The User Symbols editor – tools and functions

The toolbar contains the following tools and settings, from left to right:

Object Selection

Use this to select objects – press Shift to select more than one. Click and drag to move objects – press Ctrl/Cmd to drag vertically or horizontally only or press Alt to copy.

To delete an object, select it and press Backspace or Delete.

Line

Draws a straight line.

Rectangle

Creates a rectangle. You can fill this with the Fill button if needed.

Polygon

Creates a polygon – click where each corner of the polygon should be and close the figure by clicking outside the drawing area.

Circle

Creates a circle. You can fill this with the Fill button if needed.

Ellipse

Creates an ellipse. You can fill this with the Fill button if needed.

Arc

Creates an arc.

Text

Allows you to insert text objects. Clicking with this tool in the drawing area opens a dialog where you enter the text, specify font, style, etc.

You can double-click on a text object you have inserted to change its text or settings.

Symbol

Clicking with this tool brings up a dialog where you can select any of the existing score symbols and incorporate this (at the desired font size) into your own symbol.

Set Color of Frame

When this is selected, the Color pop-up menu is used to select the color for the object frame.

Set Color of Fill

When this is selected, the Color pop-up menu is used to select the fill color for objects (if Fill is selected).

Fill

Click this if you want the object to be filled – you can then select a Fill Color for it from the Color pop-up menu.

Don’t Fill

Click this if you do not want the object to be filled.

Color

Selects Frame or Fill Color for objects. The “Select Colors…” menu item brings up a standard color dialog.

Line Width

Allows you to change the line width used for the selected object.

The Note Linked pop-up menu lets you create symbols linked to note positions. This affects the whole symbol, not a selected graphic object:

Not Linked

The symbol is not linked to notes.

Linked/Left

The symbol is linked to a note, appearing to the left of the note.

Linked/Center

The symbol is linked and centered to a note.

Linked/Behind

The symbol is linked to a note, appearing to the right of the note.

The Functions pop-up menu contains the following items (some of these can also be accessed on the context menu for the User Symbols section):

New Symbol

Adds a new empty symbol to the section (and to the symbol list to the left in the editor).

Delete Symbol

Deletes the current symbol from the section.

Export User Symbols

Allows you to save the current section with all available symbols as a separate file on disk.

Import User Symbols

Loads settings for a complete section from disk. Note that this replaces the current settings.

Export/Import Symbol

Lets you save or load individual symbols to/from disk. Importing a symbol replaces the current symbol on the section.

Delete

Deletes the selected objects.

Select All

Selects all objects in the current symbol.

Transform – Scale Symbol

Lets you scale (resize) the selected object by specifying a percentage.

Transform – Mirror horizontal/vertical

Mirrors the selected object along the horizontal or vertical axis.

Transform – Flip ±90

Rotates the selected object by + or – 90 degrees.

Draw – Group

Groups the selected objects so that they are treated as one.

Draw – Ungroup

Ungroups the selected group.

Draw – Bring To Front/Send To Back

These items let you arrange the objects by moving them to the front or the back.

Align – Left/Right/Top/Bottom/Center Vertically/Center Horizontally

Aligns the selected objects to each other.

Display

Sets the zoom factor for the drawing area.