Selecting/Deselecting notes and items individually

You can select/deselect existing notes and other notation items individually in the music area; for example, if you want to add articulations to a selection of notes or delete a short passage of music.

Tip

If you want to select a large number of notes/items, we recommend that you use one of the larger selection methods.

Procedure

  1. Select individual notes/items in the music area in any of the following ways:
    • Click a single note/item.

      Tip

      If the item you want to select is behind another item, Shift-Alt/Opt-click it.

    • Ctrl/Cmd-click individual notes/items.

    • Shift-click adjacent notes/items.

    • To select all notes in a beam group, click the beam.

    • To select all notes in a chord, click the stem.

    • To select everything in a bar, click on the staff in that bar, but not on any notes, stems, or items.

    • Make a marquee selection around multiple notes/items.

    • Navigate to other items from an existing selection.

    • If nothing is selected in the music area, press any arrow key on your computer keyboard to select the first note, rest, or other item on the top staff in the current layout.

  2. Deselect all currently selected items in any of the following ways:
    • Press Ctrl/Cmd-D.

    • Choose Edit > Select None.

    • Click outside of the staves within the music area.