options Export offers, but the solution to make it easier might be as simple as having an "Advanced" button to expose the existing menu. Otherwise you'd see only a couple options presented to the user who just wants to export what they hear...in fact maybe just expose the "What you hear" preset and the essentials like mono, stereo, file format, and sample rate.
 

sharke
I always use the "what you hear" preset in the export dialog. Does exactly what it says on the tin, except it doesn't select 64-bit for you.

I think one of my biggest frustrations is when I export a synth track and end up with an empty wav file because I didn't select the MIDI with the audio track. I mean really, what's all that about? I'm not exporting the MIDI am I?

No, but there's no audio to export if there's no MIDI telling the synth what audio to play. The reason why you have to select the MIDI is a situation where, for example, you have several MIDI tracks feeding the same instrument...which MIDI tracks do you select? Most likely all of them, but not always. This is one reason why I like to do synth recording, and as soon as the synth is audio, I mute the MIDI track.

You could export loops just fine use timeline selection and track solo. In fact I often still use this because I find it a lot more reliable than selecting a bunch of clips.

Anderton
 
I depend on the many options Export offers, but the solution to make it easier might be as simple as having an "Advanced" button to expose the existing menu. Otherwise you'd see only a couple options presented to the user who just wants to export what they hear...in fact maybe just expose the "What you hear" preset and the essentials like mono, stereo, file format, and sample rate.
 

I'd support this idea. If the Sonar Analytics can be tapped to see the most frequent Export types, that may help.

NotASpeckOfCereal
 Try this: select one audio track, then click it again to de-select it, then try the File, Export, Audio menu item -- you'll get an error dialog saying there's no audio in the select track, which is also not intuitive.
 

This normal work flow. you select the tracks you want to export.
If you CNTRL+A (select all tracks) and want to de-select one track, Simply hold CNTRL and click that one track to de-select it.

Sanderxpander
You could export loops just fine use timeline selection and track solo. In fact I often still use this because I find it a lot more reliable than selecting a bunch of clips.

Maybe I misunderstood your original point, that's what I do to export loops.

Serious answer here (I know, right?).
 
If they change it I will have to undo (pun intended) years of embedded workflow.

Hmmm...

I simply click in a blank area and get export all I hear.

The only occasional issue is making empty tail info which I trim off during mastering.

Am I missing something?

IMHO could this be a discussion about just one more way to skin the cat, and that different folks have different opinions, all equally OK to have their own preference?
I've used ctl+A for years myself without a second thought. Thinking it's good, I don't have to select everything in this large project. Have done loops, like Anderton said. That's a standard action.
😞 I'd have to be inconvenienced to learn a different way with more mouse clicks.

😃Seriously, if an improvement I'm all for it.

Anderton

Sanderxpander
You could export loops just fine use timeline selection and track solo. In fact I often still use this because I find it a lot more reliable than selecting a bunch of clips.

Maybe I misunderstood your original point, that's what I do to export loops.

My point was that using clip/track selection as a source for what's exported can be powerful but also confusing (and unreliable due to simple human error, it's often too finicky). If you do the same thing I do - using select all and track solo instead of clip selection to determine what's exported that is a point in favor of redesigning (or removing?) this feature.