Is there a shortcut key for turning off magnetic layout for an object. It is often the case that for fingerings and or open strings (circled numbers) I have to turn of magnetic layout for a fingering or string to make it go where I want it. Is there a shortcut key that will allow me to do that rather than Right click, magnetic layout, off?
There may be way to do that, but I can suggest another. Before you go putting in all the string indications, choose/select from the Symbols menu, and place each one at the start of the score. Select them, then turn off Magnetic Layout. The symbol will now remember that it is turned off, so each time you can option-click in place, and it carry that property. I do this all the time when I put fingerings/string indications in a part, and I don't want it in the score. The first time I use the symbol, I click the Show in Parts, then each time I repeat it (from the page, not the symbols menu) it appears in the part, and not the score.
You might also find the downloadable plugin Add Fingering To Notes (category Text) useful, as it places text near notes for you.
I note that in Sib 7 and later, you have to type in the fingerings fairly slowly, or the plugin gets confused. Once you get the rhythm down, it can be much faster to enter fingerings without a lot of manual positioning.
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Bob
Just a user of Sibelius. Sib 1.2 - 7, Windows 7 Pro SP 1 64 bit, 4 G RAM. Year 2014.
I use Shift+Alt+F (for "Freeze" as a custom shortcut to freeze the selected object. Indeed, it is one of my most used shortcuts because often you need to override the "rules" of magnetic layout.
It seems that the concept of a Macro is foreign to Sibelius but I see that it is possible to assign Custom keyboard shortcuts (which in a sense is the same thing to me). I had forgotten that until your reply. That makes it a lot easier. Thank you.
As an aside, I might say to all the following:
I had the opportunity today to just take my time and review and experiment with Sibelius going right back to the basics. This was very helpful and a productive day. I am a database programmer (Dot net and SQL Server) and these are complex applications, but Sibelius rivals them in how extensive it is and in the study it takes to really make it work for you.
I'm not complaining. It's wonderful to have access to the features it provides. I'm just re-learning and old principal and that is that I think it is not possible to know the basics too well on any complex subject. If Sibelius has a thousand idiosyncrasies, Finale has 5,000. Not to put down an otherwise good product.
Additionally, I think not too many creative people are going to take the time and develop the discipline it takes to do good notation (data) entry. Most creative people I know really want to work with their tool (their guitar or whatever) and not have to screw around with things that take them away from or get in the way of the creative process.
Yes your Plug-in for fingering is exactly how I do it and it is very useful indeed. And, I discovered today that in the options dialog there is the ability to select "Disable magnetic layout for added symbols."
That was good advice. I had not thought thought of Magnetic layout
as a property of the symbol. That's an interesting way of doing things.
With regard to a fingering or circle not showing in the full score - I must be missing something. I am able to duplicate your example about half the time but the other half of the time when I copy and paste a circle string (for example) it still shows up in the full score. What am I missing?
That is: I create a symbol and place it at the top of a guitar part. I right click on the symbol and select show in parts. Next, I copy that symbol, I select a note (in the guitar part) and past the symbol to the note. I switch to full score and the symbol shows up there too.
It may be a function of how you are copying. After I have set the properties - for me, show in Parts - I use the click/option-click to paste. It may be if you actually Copy the symbol, then it doesn't work - I've never done it that way.
I think part of the problem was with me. I would copy something, then switch to the full score and see there the thing I thought was supposed to be hidden. However, this was because the bar I was moving to (on the full score) was active and by default, when the bar is active you can see even hidden things. When I move off the bar the symbol disappears as expected.
As to your point about Sibelius doing a thousand things in an idosyncratic way - perhaps you are right. But think of all the myriad of possibilities that exist in notation. I have often heard people remark "why can't it work like a word processor?" Well, there are so many options with notation (hidden or not) that there is no way to have hard and fast rules. I would say that most of the time Sibelius does an excellent job with the common "rules"; but we all have our disagreements with it, partly because no program can anticipate all the possible combinations of pitch/accidental/expression/articulation/dynamic/tempo/fingering/fret-string placement/pedal marks - and there is more! No program can handle all of those.
Your going back to the basics is a good idea - I am constantly surprised at the information I will pick from someone answering what seems like a very simple question. After more than a decade with the program, I still learn new things.
