Staff tool

In addition to adding and deleting staves, use the Staff tool to edit staff-specific characteristics using the Staff Attributes dialog box. You can control the display of repeat endings and measure numbers and whether barlines appear between staves, among other options. Many other staff settings, such as staff names, clef, and transposition, can be set in the Score Manager.

When you choose the Staff tool, a Staff menu appears that contains all the commands for working with staves and groups of staves: adding, deleting, positioning and spacing staves, creating customized staff attributes, defining groups of staves, adding brackets and piano braces, and so on.

ClosedSpecial mouse clicks

When you choose the Staff tool, the Staff menu appears, and handles appear on each staff and on staff-related items in the score. Select a handle then choose a menu command, or use the shortcuts listed below. The shortcuts are arranged by what the handle controls: staff handles and staves, group handles (includes the group name), staff name handles and bracket handles.

ClosedStaff handles and staves

Staff handles always appear on staves in the score, even on staves that are hidden.

  • Choose the Staff tool to display the Staff menu. Handles appear on each staff and staff-related item in the score.
  • Click a staff or a staff handle, or drag-enclose staff handles to select a staff (or staves).
  • Shift-click a staff or a staff handle to add the staff to the selection.
  • Double-click a staff or a staff handle or right/CONTROL-click a staff handle and choose Edit Staff Attributes to edit the staff's attributes.
  • OPTION+SHIFT-click a staff or staff handle in one or more selected staves (or right/CONTROL-click the handle and select Add Bracket from the contextual menu) to create a new group for the selected staves.
  • Drag a staff handle in Scroll View to adjust the staff’s position in Scroll View only.
  • Click the staff handle and drag in Page View to adjust the staff's position for that system only (measures in the system are selected automatically when you click a staff handle).
  • Double-click the staff handle and drag in Page View to adjust the staff's global position: PrintMusic adjusts the spacing for every staff system in the piece (all measures of the staff are selected when you double-click a staff handle). When dragging staves, subsequent staves in systems reposition uniformly.
  • Select the handle of one or more staves and press DELETE or right/CONTROL-click the handle and select Delete Staves from the contextual menu to remove the selected staves and reposition any remaining staves. PrintMusic deletes the selected staves, and places the top staff of the remaining staves in the former position of the top staff that was deleted, followed by any other staves.

    You can also easily delete staves in the Score Manager's Instrument List.

ClosedStaff name handles

Staff name handles appear on existing staves in the score only if you have entered a staff name, or if PrintMusic's default staff name appears for an unnamed staff. Staff name handles appear on existing staves in the score only if you have entered a staff name, or if PrintMusic's default staff name appears for an unnamed staff.

  • Click a staff name handle, or drag-enclose staff name handles to select a staff name (or names).
  • Shift-click a full or abbreviated staff name handle to add the staff name to the selection.
  • Shift-click to remove the staff name from the selection.
  • Double-click a full or abbreviated staff name handle to edit the staff's attributes.
  • Press CLEAR to revert the position of the selected full or abbreviated staff name to its default position.
  • Drag a full or abbreviated staff name handle to adjust the position of the selected staff name.
ClosedBracket handles

Two bracket handles appear on each bracket on a group, even if you did not enter a group name. Click a bracket handle, or drag-enclose several bracket handles to select a bracket (or brackets).

  • Click a bracket handle, or drag-enclose several bracket handles to select a bracket (or brackets).
  • Shift-click a bracket handle to add the bracket to the selection. If a bracket is already selected, Shift-click to remove the bracket from the selection.
  • Double-click a bracket handle, or right/CONTROL-click the handle and select Edit Group Attributes from the contextual menu to edit a group. The Bracket Attributes dialog box appears.
  • Press delete for selected brackets, or right/CONTROL-click the handle and select Delete Bracket from the contextual menu to remove the selected brackets of the selected group definition.
  • Press CLEAR for selected brackets to revert the selected brackets to their default length.
  • Drag a bracket handle vertically to make a bracket taller or shorter.
  • Drag a bracket handle horizontally to move a bracket closer to or away from bracketed staves.

 

ClosedContextual menus

Contextual menus are reached by right/CONTROL-clicking on the handle of an object. A contextual menu will be displayed where you can select various items.

Menu item

What it does

Edit Staff Attributes

Opens the Staff Attributes dialog box

Add Bracket

Opens the Bracket Attributes dialog box

Hide/Show Empty Staves

Shows or hides staves not containing music on the printed page

Delete Staves

Deletes the staff

 

See also:

Main tool palette

Staff menu

 

 

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