Lengthening/Shortening stems

You can lengthen/shorten the stems of individual notes. You can do this for the current layout and frame chain only or for all layouts and frame chains.

Prerequisite

You have chosen the appropriate property scope for local properties.

Procedure

In Engrave mode, select the stems you want to lengthen/shorten.
Lengthen/Shorten the stems in any of the following ways:
- To move shorten stems a standard amount, press Opt-Down Arrow. This shortens stems by 1/8 space per press.
- To move lengthen stems a standard amount, press Opt-Up Arrow. This lengthens stems by 1/8 space per press.
  
  Tip
  To lengthen/shorten stems by large increments, press Ctrl/Cmd as well as the standard key command, for example, Cmd-Opt-Up Arrow.
  
  For moderate increments, press Shift as well as the standard key command, for example, Shift-Opt-Up Arrow.
  
  For small increments, press Ctrl/Cmd-Shift as well as the standard key command, for example, Cmd-Shift-Opt-Up Arrow.
- Click and drag the square handles at the end of the stems upwards/downwards.

Result

The selected stems are lengthened/shortened, regardless of their stem direction. For example, selecting a down-stem note and pressing Opt-Up Arrow lengthens it by moving the end of the stem downwards, away from the notehead. If the property scope was set to Locally, this change only takes effect in the current layout and frame chain.

Tip

Stem adj. in the Notes and Rests group of the Properties panel is activated when you lengthen/shorten stems.

You can also use this property to lengthen/shorten stems by changing the value in the value field. However, the Notes and Rests group is only available when the notehead is selected rather than the stem.

Deactivating the property resets the selected stems to their default length.