Edit Menu

How to get there

The Edit Menu is one of SongWriter’s unchanging menus.

What it does

You can find an assortment of editing commands in the Edit Menu including controls for cut, copy, and paste, adding/deleting measures.

• Undo. As you edit a file, SongWriter automatically saves your operations so they can be quickly reversed if you choose Undo from the Edit Menu. See Undo.
• Redo. Choose Redo perform the previous undo action. You can also use the Main tool Bar icon to redo and action. If you have performed too many undo actions in a row, use the redo to replace the actions removed. See Undo.
• Select All. You can use this command with most of SongWriter’s tools. In a number of cases, you can exclude (deselect) one handle at a time from the selection by shift-clicking its handle.
• Cut. After selecting a region of music with the Selection tool, choose Cut to place the selected music on the Clipboard and simultaneously remove the music from the score. (SongWriter asks you if you want to remove only the music, leaving behind rests, or if you want to remove the selected beats or measures entirely.) Once you’ve placed the cut music on the Clipboard, you can paste it to another place in your score or into another SongWriter document.
• Copy. After selecting a region of music with the Selection tool (or text while using the Text tool etc.), choose Copy to place a duplicate of the selected music or text on the Clipboard; you are now ready to paste to another place in your score or another SongWriter document. (You can’t paste copied SongWriter music into another program.)
• Insert. Choose Insert if you want to insert whatever music you’ve cut or copied to the Clipboard between two existing beats or measures. First tell SongWriter where you want the material inserted by selecting any amount of music just after the desired point of insertion. See Copying music for an illustration.
• Paste. Choose Paste if you want whatever music you’ve cut or copied to the Clipboard to paste over (replace) the music in the target document (first use the Selection tool to select the area of music you want to replace). See Copying music for an illustration.
• Paste Multiple. Select a target region and then choose this option open the Paste Multiple dialog box where you can paste multiple copies of the source material to the target region. You can replicate the source material as many times as you want either vertically or horizontally.
• Move/Copy Layers. This command provides a way to move music from one of SongWriter’s transparent staff layers to another. You can even swap the music between layers—if, for example, you mistakenly entered several stems-down notes in Layer 1, which you intended to use only for stems-up (upper) voices. See Move/Copy Layers dialog box for details; this command only affects full-measure selections.
• Clear All Items. When you choose Clear All Items, SongWriter removes the contents of the selected music (whether or not you’ve selected entire measures), leaving equivalent rests behind. (This command performs the same function as highlighting measures and pressing the Clear key.)
• Add Measures. When you choose Add, SongWriter asks you how many new blank measures you want to add (in all staves) to the end of the piece. Enter the number of measures you want added, and click OK. (This command performs the same function as context-clicking the Measure tool.) Add/Insert Measures
• Choose Insert Measure Stack if you want to insert a stack you've cut or copied to the Clipboard. First tell SongWriter where you want the material inserted by selecting any amount of music just after the desired point of insertion. 

This option is only available if you copied a full measure stack to the clipboard.

If the music on the Clipboard was copied from ten staves, you don't have to insert the contents of all ten staves in the target score. For example, you can select (highlight) a measure in only four staves of the target score; SongWriter will insert the measures in all staves.

• Delete Measure Stack. When you choose DeleteMeasure Stack, SongWriter removes the selected measures from the piece completely—from all staves—so that there are now fewer measures in the piece. (This command performs the same function as highlighting measures and pressing the Delete key.)
• Multimeasure Rests: Break · Create. Use the Multimeasure Rests submenu to break existing multimeasure rests or create multimeasure rests. Remember that you must be in Page View to change multimeasure rests. 

Use the Break command to separate the selected multimeasure rest into separate measures of rests. Use this command if you simply don’t want the measures grouped at all, or if you want to create more than one multimeasure rest out of one long multimeasure rest.

Use the Create command to create a multimeasure rest out of the selected measures. SongWriter creates a multimeasure rest grouping.

See Multimeasure rests. 

• Edit Measure Attributes. Select this item to display the Measure Attributes dialog box where you can set the barline style. See Measure Attributes dialog box.

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