2 File tab

2 File tab

File tab in Sibelius Ultimate

Working with Files

This topic explains saving scores in Sibelius format, and (for more advanced users) how to access files
containing custom Sibelius settings (house styles). The other topics in this chapter describe how to share
files with other people, whether or not they have Sibelius, and how to import and export files in various
formats.

Creating a Score
There are several ways to start a new score in Sibelius — "Starting a New Score" on page 78.

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File Size
Sibelius files typically occupy around 20K plus 1K per page (excluding any imported graphics), even for
band or orchestral music. This means you can fit literally millions of pages on your hard disk, and even huge
scores can easily be sent by email. So even if your name is J.S. Bach, disk space is unlikely ever to present a
problem when using Sibelius.

Saving
You can save files just as you would with many other applications, using File > Save As (shortcut
Control+Shift+S or Command+Shift+S) and File > Save (shortcut Control+S or Command+S). In
addition to being able to save Sibelius scores, you can also export other formats, such as MusicXML, MIDI,
audio, and graphics; for more details, see the relevant topics in this Reference Guide. To save lyrics, see
"Export Lyrics" on page 525.

A convenient place to save is the Scores folder that Sibelius has helpfully created for you. On Windows,
the Scores folder is created inside your My Documents folder; on Mac, it is inside your user Documents
folder.

You can change which folder is the default for saving scores on the Saving and Exporting page of
File > Preferences.

When you next open the score after saving, it will open at the point at which you were working on it when
you saved, with the window in the same position, the same panels and windows visible, and even at the
same zoom factor.

You have complete control over to what extent Sibelius restores your previous working environment when
reopening a score you have previously saved—"Display Settings" on page 181.

Auto-Save
Sibelius can automatically save your score at timed intervals so that, should your computer crash, the most
work you can lose is a few minutes’ worth. Rather than saving your actual file, Sibelius makes a copy of
your score and saves it into a special hidden folder.

If Sibelius doesn’t shut down correctly (for example, if your computer crashes or there is an interruption in
power), the next time you start the program, it checks the special folder. If it finds any scores in that folder,
you are asked if you want to restore them.

When you close Sibelius normally, it deletes all the files in the special folder — so it’s essential that you don’t
save any files in there yourself!

Auto-save is enabled by default. If you ever need to disable it, you can do so from the Saving and
Exporting page under File > Preferences. You can also specify in this dialog how often Sibelius
automatically saves your score; the default is 10 minutes.

Backups
Each time you save, the score (with a version number added to the name) is also saved, by default, in
Backup Scores in your Scores folder. If you ever accidentally delete or mess up a score, look in this
backup folder to get the latest version you saved, or earlier versions too.

You can specify the number of backups and the folder location for backups from the Saving and
Exporting page of File > Preferences. The default number of backups is 200. Older copies are
progressively deleted to stop your disk from filling up, so don’t use this folder to store your own backups!

Backup scores are created when you save manually, not each time Sibelius auto-saves; but unlike auto-
saved scores, backup scores are not deleted when you close Sibelius.

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Catalog Information
The File > Info pane can be used to enter information about your score, such as its title, composer,
arranger, copyright, and so on, which is automatically used when you publish your score on the Internet.
You will find that several fields are already filled in if you specified title, composer, and so on at the time you
created your score.

The right-hand side of File > Info shows you useful details about your score, such as the date it was
created, when it was last saved, how many pages, staves and bars it contains, and so on.

The values you enter into the fields in the File > Info pane can also be used as wildcards in text objects
throughout your score. For details on wildcards and how to use them in Sibelius, see "Wildcards" on
page 528.

User-Editable Files
Sibelius lets you create your own:
l Ideas ("Ideas" on page 199)
l House styles ("House Style" on page 670)
l Plug-ins ("Working with Plug-ins (Sibelius Ultimate Only) " on page 168)
l Worksheets ("Worksheet Creator (Sibelius Ultimate Only)" on page 155)
l Arrange styles ("Edit Arrange Styles (Sibelius Ultimate Only)" on page 328)
l Chord symbol libraries ("Chord Symbols" on page 484)
l Guitar scale diagram libraries ("Guitar Scale Diagrams (Sibelius Ultimate Only)" on page 507)
l Text and music font equivalents ("Working with Text" on page 443, "Music Fonts" on page 682)
l Manuscript papers ("Exporting Manuscript Paper (Sibelius Ultimate Only)" on page 152)
l Feature sets ("Keyboard Shortcuts" on page 184)
l Word menus ("Working with Text" on page 443)
As Sibelius comes with its own sets of each of these kinds of files, any additional ones you create are saved
in a location separately from those supplied with the program. The standard files included with Sibelius are
non-deletable; you should not change anything inside the installation folder itself (or the application
package—sometimes known as a “bundle”—on Mac), which is where they are stored.

Your own (user-editable) files are stored in specific folders inside your user account’s application data
folder of your computer, the location of which will differ depending on the operating system you are using:
l Windows: C:\Users\username\Application Data\Avid\Sibelius\
l macOS: /Users/username/Library/Application Support/Avid/Sibelius
On Windows, you can go quickly to this location by clicking the Sibelius (User Data) shortcut in the
Sibelius program group in your Start menu. The application data folder is hidden by default and will not
be otherwise visible in Windows Explorer. If you wish to access this folder using Explorer, go to Control
Panel and click Folder Options from any open Explorer window. Click the View tab and from the
Files and Folders list choose Show hidden files and folders.

Inside the Sibelius application data folder you will find various folders whose names indicate the content
they contain. (On Mac, it is possible for there to be no folders at all, as they are only created when you
create or edit a file that is saved in that location.)

You can copy any appropriate file to the user area directories and Sibelius will use it when you next start the
program. Files you have added or created can also be deleted with no ill side-effects.

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Quick Look (Mac only)

Quick Look is a feature built in to macOS that lets you preview instantly the contents of your documents
directly from the Finder, without having to wait while you open the applications that created them: select
the document in the Finder, and press Space. Many documents also show thumbnail previews on the
desktop and in Finder windows, and if you set Finder windows to use Cover Flow, you can flip through
folders of documents very quickly.

Sibelius supports Quick Look, so instead of the usual document icon, you will see a thumbnail of the first
page of the score: select it and press Space (or click the Quick Look icon in the Finder) to see a larger
preview of the score. You can scroll through pages by grabbing the scroll bar at the right-hand side of the
preview.

Spotlight (Mac only)

Spotlight is built-in search engine for macOS. You can access Spotlight by clicking its icon at the top right-
hand corner of the screen, or use the keyboard shortcut Command-Space, and type the search term you’re
looking for. You can search for Sibelius scores using Spotlight, by typing the filename, or any portion of text
that you know is contained within (such as title, composer, lyrics, instrument names, and so on). Once
you’ve found one or more scores, press Space to preview it using Quick Look (see above), or double-click to
open it in Sibelius.

Sharing Files
It’s easy to share music you have written in Sibelius with other people.

To learn more about how you can publish and share your music online (including as audio tracks or videos),
see "Sharing on the Web" on the next page.

Sharing Files with Other Users of Sibelius

If the person you are working with also has Sibelius, you can send the file by email, or on removable media
such as a USB flash drive.

Find out what version of Sibelius the person you’re sending files to is using. If they have the same or a later
version of Sibelius as you, you can save your file as normal and send it to them. If, however, they have an
earlier version of Sibelius (or are using an earlier version of Sibelius Student or Sibelius First), you must
export your score in an earlier file format before emailing.

Sharing Files with People Who Don’t Use Sibelius

If the recipient does not have Sibelius, you can:
l Share scores with Sibelius | Cloud Sharing — "Sibelius | Cloud Sharing" on page 251.
l Export a PDF of your score and send it to them — "Exporting PDF Files" on page 141.
l If the recipient has another music program and wants to listen to and perhaps edit your music, send
them a MIDI file ("Exporting MIDI Files" on page 146) or, preferably, a MusicXML file ("Exporting
MusicXML Files" on page 146).
l If you want to send your music to somebody else so they can hear it, but you don’t need them to see
the score, you could export an audio file from Sibelius and then either burn it to an audio CD, or
compress it into an MP3 file and send it by email — "Exporting Audio Files" on page 136.
l If you want to send your music to somebody else so they can hear it, and you do need them to see
the score, you can export a video file from Sibelius — "Exporting Video Files" on page 138.

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l If you want to publish your music online for people to view and print—or use a video or audio-sharing
service—Sibelius can export a suitable file and upload it directly to your Score Exchange account —
"Sharing on the Web" below.

Files on Windows or Mac

Sibelius for Windows and Sibelius for Mac use exactly the same file format. You can move a Sibelius score
between Mac and Windows without any conversion at all.

Since the files use Unicode, a standard international character set, special characters (like accented letters)
are automatically translated between Mac and Windows. Music and text fonts are also substituted
intelligently.

Sibelius files have a .sib extension. On Mac, Sibelius files are also of kind “Sibelius document” (internally
the Creator is “SIBE” and the Type is “SIBL”).

Opening Mac Scores on Windows

To open the file in Sibelius for Windows, you may have to add the file extension .sib. Although Sibelius
adds this file extension by default on both Windows and Mac, some Mac users prefer not to use file
extensions; this causes a problem on Windows, because the file extension tells Windows this is a Sibelius
file.

To add the file extension in Windows:

1. Right-clicking on the file icon (in My Computer or Windows Explorer) and select Rename.
2. Change the extension, and then press Return (on the main keyboard).
You may be prompted that changing file types can render them unusable, because Windows
assumes that you don’t know what you’re doing. If asked whether you are sure you wish to proceed,
click Yes.
Once you have renamed the file, you can open it in the usual way by double-clicking.
Opening Windows Scores on Mac
To open a file created using Sibelius for Windows, choose File > Open and double-click the name of the
file in the dialog.

Sharing on the Web

The File > Share page houses all of Sibelius’ features for sharing and publishing your music by email and
online publishing using Score Exchange.

Share video using Sibelius’s video export or export an audio track of your score to share. Integration with
Score Exchange lets you publish scores online.

You can also share scores with Sibelius | Cloud Sharing—"Sibelius | Cloud Sharing" on page 251.

Of course, Sibelius also offers the ability to print ("Printing" on page 128), export scores as MIDI, MusicXML
or PDF ("Exporting MIDI Files" on page 146, "Exporting MusicXML Files" on page 146, "Exporting PDF Files"
on page 141), and create audio and video files on disk ("Exporting Audio Files" on page 136, "Exporting Video
Files" on page 138).

Publishing for Others to View, Purchase and Print

Sibelius lets you upload and publish your scores as digital sheet music to [Link].

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Score Exchange is a web site for finding and purchasing new sheet music from composers and arrangers all
over the world. [Link] offers thousands of scores for every instrumentation imaginable—from
solo pieces to works for full orchestra, from classical to pop.

With Score Exchange you can upload, publicize, sell or give away your musical compositions and
arrangements. For more details, visit [Link].

The File > Share > Publish to Score Exchange pane contains options for preparing and sending
your score to your [Link] account. (If you don’t already have an account, click the Register
button to be taken directly to [Link] to sign up for one.)

Enter the email address and password you used to create your Score Exchange account and click Sign In
to enable the remaining options. (If you switch on the Keep me signed in checkbox before clicking
Sign In, Sibelius will remember your login details between sessions, so that when you next run the
program, you will automatically be signed into your account.)

Under the Score Info heading, you can see at a glance which of the fields in the File > Info tab
you’ve already completed, which is useful as Score Exchange is able to use this information to tell people
more details about your score once you’ve uploaded it.

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You will also see a list of the instrumental parts created automatically by Sibelius for every instrument in
your score. You can choose whether these should be removed from the file you upload to
[Link]; all parts are included by default. These parts can then be made available separately
to purchase or download.

When you click the Publish button, Sibelius will open your web browser and take you to
[Link] where you can provide additional details about your score to make it easier to find—or
you can choose to hide the score from public view until it’s ready.

Starting a New Score

You can do any of the following to start a new score in Sibelius:
l Input notes with the mouse or the keyboard
l Record your performance on a MIDI controller
l Record MIDI from a sequencer
l Import music from another program in MusicXML or MIDI format
l Scan printed music with PhotoScore
l Input music using a microphone with AudioScore
You can start a score from scratch in one of two ways:
t With no score open, click the New tab in the Quick Start window; or
t With a score already open, choose the File tab, and click the New button, or type the shortcut
Control+N or Command+N.

Manuscript Paper
In either case, you will end up looking at a list of templates, called manuscript papers, organized into
folders, and showing a thumbnail view of each one. The preset manuscript paper choices have various
combinations of instruments, along with other less obvious settings to improve the look and playback of
your score. You do not have to use the instruments exactly as provided—feel free to delete instruments or
add new ones.

It’s better to use a manuscript paper containing instruments than to start with a blank page, even if the
instrumentation isn’t exactly right, because various other options are already set for you in the manuscript
papers appropriate for the particular type of music.

Sibelius First and Sibelius Artist provide a limited number of presets that cannot be edited. Sibelius Ultimate
provides more than 60 predefined manuscript papers, which can be edited, or you can create your own.

Manuscript paper presets are categorized as follows:

l Common: Basic templates for Treble staff, Bass staff and Blank, which has no preset
instruments.
l Band: A range of manuscript papers suitable for brass band, concert band, and school bands.
l Chamber Groups: Brass, wind and string trio, quartet and quintet templates.
l Choral and Song: Various Choir manuscript papers are included, some (called reduction) with
the singers reduced onto two staves (“closed score”), some with organ or piano accompaniment, plus
Voice + keyboard for piano/vocal music.
l Handbells: Templates for handbells written on one staff and two staves.
l Jazz: A number of suitable templates using “handwritten” house styles, including Big band and
Jazz quartet.

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l Latin: Mariachi band and Salsa band templates.

l Marching Band and Percussion: Templates for drum corps battery (percussion) and brass, plus
larger marching and military band ensembles.
l Orchestral: Classical, Romantic, Modern, concert, string and film orchestras are all included. The
Orchestra, film manuscript paper was designed by The Simpsons composer Alf Clausen and his
son Kyle Clausen.
l Orff Instruments: Templates for Orff classroom groups.
l Rock and Pop: Templates for guitar-driven pop groups and R & B bands.
l Solo Instruments: Various manuscript papers for guitar notation and tab, including Lute
tablature, plus Piano and Lead sheet.
To browse through the categories more quickly, you can collapse a category by clicking its title bar, or hold
Shift and click any heading to collapse or expand all of the categories at once.

If you want to create an educational worksheet from scratch, it’s usually easiest to start off not from one of
these manuscript papers, but rather by choosing a template from File > Teaching > Worksheet
Creator — "Worksheet Creator (Sibelius Ultimate Only)" on page 155.

With Sibelius Ultimate, you can also create your own manuscript papers— "Exporting Manuscript Paper
(Sibelius Ultimate Only)" on page 152.

Setting Up Your Score

To get started with your score right away without modifying the instruments it contains, or setting an initial
key or time signature, double-click your chosen manuscript paper.

To modify the manuscript paper, click it just once, and you will see a zoomed-in version of the template,
together with some options to its right.

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Using the options on the right you can modify the page size, orientation, instruments to be used, individual
staff sizes, time signature, key signature, initial tempo, and, if you’re really planning ahead, even specify
the title and composer of the piece.

You can always add or change any element that you added when you created the score later, so don’t feel
any pressure. For now, you can make as many or as few of these decisions as you like, and to get started on
the score itself, click Create at any time.

Opening Files from Previous Versions

Sibelius is fully backwards compatible. Sibelius can open files from all previous versions of Sibelius for
Windows and Mac, including files saved in Sibelius Student, Sibelius First, and G7.

To open a file:
t Choose File > Open.
t Click Open Other in the Quick Start window, and open the score as normal.
Update Score Dialog
As new versions of Sibelius often come with new features, you might be presented with an Update Score
dialog when opening a score created in Sibelius 5 or earlier. You can use this feature to choose which
aspects, if any, of your score you wish to update.

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n You are only able to choose options that were not available in the version of Sibelius that your score
was saved in.

The options on the main Update Score dialog are the most important, and do the following:
l Create dynamic parts: Creates a default set of dynamic parts if is switched on ("Working with
Parts" on page 686).
l Use same sounds as previous version (where possible): Allows you to choose whether
Sibelius should attempt to retain the same sound for each staff in your score as was used to play it
back in Sibelius 4 or earlier. This option only takes effect if you have compatible sound sets installed
for the devices you were using when you were working on the score in your previous version.
l Play repeats: Determines whether Sibelius should pay attention to any repeat barlines in the
score. Normally this checkbox will be disabled, since the option has been switched on by default in all
but the earliest versions of Sibelius, but if it is enabled, you should switch it on to ensure correct
playback and display of bar numbers in the score.
l Keep custom beam groupings: Determines whether Sibelius should retain any individual edits
made to beam groups in the score. Normally this checkbox should be left on to ensure that beam
groups are not changed when you open the score: if you subsequently want to reset the beam groups
to their new defaults, use Appearance > Reset Notes > Beam Groups ("Beam Groups" on
page 404).
l Use Magnetic Layout: Lets you enable automatic collision avoidance for your score. You should
leave this option switched on: if you subsequently want to disable Magnetic Layout in your score,
switch off Layout > Magnetic Layout ("Magnetic Layout" on page 644).
l Convert chord symbol text: Updates text-based chord symbols from Sibelius 5 and earlier into
newer, more intelligent chord symbol objects. Their original appearance will be retained until you

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select them and choose Layout > Reset Design. Sibelius is only able to update chord symbols
that use one of Sibelius’s own chord symbol fonts; if you used a chord symbol font not supplied with
Sibelius, it will be unable to convert them ("Chord Symbols" on page 484).
Clicking the More Options button lets you use new options that may improve the appearance of your
score:
l Magnetic slurs on normal notes: Makes slurs above or below normal notes magnetic, so that
either end of each slur is attached to the closest note or chord ("Slurs" on page 378).
l Magnetic slurs on cross-staff notes: Works similarly, but applies only to slurs on cross-
staff notes (for example, in keyboard music) ("Slurs" on page 378).
l Version 1.3 stem length rule: Makes the stems of notes on or either side of the middle line
0.25 spaces longer than with the option off, which many engravers and publishers prefer.
Sibelius’s voice positioning rule was improved in Sibelius 2, so to apply the new rule to older scores,
switch on Version 2 voice positioning rule ("Voices" on page 314).
l Magnetic tuplets: Ensures that the numbers and brackets of tuplets are positioned correctly
above or below the notes of the tuplet according to their position on the staff ("Triplets and Other
Tuplets" on page 289).
l Adjust note spelling in transposing instruments in remote keys: Makes sure that
the spelling of notes in transposing instruments will be enharmonically correct ("Instruments" on
page 207).
l Allow note and staff spacings to be contracted: Takes advantage of the
improvements in Sibelius’s spacing algorithms to tighten the horizontal and vertical spacing of older
scores ("Note Spacing" on page 673).
l Optical beam positions: Applies Optical beam positions ("Beam Positions" on page 409).
l Optical ties: Applies Optical tie positions ("Ties" on page 437).
l Optical note spacing: Overrides any manual adjustments made to note spacing in your score
and applies Sibelius’s Optical rule ("Note Spacing" on page 673).
l Hidden notes and rests don’t affect stem directions and rests: Should be
switched on, unless you know you have flipped stems and changed the vertical position of rests in the
score and want those changes to be retained.
l Version 5 vertical text positioning rule: Should be switched on, unless you know you
have adjusted the vertical position of text objects (such as bar numbers) to compensate for the text
appearing too close to the staff following instrument changes along a staff that change the number
of staff lines.
l Adjust stem lengths to avoid beamed rests: Applies an improved rule for the position of
beams, moving them such that they don’t collide with rests ("Beam Positions" on page 409).
l Draw automatic cautionary accidentals: Enables Sibelius’s automatic cautionary
accidentals feature, which shows a cautionary accidental for a note in the preceding bar with an
accidental ("Accidentals" on page 419).
l Position slurs on mixed stem notes above the notes: Applies an improved rule for the
direction of slurs: if all of the notes under the compass of the slur have stems pointing upwards, the
slur will curve below the notes; if any of the notes have stems pointing downwards, the slur will curve
above the notes ("Slurs" on page 378).
l Extend tuplet brackets to last note in tuplet: Resets the duration of tuplets to use
improved positioning for the left- and right-hand ends of tuplet brackets ("Triplets and Other Tuplets"
on page 289).

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Other Settings to Consider

There are a number of more subtle settings that you may want to consider after opening a score created in
a previous version of Sibelius:
l For articulations, switching on New articulation positioning rule on the Articulations
page of House Style > Engraving Rules is recommended. This option will change the position of
articulations that appear outside the staff on stem-down notes above the middle line of the staff, and
will also change the position of articulations (for example, staccato, tenuto) inside the staff on stem-
up notes above the middle line of the staff (for example, flipped notes). If you have previously
dragged any articulations in order to achieve correct positioning, you should select those notes and
use Layout > Reset Position to see the effect of the New articulation positioning
rule. Also, if you prefer to follow the convention whereby accents should be positioned inside slurs,
switch on the appropriate Inside slur checkbox for that articulation.
l For accidentals, in addition to switching on the automatic cautionary accidentals options on the
Accidentals page of House Style > Engraving Rules, you may also want to switch off Reset
accidentals to current key signature on clef change on the Clefs and Key
Signatures page, which ensures that notes following mid-bar clef changes follow the normal
conventions regarding accidentals prior to the clef change in the same bar.
l For staff spacing, consider switching off Justify both staves of grand staff
instruments and setting up values for the new n extra spaces… options on the Staves page of
House Style > Engraving Rules.
l For dynamics on vocal staves, switch on the new Vocal staff option in the Edit Instrument
dialog for the vocal instruments in your score, then switch on the new Different default
position on vocal staves checkbox in House Style > Default Positions for Expression
text and the various hairpin line styles and set suitable values to position them above the staff by
default.
l For Magnetic Layout, you may find that selecting objects and choose Layout > Reset Position
substantially improves the appearance of your score.
The majority of the above options can be set quickly to their recommended settings by importing one of the
supplied house styles — "House Style" on page 670.

Importing Sibelius Files

In addition to being able to create a new score or open an existing Sibelius file (.sib), you can selectively
import tracks from another Sibelius file into any open score.

Setup a Score for Import

Use an existing score or prepare a new score with the instruments that are in the file you want to import. For
example, if you have a Sibelius file with music for a string quartet, create a new score using the Sibelius
String Quartet template. You must have at least one instrument in the score to import music from another
Sibelius file.

Importing Data from a Sibelius File

You import data from another Sibelius file into an existing score or you can create and prepare a new score
for import. The Import page under the File tab lets you browse for the file you want to import and how you
want to map the data in the file to your score.

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To import a Sibelius file into an open score:

1. Use an existing score or prepare a new score (add the corresponding instruments to the score that
you want to import from another Sibelius file).
2. Choose File > Import to show the Import page.
3. Click Browse, navigate to the Sibelius file you want, select it, and click Open. Alternatively, you can
drag and drop the file from the macOS Finder or Windows Explorer to the Import page.
4. In the Instruments section, select the Instrument in the score for each track in the file that you
want to import. With Sibelius Ultimate, you can click Auto Assign to automatically assign tracks in
the file to Instruments in the score (Sibelius Ultimate only).
5. Configure additional options as desired.
6. Use the Preview section to review the score before import.
7. Click the Import button.
Sibelius imports the file into your score based on the configured settings.

Import Page

File
The File section lets you browse for the file you want to import. Click the Browse button to locate and
select the file you want to import. The file path is displayed to the left of the Browse button. You can also
drag and drop a file from the macOS Finder or Windows Explorer to the Import page.

Instruments
The Instruments section lists the tracks (Instruments or staves) in the selected Sibelius file by name. You
can manually assign each track to an Instrument in the score. Sibelius Ultimate also provides an Auto Assign
button to automatically assign tracks to Instruments in the score.

Note that you can map a single track to more than one instrument. This is useful if you have a track that
contains the music for a section of instruments, such as for the “Strings” or for the “Brass.” You can map
these to several instruments in the score (there is no limit). For example, you can use this method to arrange
a single Guitar track across both notation and tab staves.

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Sibelius also provides options for importing tracks that use special articulations or performance techniques
and merge them into a single instrument in the score. It is not unusual to use separate tracks for the
performance of a single instrument (or instrument section) where each track plays a different set of samples
for the same instrument. In such a case, assign each of those tracks to the same Instrument and then select
the appropriate Articulations or Techniques on a track by track basis.

Each row represents a track (Instrument or staff) in the file. Each column lets you determine whether or not
to import a track and how imported tracks should be mapped to Instruments in the open score.
l The Track column lists the tracks in the selected file by name. Track names that have been mapped
to Instruments appear in bold text.
l The Instrument column lets you assign a track to an Instrument in the open score. If you want to
exclude a track from import, leave it assigned to Don’t import (or deselect any assigned instruments).
If the track you are importing contains the parts for multiple instruments (such as for the string
section), select each Instrument in the score that corresponds to the instruments in the track. Note
that once an instrument is selected for any track, that instrument appears in bold in the list.
l If the track you are importing is one of several tracks that are part of a performance by a single
instrument (such as a violin part) that uses special articulations (such as Staccato or Tremolo), assign
the track to the appropriate instrument and select the corresponding Articulation.
l If the track you are importing is one of several tracks that are part of a performance by a single
instrument (such as a violin part) that uses special performance techniques (such as pizzicato),
assign the track to the appropriate instrument and select the corresponding Technique.
l Click the Clear All button to clear all track assignments. All Instrument assignments revert to
Don’t import.
l If the tracks in the selected file are named by instrument, click the Auto Assign button and Sibelius
automatically assigns each track to the corresponding instrument in the score (Sibelius Ultimate
Only).
Naming Conventions and Auto Assign
If the tracks in the selected file are named by instrument, click the Auto Assign button and Sibelius
automatically assigns each track to the corresponding instrument in the open score. Auto Assign reads the
incoming track names and maps to them accordingly. If recognizable articulations (such as staccato) or
performance techniques (such as con sordino) are included in the track name, Sibelius auto-maps those as
well.

Articulations that can be automatically identified with Auto Assign:

Articulation Matched by <name>

Staccato staccato
Staccatisimo staccatisimo
Tenuto tenuto
Marcato marcato
wedge wedge
tremolo trem or tremolo

Techniques that can be automatically identified with Auto Assign:

Technique Matched by <name>

Con sord Mute, sord, con sord, con sordino, or sordino

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Technique Matched by <name>

pizzicato Pizz or pizzicatto
Col legno col legno or legno

A Note About Accessibility

The Instrument assignment table is keyboard accessible. Press Tab to enter and exit the table. Use the
Arrow keys to move the focus forward and backwards through the list. Use Spacebar to open the list of
available Instruments, and again to assign instruments. Press Return to close the list.

A Note About Time Signatures and Key Signatures

The time signature of the Sibelius file you are importing must match the time signature of the open score. If
the Time Signatures do not match, you are prompted to cancel the import or open the score separately
instead. If you open the score separately, you can then copy and paste music between the two open scores
as well as export and import House Styles if desired. However, the Time Signature of the imported score
overwrites the Time Signature of the open score if the open score is empty (that is it has Instruments but no
notes on the staves) or if the open score has only one Instrument. Similarly, if the Key Signature of the open
score is different from the Key Signature of the score you are importing, the pitches of the imported score
are preserved within the Key Signature of the open score. However, if the open score is empty or consists of
only one instrument, the Key Signature of the imported score overwrites the Key Signature of the open
score.

Preview
The Preview section lets you review the score as you configure the Import options. You can preview the
score page by page and zoom in and out to ensure that you configure the Import options to get the best
results. If you are working with large scores, you may want to disable the Generate preview after
every change option until just before you are ready to click Import, otherwise the time it takes to update
the Preview with each change you make on the Import page may take longer that you like.

Import Options
The Import page provides options for how data from the selected Sibelius file is managed in the open score.
A few of these options are the same as those for importing MusicXML and MIDI files.
l Import and Overwrite House Style from File: Enable the Import and Overwrite
House Style from File option to import the House Style from the selected Sibelius file.
l Import and Overwrite Document Setup from File: Enable the Import and Overwrite
Document Setup from File option lets you import the Document Setup from the selected
Sibelius file.
l Use Multiple Voices: Enable this option if you are importing two independent tracks to a single
instrument with two voices on a single stave. When this option is disabled, all imported notes will be in
one voice only.
l Respace After Import: Enable this option to respace the score after import. This will usually
result in the best looking layout for the score. However, you may want to disable this option if you are
importing tracks into a score that already has music where you have manually adjusted the spacing
and you want to preserve that.
l Explode Music When Arranging to Multiple Instruments: Enable this option when
importing a single track to multiple staves (Instruments) in the score. For example, if you are
importing a track that consists of triads to three separate staves (Instruments), Sibelius imports the
top note of each triad to the first staff, the middle note to the second staff, and the bottom note to
the third staff. Using the same example, if this option is disabled, Sibelius copies complete triads to
each staff in the score.

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Opening MIDI Files

If you don’t know much about MIDI, "MIDI for Beginners" on page 610 explains what MIDI files are. If you’re
wondering where you can get MIDI files from, see "Downloading MIDI Files" on page 90.

Importing a MIDI File

To open a MIDI file:

1. Choose File > Open (shortcut Control+O or Command+O)

2. Locate the file (on Windows, MIDI files usually have the file extension .mid), and click Open.
3. A dialog appears with importing options you can set (detailed below). In most cases you can click OK,
and then wait a few seconds for the MIDI file to open.
Some MIDI files contain no program changes (even though they contain instrument names), which
means that the instruments have to be guessed. If so, Sibelius warns you that the instrument names,
sounds, clefs, and other details may be wrong. You should either change the instrument’s clef and
such manually, or (preferably) make or obtain a copy of the MIDI file that does contain the necessary
program change information, and import that MIDI file instead.
If you find that the imported MIDI file doesn’t look as good as you had hoped, try changing some of
the import settings—see "Import Options" below.
Once the MIDI file is imported you can play back, edit, save, print and create parts from it just as if you’d
inputted the music yourself. Imported MIDI files play back with every nuance of the original sequence—the
exact velocity and timing of each note—thanks to Sibelius’s Live Playback feature ("Live Playback" on
page 566).

Import Options

The options on the MIDI File tab of the Open MIDI File dialog are as follows:
l MIDI file uses this sound set lets you specify whether the program and bank numbers use
General MIDI or another sound set. This helps Sibelius guess what the instruments are. Normally you
can leave this option at General MIDI, or switch it off altogether if you want to import the MIDI file “as
is.”
l Only one staff per track is useful if you open a MIDI file which notates a piano (say) as two
separate piano tracks, one for the left hand and another for the right hand. Enable this option and
each hand is written as one staff, not two; you can then clean it up by creating a new piano and
copying the two hands into it. Finally, delete the original two pianos.

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l Keep track order is switched off by default; this makes Sibelius choose the order of the
instruments. Switch it on to keep the instruments in the same order as the tracks in the MIDI file.
l Keep track names makes Sibelius use the name of each track as the instrument name; switch it off
to use the default instrument names for the instruments Sibelius guesses
l Hide empty staves is switched on by default; this makes Sibelius hide empty staves throughout
the resulting score, which is often useful because many MIDI files have tracks that are empty except
for short passages; as a result, hiding empty staves can make the score easier to read
l Import markers as hit points makes Sibelius convert all markers in the MIDI file into hit points
in the score it creates. When switched off, Sibelius will import the markers as standard text objects.
l Use frame rate from SMPTE header tells Sibelius to set the frame rate settings in Play >
Video and Time > Timecode and Duration according to the settings in the MIDI file—see
"SMPTE Offset" on the next page.
l Use tab for guitars specifies whether Sibelius should import any guitar tracks in the MIDI file
onto tab staves; if the option is switched off, guitars are imported onto notation staves
l Use multiple voices determines whether Sibelius should use two voices where appropriate to
produce cleaner notation; normally this option should be switched on
l Show metronome marks makes all metronome marks visible. If there are lots of changes of tempo
(for example, rits. and accels.) then you may want to switch this option off, which will hide the
metronome marks in the score, making it look cleaner but still playing back the same.
l The Document Setup options allow you to choose the Page size, House style and orientation
(Portrait or Landscape) of the resulting score.
For details of the options on the Notation tab, see "Flexi-Time Options" on page 311.

Recommended Import Options

The precise combination of options you should choose in the Open MIDI file dialog will depend on a
number of different factors, for example:
l If you are importing a MIDI file to create clean notation, you should switch off the Notation tab
options to notate staccatos and tenutos, and try a number of different Minimum note value
settings until you get the cleanest result
l If you are importing a MIDI file for playback only, it doesn’t matter which options you choose, as
Sibelius will always play back the MIDI file exactly as it sounds, using Live Playback
l If you are importing a file created by someone else, probably on a different device (for example, a
MIDI file you have downloaded from the Internet), you should set MIDI file uses this sound
set to the device it was created for
l If you are importing a file that you know uses the General MIDI sound set, make sure you have chosen
General MIDI under MIDI file uses this sound set.
The default Notation tab settings work well in most cases, as follows: Adjust rhythms on, Minimum
note value sixteenth note (semiquaver), Staccato and Tenuto on. If you are reading a MIDI file in
which the rhythms are completely exact (if it’s already quantized, say), switch Adjust rhythms off.

If you set Minimum note value unrealistically long—for example, if it’s set to eighth notes (quavers)
when the MIDI file contains long runs of sixteenth notes (semiquavers)—Sibelius obviously can’t render the
runs properly using eighth notes and may be forced to produce junk. (Sibelius will have to approximate the
runs of sixteenth notes using tuplets of eighth notes or by joining some pairs of sixteenth notes together to
form eighth note chords.)

The tuplet options are up to you:

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l Simple means tuplets are notated only if they contain equal note values.
l Moderate and Complex for more irregular rhythms.
Remember that if a particular tuplet (say a triplet) is used in a MIDI file, you must set this option to at least
Simple, or it won’t be read correctly! Beware however that if, say, you set all the tuplets to Complex,
Sibelius may discover elaborate tuplet rhythms where you weren’t expecting them, so be cautious.

Batch Conversion
Sibelius includes a plug-in to convert a complete folder full of MIDI files at once.

To use the plug-in:

1. Choose Home > Plug-ins > Batch Processing > Convert Folder of MIDI Files.
You are asked to find the folder to convert.
2. Locate the folder and click OK.
All MIDI files in the folder are converted to Sibelius files.

Cleaning Up MIDI Files

Because MIDI files don’t contain any notation data, they can end up looking a little messy after opening
them in Sibelius. Here are some hints for getting better results, both before and after conversion:
l If the MIDI file uses non-standard program numbers (for example, if it is set up to play on an unusual
MIDI device), Sibelius will not be able to identify the instruments correctly and they may appear with
unexpected characteristics, such as with the wrong clefs or in the wrong order. Similarly, if the MIDI
file uses channel 10 for pitched instruments, these may be imported by Sibelius as percussion
instruments. This depends on whether or not you selected an appropriate MIDI device when opening
the MIDI file.
l If this happens, try importing the file again, changing the MIDI file uses this sound set
setting.
l If the MIDI file is not fully or properly quantized, you may find that the rhythms are not notated as
cleanly as you might expect. If you have access to a sequencer, you could try re-quantizing the file
and opening it in Sibelius again. Alternatively, try using Note Input > Flexi-time > Renotate
Performance, which can both revoice and requantize the music intelligently (see "Cleaning Up After
Flexi-Time" on page 310 for more details).
The kind of cleaning up that is most commonly required after opening a MIDI file is making unpitched
percussion staves more legible—see "Percussion" on page 398 for more details.

When Sibelius imports unpitched percussion in a MIDI file, each drum sound is converted to the notehead
and staff position (for example, line or space) defined in the 5 lines (drum set) instrument. If a drum
sound is used where the notation isn’t defined in this instrument type, Sibelius makes up a notation using
normal, cross and diamond noteheads in empty positions on the staff.

Sometimes you may find that you end up with unwanted rests between notes, or with unwanted unisons
(two noteheads sharing the same pitch). Use the Note Input > Plug-ins > Simplify Notation >
Remove Rests and Remove Unison Notes plug-ins to correct this — "Working with Plug-ins (Sibelius
Ultimate Only) " on page 168.

SMPTE Offset
The MIDI SMPTE offset event is imported (if present) and sets Start Time in the Play > Video and
Time > Timecode and Duration dialog. It can also be used to set the frame rate to be used for timecode
in the score; however, because the MIDI SMPTE offset event doesn’t describe all of the frame rate formats
used by all sequencer programs, if you know the frame rate you actually want to use, choose Set frame

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rate on the MIDI File page of the Open MIDI File dialog, and select the desired frame rate from the
menu instead. (If you have no idea what any of this means, don’t worry—just leave these options as they
are.)

Technical Details
Sibelius imports MIDI files of types 0 and 1. When importing, Sibelius intelligently works out which
instruments to use (using track names if they are present, otherwise using the sounds), and is able to
distinguish between, say, Violin and Viola, Clarinet and Bass Clarinet, or Soprano and Alto by the range of
the music in each track. Sibelius cleans up the rhythm using the Flexi-time algorithm, and retains as much
or as little MIDI message data as you specify (for example, metronome marks, program changes and so on).
Sibelius also automatically reduces the staff size if there are too many instruments for the page size.

Downloading MIDI Files

There are many online resources for MIDI files. If you are looking for a particular piece, you can try a search
using [Link], for example, typing the name of the piece followed by the words “MIDI file.” Or you
could try visiting one of the following sites:
l [Link]: More than 16,000 or so classical music files, all public domain.
l [Link]: An excellent choral music public domain site with thousands of files.
Not all the files on these sites are in MIDI format—some may be in Finale, PDF, or another format. Some may
even be in an audio format, like MP3, which cannot be opened by Sibelius. So look carefully to see what the
actual format of the file is, before you try and download it. (Sibelius can, however, open files in various
formats—check the other topics in this chapter for details.)

Once you’ve found the MIDI file you’re looking for in your web browser, identify the link to download it; links
are normally underlined. Do not click on the link directly, as that will make the MIDI file play inside your web
browser: we want to download it, not play it. Instead:

1. Right-click (Windows or Mac) or Control-click (Mac) the link, and a menu will appear.
2. Choose Save Link As, Save Target As or Download Link (the exact wording depends on
which web browser you are using).
Depending on your web browser, you might be prompted to choose where to save the file, in which
case choose somewhere easy to remember, like your Desktop.
The file is downloaded to your local workstation. MIDI files are normally very small, so this will
probably take only a second or two.
You’ve now downloaded a MIDI file.

Make sure you know what the MIDI file is called and where you saved it (normally to your Desktop), then
open Sibelius, and follow the steps in "Importing a MIDI File" on page 87 at the start of this topic.

You should be aware that if you download or publish MIDI files of someone else’s music without permission
you are likely to infringe copyright. Copyright infringement is illegal.

Most music states if it is copyright and who the copyright owner is. If you have are unsure of the copyright
status of a MIDI file you have downloaded, please contact the music’s publisher, composer or arranger.

Importing MIDI Files

In addition to being able to open a MIDI file to create a new score, Sibelius lets you selectively import MIDI
from a MIDI file into a score. This lets you map MIDI tracks directly to Instruments in the score.

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Setup a Score for MIDI import

Use an existing score or prepare a new score with the instruments that are in the MIDI file you want to
import. For example, if you have a MIDI file of music for a string quartet, create a new score using the
Sibelius String Quartet template. You must have at least one instrument in the score to import MIDI.

Importing MIDI Data From a MIDI File

Sibelius lets you import data from a MIDI file into an existing score or you can create and prepare a new
score for MIDI import. The Import MIDI page under the File tab lets you browse for the MIDI file you want to
import and how you want to map the MIDI data in the file to your score.

To import a MIDI file into a score:

1. Use an existing score or prepare a new score (add the corresponding instruments to the score that
you want to import from the MIDI file).
2. Choose File > Import to show the Import MIDI page.
3. Click Browse, navigate to the MIDI file you want, select it, and click Open. Alternatively, you can
drag and drop a MIDI file from the macOS Finder or Windows Explorer to the Import MIDI page.
4. In the Instruments section, select the Instrument in the score for each MIDI track in the file that you
want to import. With Sibelius Ultimate, you can click Auto Assign to automatically assign MIDI
tracks in the file to Instruments in the score (Sibelius Ultimate only).
5. Configure the Notation section as desired.
6. Configure the Include section as desired.
7. Use the Preview section to review the score before import.
8. Click the Import button.
Sibelius imports the MIDI file into your score based on the configured settings.

Import MIDI Page

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File
The File section lets you browse for the MIDI file you want to import. Click the Browse button to locate
and select the file you want to import. The file path is displayed to the left of the Browse button. You can
also drag and drop a MIDI file from the macOS Finder or Windows Explorer to the Import page.

Instruments
The Instruments section lists the tracks in the selected MIDI file by name. You can manually assign each
MIDI track to an Instrument in the score. Sibelius Ultimate also provides an Auto Assign button to
automatically assign MIDI tracks to Instruments in the score.

Note that you can map a single MIDI track to more than one instrument. This is useful if you have a MIDI
track that contains the music for a section of instruments, such as for the “Strings” or for the “Brass.” You
can map these to several instruments in the score (there is no limit). For example, you can use this method
to arrange a single Guitar track across both notation and tab staves.

Sibelius also provides options for importing MIDI tracks that use special articulations or performance
techniques and merge them into a single instrument in the score. It is not unusual to use separate MIDI
tracks for the performance of a single instrument (or instrument section) where each track plays a different
set of samples for the same instrument. For example, the MIDI file may contain multiple tracks for a violin
performance where one track is for all of the legato passages, another for staccato passages, another for
tremolos, and yet another for pizzicato passages. In such a case, assign each of those MIDI tracks to the
same Instrument and then select the appropriate Articulations or Techniques on a track by track basis.

Each row represents a MIDI track in the MIDI file. Each column lets you determine whether or not to import a
MIDI track and how imported MIDI tracks should be mapped to Instruments in the score.
l The MIDI Track column lists the MIDI tracks in the selected MIDI file by name. MIDI Track names that
have been mapped to Instruments appear in bold text.
l The Instrument column lets you assign a MIDI track to an Instrument in the score. If you want to
exclude a MIDI track from import, leave it assigned to Don’t import (or deselect any assigned
instruments). If the track you are importing contains the parts for multiple instruments (such as for
the string section), select each Instrument in the score that corresponds to the instruments in the MIDI
track. Note that once an instrument is selected for any MIDI track, that instrument appears in bold in
the list.
l If the track you are importing is one of several tracks that are part of a performance by a single
instrument (such as a violin part) that uses special articulations (such as Staccato or Tremolo), assign
the track to the appropriate instrument and select the corresponding Articulation.
l If the track you are importing is one of several tracks that are part of a performance by a single
instrument (such as a violin part) that uses special performance techniques (such as pizzicato),
assign the track to the appropriate instrument and select the corresponding Technique.
l Click the Clear All button to clear all MIDI track assignments. All Instrument assignments revert to
Don’t import.
l If the MIDI tracks in the selected file are named by instrument, click the Auto Assign button and
Sibelius automatically assigns each MIDI track to the corresponding instrument in the score (Sibelius
Ultimate Only).

Naming Conventions and Auto Assign

If the MIDI tracks in the selected file are named by instrument, click the Auto Assign button and Sibelius
automatically assigns each MIDI track to the corresponding instrument in the score. Auto Assign reads the
incoming track names and maps to them accordingly. If recognizable articulations (such as staccato) or
performance techniques (such as con sordino) are included in the track name, Sibelius auto-maps those as
well.

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Articulations that can be automatically identified with Auto Assign:

Articulation Matched by <name>

Staccato staccato
Staccatisimo staccatisimo
Tenuto tenuto
Marcato marcato
wedge wedge
tremolo trem or tremolo

Techniques that can be automatically identified with Auto Assign:

Technique Matched by <name>

Con sord Mute, sord, con sord, con sordino, or sordino
pizzicato Pizz or pizzicatto
Col legno col legno or legno

Sibelius also uses a tagging system #<hashtags> so those with a template in their DAW (such as Pro Tools)
can tag tracks to match a template Sibelius score.

For example, the graphic below shows French Horn and Trumpet parts created in Pro Tools and mapped to
Instruments in a Sibelius score.

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In Pro Tools, Instrument tracks are named to match which samples are used. Also, each track has the
playing articulation or technique in the name, as well as a grouping hashtag. In Sibelius, the score has the
same hashtags added to the desired destination instrument names. Then, when using the Auto Assign
button, Sibelius prioritizes matching hashtag groupings to automatically map incoming MIDI tracks into a
score, all with a single click.

A Note About Accessibility

The Instrument assignment table is keyboard accessible. Press Tab to enter and exit the table. Use the
Arrow keys to move the focus forward and backwards through the list. Use Spacebar to open the list of
available Instruments, and again to assign instruments. Press Return to close the list.

Preview
The Preview section lets you review the score as you configure the Import options. You can preview the
score page by page and zoom in and out to ensure that you configure the Import options to get the best
results. If you are working with large scores, you may want to disable the Generate preview after every

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change option until just before you are ready to click Import, otherwise the time it takes to update the
Preview with each change you make on the Import page may take longer that you like.

Notation
The Notation section of the Import page provides options for how Sibelius translates MIDI data into
notation. Several of these options are the same as those in the Notation tab of the Open MIDI File window.
l Minimum Duration: Enable this option to set the minimum duration for notes in the MIDI file. This
can help ensure accurate placement of notes in the score (like quantization). Be sure to set a short
enough duration for Sibelius to accurately notate rhythms.
l Remove Rests Between Notes on Drum Staves: Enable this option to remove rests between
notes on drum staves.
l Use Multiple Voices: Enable this option if you are importing two independent MIDI tracks to a
single instrument with two voices on a single stave. When this option is disabled, all imported notes
will be in one voice only.
l Hide Empty Staves: Enable this option to hide empty staves following import.
l Respace After Import: Enable this option to respace the score after importing new MIDI data.
This will usually result in the best looking layout for the score. However, you may want to disable this
option if you are importing MIDI data into a score that already has music where you have manually
adjusted the spacing and you want to preserve that.
l Explode Music When Arranging to Multiple Instruments: Enable this option when
importing a single MIDI track to multiple staves (Instruments) in the score. For example, if you are
importing a MIDI track that consists of triads to three separate staves (Instruments), Sibelius imports
the top note of each triad to the first staff, the middle note to the second staff, and the bottom note
to the third staff. Using the same example, if this option is disabled, Sibelius copies complete triads to
each staff in the score.
l Split Point Between Two Keyboard Staves: When importing keyboard music from a MIDI
file to a Grand Staff in the score, you can have Sibelius automatically manage the split point
between staves or you can set it manually. Select Automatic to have Sibelius manage the
arrangement of the music between the two staves (typically treble clef for the right hand and bass
clef for the left hand). Alternately, you can select Fixed and specify the pitch (note name and
octave) for splitting the music between the two staves).
l Filter Keyswitches: Sibelius lets you filter out keyswitches so that you don’t have them appear
as notes in your score. Adjust the upper or lower threshold values as necessary to exclude any
keyswitch notes present in source MIDI tracks. If there are any keyswitches in source MIDI tracks that
are not filtered out by range, Sibelius includes them in the notation (they will be notes that are far
above or below the normal range of the destination Instrument).
l Allow These Tuplets: Enable this option if there are any tuplets in your source MIDI tracks.
Select Simple for tuplets that are all of the same rhythmic value you (such as triplet eighth notes).
Select Moderate or Complex for tuplets that include different rhythmic values (such as a triplet
quarter and an eighth) or more complex rhythms (such as tuplets that include syncopation or nested
tuplets). If there are tuplets in the MIDI file that you do not account for, Sibelius will not accurately
represent those rhythms.

Include
The Include section of the Import page provides options for what additional MIDI data includes on import.
Several of these options are the same as those in the MIDI File tab of the Open MIDI File window.
l Program/Bank Messages: This option should usually be disabled unless you are working with
specific MIDI hardware and want your score to include program changes and bank messages for
playback purposes.

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l Controller Messages: This option should usually be disabled unless you are working with specific
MIDI hardware and want your score to include MIDI controller messages for playback purposes.
l System Exclusive Messages: This option should usually be disabled unless you are working with
specific MIDI hardware and want your score to include MIDI system exclusive messages for
configuring the MIDI hardware.
l Markers As Hit Points: Enable this option to import markers from the MIDI file and convert
them to hit points in the resulting [Link] this option is disabled, Sibelius imports markers as
standard text objects.
l Metronome Marks: Enable this option to import metronome markings (tempo changes) from the
MIDI file and include them in the score as tempo markings.
l Round Metronome Marks: Enable this option to round imported metronome markings to the
nearest whole number.
l Use Frame Rate from SMPTE Header: Select this option to import and use the frame rate from
the SMPTE header of the MIDI file. The Frame Rate settings are found in Play > Video and
Time > Timecode and Duration.
l Set Frame Rate: Select this option to manually specify the Frame Rate. The Frame Rate settings
are found in Play > Video and Time > Timecode and Duration.

Opening MusicXML Files

Sibelius’s built-in MusicXML 3.0 file converter lets you open MusicXML files created in a number of music
applications, including Finale version 2003 and later and SharpEye.

The purpose of the file converter is to save you time, not to convert every score so that it is identical to the
original.

What is MusicXML?
MusicXML is an XML-based file format (.musicxml and .mxl) for representing Western musical notation. It is
an interchange file format for music notation applications that provides a better way to transfer notation
between different programs than other formats such as MIDI files.

Creating MusicXML Files in Finale

How you create MusicXML files in Finale depends on the version of Finale you are using:
l Finale 2006 or later: choose File > MusicXML > Export
l Finale 2003, 2004 or 2005 (Windows only): choose Plug-ins > MusicXML Export
If you are using Finale 2004 or Finale 2005 on macOS, or are using a version earlier than Finale 2003 on
Windows, use the separate Dolet plug-in to export MusicXML files, which can be purchased from
[Link]. If you are using Dolet, you can export a MusicXML file by choosing Plug-ins >
MusicXML > Export MusicXML.

Opening a MusicXML File

MusicXML files typically have one of three file extensions: uncompressed MusicXML files have the extension
.xml or .musicxml, and compressed MusicXML 2.0 or later files have the extension .mxl. Sibelius can
open MusicXML files with either extension.

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To open a MusicXML file:

1. Choose File > Open (shortcut Control+O or Command+O).

2. Locate the file, and click Open.

3. Select any of the following options:

– Use page and staff size from MusicXML file is switched on by default if the
MusicXML file you are opening is version 1.1 or later; this tells Sibelius to try and preserve the
page and staff size of the MusicXML file. If you switch this off, you can set the paper size and
orientation for the imported MusicXML file, and Sibelius will use the default staff size as
determined by the house style chosen below in the dialog.
– Use layout and formatting from MusicXML file is also switched on by default if the
MusicXML file is version 1.1 or later; when switched on, Sibelius will try to preserve the layout
and formatting (for example, distances between staves, system and page breaks, and so on)
of the original MusicXML file. If you switch this off, Sibelius will effectively unlock the format of
the resulting score, using its default layout and formatting.
– House style lets you import a specific house style into the resulting score; if you leave this
set to Unchanged, Sibelius will use its default house style. If you choose another house style,
note that the page size and staff size specified in the house style will not be used in the
resulting score unless you switch off Use page and staff size from MusicXML file.
– Let Sibelius choose instruments tells Sibelius to attempt to automatically identify the
instruments in the MusicXML file. If you find that Sibelius creates the wrong instruments, import
the file again, disable this option, and click OK. In the resulting Instruments dialog, create the
desired instruments in Sibelius for the instruments in the file.

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– Instruments in file at the left-hand side shows the individual parts in the
MusicXML file.
– In the order that the staves are displayed in the Instruments in file list, choose
the Sibelius instruments you want to use for each part (rather like in the Instruments
dialog); either double-click the instrument or click Add to add it to the Instruments
to create list at the right-hand side of the dialog.
– When all of the parts have been mapped onto Sibelius instruments, the OK button
becomes enabled; click this to finish opening the file.
– Use instrument names from MusicXML file tells Sibelius to set the instrument names
at the start of systems to the names specified in the MusicXML file. If you want Sibelius to use
its own default instrument names instead, disable this option.
4. When you have set the options as you wish, click OK, and the MusicXML file is imported. You can then
check and edit the file as necessary.

Warning Messages
Some MusicXML files may contain errors, which will be displayed in a dialog listing each error and the
location at which it occurred in the file you are opening. Each error may be one of three kinds:
l Fatal errors: if the file is not valid XML, this is a fatal error, and it cannot be opened at all.
l Validation errors: if the file is valid XML, but the specific syntax of the MusicXML elements contains
errors or inconsistencies, then Sibelius will attempt to open the file, but the resulting score may have
unexpected problems in it, and you should proceed with caution.
l Warnings: the XML validator sometimes reports warnings about the XML files when they are opened.
These should not normally prevent the file from opening correctly.

Importing MusicXML Files Saved in a Sequencer

Sibelius’s MusicXML importer is optimized to give the best results when opening MusicXML files saved
directly from Finale or using Finale’s Dolet plug-in. In extreme circumstances, some MusicXML files,
especially those created in sequencers with no notation capabilities, may fail to produce any legible
notation at all.

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Supported Versions
Sibelius’s MusicXML converter is based around MusicXML 3.0. Files created in earlier MusicXML formats
open correctly, provided they are valid. Files created with future versions of MusicXML should also open,
though new features will not be imported.

Sibelius can only open MusicXML files that use the [Link] top-level DTD (Document Type
Definition). If your file uses the [Link] DTD, you will need to use XSLT to convert your timewise
MusicXML file into a partwise MusicXML file.

Batch Conversion
Sibelius includes a plug-in to convert a complete folder full of MusicXML files at once.

To use the plug-in:

t Choose Home > Plug-ins > Batch Processing > Convert Folder of MusicXML Files.
Sibelius converts each MusicXML file it finds in the specified folder, saving each one as a Sibelius
score under the same filename as the original MusicXML file.

Limitations
The limitations of Sibelius’s MusicXML import feature are summarized below.

Feature Limitation

Articulations Some articulations may be positioned on the wrong side of a note or chord.

The technical and ornaments elements are not imported.

Barlines If different staves have different barline types simultaneously, Sibelius will use the barline
type of the uppermost part.

Heavy, heavy-light and heavy-heavy barlines are not imported.

Beams Sub-beams do not import.
Chord symbols Some chord symbols may not be imported (when they are using a function element).

MusicXML specifies that all chord symbols go above the top staff in a part only.

The kind instances Neapolitan, Italian, French, German, pedal (pedal-point bass) and Tristan
are all imported as major chords.

If the function element is not present in the harmony element, the chord symbol is not
imported.
Clefs Special percussion and tab clefs available in MusicXML will be replaced with the closest
matching clef available in Sibelius.

MusicXML is not capable of differentiating between clefs at the start or end of a bar.
Cross-stave MusicXML files that use a number of voices across staves may import some notes on the
notes wrong staff.

Files containing chords with notes in different staves are not imported correctly.
End repeat lines The positioning of end repeat lines may need manual adjustment after they have been
imported.
Key signatures Only major and minor modes are recognized for the mode element.

If the fifths element is missing, the key signature will be imported as an atonal key signature.

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Feature Limitation

Other key child elements (for example, key-step and key-alter) are ignored.

If a part has more than one staff, key signatures may be omitted from one or more of those
staves.

Key signatures that fall after the barline in some other music notation programs may fall
behind the barline in Sibelius.
Layout Sibelius can only use one page size for the entire score being imported.

Objects that are only graphically offset in the file may have an impact on playback in
Sibelius.
Lyrics The laughing, humming, end-line, end-paragraph and editorial elements are ignored.
Metronome Metronome marks containing 256th, 128th, 64th and long (breve) notes are not imported by
marks Sibelius.

All metronome marks adopt Sibelius’s default positions.

Only metronome marks in the top staff of the uppermost part are read by the XML importer.

Metronome marks may be duplicated if the uppermost part in the file has more than one
staff.
Ornaments Some ornaments will not be imported. Mordents, trills and turns are imported.
Rests Extra rests resulting from multiple voices on the same staff are automatically removed, but
some extra rests may still occur, for example, in cross-staff passages.
Slur The continue attribute is not imported.

The entity attributes position and bezier are not imported.

Placement and orientation are not imported.

Symbols Symbols are not imported.
Staves Changes of staff type are not imported.
Stems The stem values none and double are not imported.
Text Some text items are imported using the dynamics element, but none of the dynamics
attributes are imported.

Specific figured bass elements such as parentheses, elision and extend are not imported.

The directive element is not imported.

Ties The tie element is ignored completely; only ties specified by the tied element are imported.

The number attribute is ignored.

All ties are imported as solid ties.

The position, placement, orientation, bezier-offset, bezier-x and bezier-y attributes are not
imported.
Time signatures Sibelius will not import compound time signatures (for example, 2/4 + 6/8), but beat divisions
that occur only in the numerator (for example, 2+3 / 4) will be imported.

Senza-misura elements are not imported.

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Feature Limitation

The single-number attribute value for symbol is not imported (if present it is imported as
normal)

If different time signatures occur in different staves simultaneously, Sibelius will use the time
signature from the uppermost staff.
Tuplets Some versions of the Dolet plug-in for Finale don’t place the start and stop elements of
tuplets in the right place, which may cause tuplets to import incorrectly.

The tuplet attributes placement, position, show-type, show-number, bracket and line-shape
are not imported.

Importing Music XML Files

In addition to being able to open a Music XML file to create a new score, Sibelius lets you selectively import
tracks from a Music XML file into a score. This lets you map tracks directly to Instruments in the score.

Setup a Score for Music XML Import

Use an existing score or prepare a new score with the instruments that are in the Music XML file you want to
import. For example, if you have an XML file of music for a string quartet, create a new score using the
Sibelius String Quartet template. You must have at least one instrument in the score.

Importing Data from a Music XML File

Sibelius lets you import data from a Music XML file into an existing score or you can create and prepare a
new score for import. The Import page under the File tab lets you browse for the XML file you want to import
and how you want to map the data in the file to your score.

To import a Music XML file into a score:

1. Use an existing score or prepare a new score (add the corresponding instruments to the score that
you want to import from the XML file).
2. Choose File > Import to show the Import page.
3. Click Browse, navigate to the Music XML file you want, select it, and click Open. Alternatively, you
can drag and drop an XML file from the macOS Finder or Windows Explorer to the Import page.
4. In the Instruments section, select the Instrument in the score for each track in the file that you
want to import. With Sibelius Ultimate, you can click Auto Assign to automatically assign tracks in
the file to Instruments in the score (Sibelius Ultimate only).
5. Configure additional options as desired.
6. Use the Preview section to review the score before import.
7. Click the Import button.
Sibelius imports the XML file into your score based on the configured settings.

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Import Page

File
The File section lets you browse for the Music XML file you want to import. Click the Browse button to
locate and select the file you want to import. The file path is displayed to the left of the Browse button. You
can also drag and drop a file from the macOS Finder or Windows Explorer to the Import page.

Instruments
The Instruments section lists the tracks in the selected Music XML file by name. You can manually assign
each track to an Instrument in the score. Sibelius Ultimate also provides an Auto Assign button to
automatically assign tracks to Instruments in the score.

Note that you can map a single track to more than one instrument. This is useful if you have a track that
contains the music for a section of instruments, such as for the “Strings” or for the “Brass.” You can map
these to several instruments in the score (there is no limit). For example, you can use this method to arrange
a single Guitar track across both notation and tab staves.

Sibelius also provides options for importing tracks that use special articulations or performance techniques
and merge them into a single instrument in the score. It is not unusual to use separate tracks for the
performance of a single instrument (or instrument section) where each track plays a different set of samples
for the same instrument. For example, the file may contain multiple tracks for a violin performance where
one track is for all of the legato passages, another for staccato passages, another for tremolos, and yet
another for pizzicato passages. In such a case, assign each of those tracks to the same Instrument and then
select the appropriate Articulations or Techniques on a track by track basis.

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Each row represents a track in the file. Each column lets you determine whether or not to import a track and
how imported tracks should be mapped to Instruments in the score.
l The Track column lists the tracks in the selected file by name. Track names that have been mapped
to Instruments appear in bold text.
l The Instrument column lets you assign a track to an Instrument in the score. If you want to exclude
a track from import, leave it assigned to Don’t import (or deselect any assigned instruments). If the
track you are importing contains the parts for multiple instruments (such as for the string section),
select each Instrument in the score that corresponds to the instruments in the track. Note that once
an instrument is selected for any track, that instrument appears in bold in the list.
l If the track you are importing is one of several tracks that are part of a performance by a single
instrument (such as a violin part) that uses special articulations (such as Staccato or Tremolo), assign
the track to the appropriate instrument and select the corresponding Articulation.
l If the track you are importing is one of several tracks that are part of a performance by a single
instrument (such as a violin part) that uses special performance techniques (such as pizzicato),
assign the track to the appropriate instrument and select the corresponding Technique.
l Click the Clear All button to clear all track assignments. All Instrument assignments revert to
Don’t import.
l If the tracks in the selected file are named by instrument, click the Auto Assign button and Sibelius
automatically assigns each track to the corresponding instrument in the score (Sibelius Ultimate
Only).

Naming Conventions and Auto Assign

If the tracks in the selected file are named by instrument, click the Auto Assign button and Sibelius
automatically assigns each track to the corresponding instrument in the score. Auto Assign reads the
incoming track names and maps to them accordingly. If recognizable articulations (such as staccato) or
performance techniques (such as con sordino) are included in the track name, Sibelius auto-maps those as
well.

Articulations that can be automatically identified with Auto Assign:

Articulation Matched by <name>

Staccato staccato
Staccatisimo staccatisimo
Tenuto tenuto
Marcato marcato
wedge wedge
tremolo trem or tremolo

Techniques that can be automatically identified with Auto Assign:

Technique Matched by <name>

Con sord Mute, sord, con sord, con sordino, or sordino
pizzicato Pizz or pizzicatto
Col legno col legno or legno

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A Note About Accessibility

The Instrument assignment table is keyboard accessible. Use the Tab to enter and exit the table. Use the
Arrow keys to move the focus forward and backwards through the list. Use Spacebar to open the list of
available Instruments, and again to assign instruments. Press Return to close the list.

Preview
The Preview section lets you review the score as you configure the Import options. You can preview the
score page by page and zoom in and out to ensure that you configure the Import options to get the best
results. If you are working with large scores, you may want to disable the Generate preview after every
change option until just before you are ready to click Import, otherwise the time it takes to update the
Preview with each change you make on the Import page may take longer that you like.

Import Options
The Import page provides options for how Sibelius translates XML data into notation. A few of these
options are the same as those for importing MIDI.
l Use Page and Staff Size from MusicXML File: Enable this option to use the page and staff
size from the XML file. Otherwise Sibelius maintains the page and staff size of the open score.
l Use Layout and Formatting from MusicXML File: Enable this option to use the layout and
formatting from the XML file. Otherwise Sibelius maintains the layout and formatting of the open
score.
l Import Initial Clef: Enable this option to use the initial clef from each track in the XML file
rather than the initial clef for each Instrument in the open score.
l Use Multiple Voices: Enable this option if you are importing two independent tracks to a single
instrument with two voices on a single stave. When this option is disabled, all imported notes will be in
one voice only.
l Respace After Import: Enable this option to respace the score after import. This will usually
result in the best looking layout for the score. However, you may want to disable this option if you are
importing tracks into a score that already has music where you have manually adjusted the spacing
and you want to preserve that.
l Explode Music When Arranging to Multiple Instruments: Enable this option when
importing a single track to multiple staves (Instruments) in the score. For example, if you are
importing a track that consists of triads to three separate staves (Instruments), Sibelius imports the
top note of each triad to the first staff, the middle note to the second staff, and the bottom note to
the third staff. Using the same example, if this option is disabled, Sibelius copies complete triads to
each staff in the score.

PhotoScore Lite
Introduction
PhotoScore Lite from Neuratron is a music scanning program designed to work with Sibelius—the musical
equivalent of a text OCR (optical character recognition) program. PhotoScore Lite lets you scan up to 20
pages of music with up to 12 staves per system.

It is a sophisticated program with many advanced features. If you intend to scan relatively complex scores
such as orchestral/band music, or scores of many pages, we strongly recommend that you start with more
simple music until you are proficient with PhotoScore Lite, and then familiarize yourself with the "Advanced
Features" on page 116 section.

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On-Screen Help
In addition to this topic, PhotoScore Lite has its own on-screen help: to access it, choose
Help >Neuratron PhotoScore Help (shortcut F1) from PhotoScore Lite’s menus.

PhotoScore First
PhotoScore First is an introductory version of PhotoScore that comes with Sibelius First. PhotoScore Lite lets
you scan 1 page of music with no more than 2 staves per system.

PhotoScore Ultimate
An advanced version of PhotoScore, called PhotoScore Ultimate, is available to buy separately, with extra
features and enhancements. PhotoScore Ultimate reads many more musical markings (including tuplets,
slurs, grace notes, cross-staff beaming, guitar tab, chord diagrams, repeat barlines and so on). PhotoScore
Ultimate lets you scan up to 400 pages of music with up to 64 staves per system.

For details of PhotoScore Ultimate, see [Link]

Scanning
Scanning text is difficult for computers to do, and has only achieved reasonable accuracy in the last few
years. Music scanning is much harder because of the more complicated range of symbols involved, and
because of the complex two-dimensional “grammar” of music.

The difficulty with scanning music or text is that by scanning a page, a computer does not “understand” it.
As far as the computer is concerned, scanning a page merely presents it with a grid of millions of black and
white dots, which could be music, text, a photograph or anything else.

The process of actually reading or interpreting music, text or pictures from this grid of dots is extremely
complex and poorly understood. A large part of the human brain, containing many millions of connections,
is devoted solely to solving this “pattern recognition” problem.

Suitable Originals
PhotoScore Lite is designed to read originals that:
l Are printed rather than handwritten (and use notes with an “engraved” appearance rather than a
“handwritten” appearance, for example, from a fake book)
l Fit on your scanner (for example, the music itself is typically no larger than Letter/A4 size, though the
paper may be slightly larger)
l Have a staff-size of at least 0.12”/3mm
l Use no more than 12 staves per page, and 2 voices per staff. (Additional staves or voices will be
omitted.)
l Are reasonably clear—for example, staff lines should be continuous and not broken or blotchy, half
note (minim) and whole note (semibreve) noteheads and flats should have a continuous
circumference and not be broken or filled in, beams on sixteenth notes (semiquavers) and shorter
notes should have a significant white gap in between, and objects that are meant to be separate (for
example, noteheads and their preceding accidentals) should not overlap or be blotched together.
Music that does not match the above will probably work, but with considerably reduced accuracy.

Scanning from photocopies is not particularly recommended unless the photocopier is a particularly good
one, as photocopying tends to degrade the quality of an original significantly. You may be obliged to scan
from a reduced photocopy if your original is bigger than your scanner, but you should expect lower
accuracy.

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Using PhotoScore Lite Without a Scanner

In addition to reading music that you scan yourself using a scanner, it is possible to “read” music without
using a scanner, either by opening individual pages that you have saved as graphics files, or by opening
PDF files.

To work with graphics files, you will need each page of music stored as a separate graphics file on your
computer in .bmp (bitmap) format on Windows, or TIFF and PICT (Picture file) format on Mac.

PhotoScore Lite can also read PDF files. Reading a PDF file may be useful if the music you want to scan is
available in PDF format from a web site, or if you want to convert a file from another music program by
producing a PDF file and then opening it in PhotoScore Lite.

Before you decide upon using PDF files as the way of converting files from another music program, check
that the program doesn’t export a file format that Sibelius can read directly, for example, MusicXML, as this
would be preferable to using PDF files.

Copyright Music
You should be aware that if you scan someone else’s music without permission you are likely to infringe
copyright. Copyright infringement by scanning is illegal.

Most music states if it is copyright and who the copyright owner is. If you have a piece of music that you
want to scan and you are not sure about its copyright status, please contact the music’s publisher,
composer or arranger.

Getting Going
Like Sibelius, PhotoScore Lite functions in exactly the same way on Windows and Mac. Start PhotoScore
Lite by running it from the Start menu (Windows) or double-clicking its icon in the Applications folder
(Mac). Sibelius doesn’t need to be running when you use PhotoScore Lite.

The Four Stages

There are four stages when using PhotoScore Lite:

1. Scanning the pages or opening a PDF file. When you scan a page, PhotoScore Lite takes a
“photograph” of your original. Similarly, when you open a PDF file, PhotoScore Lite takes a
“photograph” of it, so that it can read it in the next step.
2. Reading the pages. This is the clever bit, where PhotoScore Lite “reads” the scanned pages to work
out what the notes and other markings are.
3. Editing the resulting music. Here you correct any mistakes that PhotoScore Lite has made. Editing
within PhotoScore Lite works in much the same way as editing music in Sibelius. Almost any marking
can be corrected or input in PhotoScore Lite, but it is only essential at this stage to correct rhythmic
mistakes—other corrections can be made after sending the score to Sibelius if you prefer.
4. Sending the music to Sibelius. After a moment the music pops up as a Sibelius score just as if you’d
inputted it all yourself.
You can then play the music back, re-arrange it, transpose it, create parts, or print it out.

Quick Start
Before we examine how to use PhotoScore Lite in detail, let’s run through the process quickly to introduce
the four stages.

The first step is either to scan some music, or to open a page you have already scanned, or to open a PDF
file:

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t To scan a page, choose File > Scan pages (shortcut Control+W or Command+W); your scanner
interface will load. Scan a page and it is added to PhotoScore’s list of scanned pages.
t To open a graphics file, choose File > Open; when prompted for the resolution the image was
scanned at, choose the appropriate setting and click OK. The graphics file is then added to the list of
scanned pages.
t To open a PDF file, choose File > Open PDFs. You will be prompted to choose the resolution;
normally you can leave this at the default of 300 dpi and click OK. If the PDF is password protected,
you will then be prompted to provide the password. You can open more than one PDF at once, and
enter the range of pages to be examined within each PDF if necessary.
As soon as you scan a page or open a PDF or graphics file, each page appears in the Pages pane, which is
at the left hand of the main PhotoScore Lite window. Each page first appears under Pending Pages, and
PhotoScore Lite immediately proceeds to read the pages you have added, Reading each page will take a
little while (depending on the speed of your computer) and a green progress bar fills up behind the name of
the page in the Pending Pages list. As PhotoScore Lite completes reading each page, it moves to the list
below, Read Pages.

When PhotoScore Lite has finished reading the pages, the main editing window will appear:

From this window you can edit any errors in the music.

When you are satisfied with the corrections you have made, choose File > Send to > Sibelius
(shortcut Control+D or Command+D) to send the music to Sibelius.

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If Sibelius is not already running, it will start up, and the Open PhotoScore File dialog will appear,
which lets you choose various options concerning which instruments will be used in the Sibelius score. Don’t
worry about these now—just click OK. Moments later, the Sibelius score will appear, ready for editing, just
as if you had inputted it yourself.

1. Scanning or Opening a PDF

Before you scan, choose File > Scanner Setup to choose whether you want to use PhotoScore’s own
scanning interface—in which case choose PhotoScore—or your scanner’s own interface—in which case
choose TWAIN (scanner default)—and click OK. By default, PhotoScore Lite will use your scanner’s
own interface, which is fine, since you are presumably familiar with the way your scanner’s software works.

Next, measure the size (height) of staves in the page you want to scan and choose a resolution using the
following table, and scan in black & white or gray—not color:

Staff size Resolution

0.25”/6mm or more 200 dpi

0.15-0.25”/4–6mm 300 dpi
0.12-0.15”/3–4mm 400 dpi

Reading accuracy and speed will be considerably reduced if you scan at too low or too high a resolution.
So, for example, do not scan at 400 dpi unless the staves really are small.

Usually, you can choose whether to scan in black & white or grayscale (shades of gray). Scanning in gray
produce significantly more accurate results—if the option is not available in your scanning dialog, consult
your scanner’s documentation.

Now you can scan your first page—try a page or two of simple keyboard music or something similar:

1. Put the page of music (the “original”) into your scanner, face-down and with the top of the page
pointing away from you.
2. Put one edge of the original flush against the raised edge of the glass.
You can put the page on its side if it fits better. PhotoScore Lite will automatically rotate the page by
90 degrees if necessary. However you should normally align the top of the page with the left edge of
the scanner to ensure it does not turn out upside down. Don’t worry though if it is scanned upside
down, as it is easy to correct later on.
If you are scanning in gray, then the page does not need to be completely straight, providing that it is
not more than 8 degrees off—PhotoScore Lite will automatically make the page level (to within 0.1
degrees) without loss of detail. It will still be rotated if scanning in black & white, but there will be loss
of detail, and thus less accurate results.
3. Choose File > Scan Pages, or click the Scan Pages button on PhotoScore Lite’s toolbar.
After a moment, the scanner will whir into life and transfer the page to your computer. (If this doesn’t
happen, see "Possible Problems" on page 115.)

n If you are scanning from a fairly thick book, gently press down the lid (or the book if easier)
during scanning to keep the page flat on the glass.

4. A window will appear for you to enter a name for the page, which will be something like Score 1,
Page 1 by default. You can change this to any name you like (although to avoid any unexpected
results it should end with a number)—something like Piano p1 would do—then click OK. Subsequent
pages you scan will be automatically numbered for example, Piano p2, and a dialog will not
appear.

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Wait a few seconds while PhotoScore Lite makes the image level, chooses the best brightness, and
locates the staves.
5. PhotoScore will now be ready to scan the next page, so put the page of music in the scanner, then
click the button that tells your scanner to start scanning again, and proceed as for the first page. If
the scanning interface does not reappear, click the Scan Pages button again.
6. Continue until you have scanned all the pages that you want to scan.
A scan of the first page will then appear. The buff paper color indicates that you are looking at a
scanned image (a “scan”) of the original page.
7. Check that all the staves are highlighted in blue—this shows that PhotoScore Lite has detected where
they are.
If the page has systems of two or more staves, check also that the staves within each system are
joined at the left-hand end by a thick vertical (or near-vertical) red line.
If not all staves are blue, or not all staves within systems are joined with a red line, you can manually
tell PhotoScore Lite where they are (see "Advanced Features" on page 116).
(Ignore the other buttons at the top of this window, which are also explained in "Advanced Features"
on page 116.)
Scanning Summarized
Once you’ve scanned a few pages you’ll rapidly get into the routine of it. The procedure can be summarized
as follows:

1. Place page in scanner.

2. Click the scanner button or choose File > Scan Pages.
3. Choose the resolution, and whether to scan in black & white or gray.
4. Click Scan.
5. If it’s the first page, enter a name for the page (or leave the default name).
6. Go on to next page.
Catalog of Scanned Pages
It’s important for you to understand that whenever you scan a page, PhotoScore Lite adds it to a single list
or “catalog” of scanned pages to be read later. You do not need to save scanned pages or the catalog—it is
stored on your hard disk automatically.

This means that whenever you start using PhotoScore, it still remembers any pages you scanned previously.
(You can delete pages that you no longer need to keep.)

Hints on Scanning
l If you want to read a page of music smaller than the size of your scanner, you should make sure that
only that portion is scanned.
l Most scanner interfaces allow you to scan part of a page, usually by clicking a Preview button to
produce a thumbnail image, which may seem a little “blocky.” You can then adjust the required area
by dragging from the edges of the thumbnail.
l Then click Scan to scan the selected area at high resolution. Every time you click Scan after this,
only the selected area will be scanned, until you change it.
l Ensure that all of the music on the page you are scanning is on the glass of the scanner.
l It doesn’t matter if your original is larger than Letter/A4, so long as the music itself will fit onto
Letter/A4.

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l If you are scanning a page that is smaller than Letter/A4 size, it doesn’t matter where on the glass
you position the original. However, it helps if you put the edge of the page flush against the edge of
the glass, to ensure that it’s straight.
l If you are scanning a small music book then you may be able to fit a double-page spread (two facing
pages side-by-side) on the scanner glass, but don’t try this—PhotoScore Lite can only read one page
at a time. Scan each page separately.
l For simplicity, we recommend that you scan all the pages in a piece of music before reading them all.
You are allowed to scan a page, then read it, then scan another and so on (see "Advanced Features"
on page 116), but we don’t suggest you try anything like this until you are proficient with PhotoScore
Lite.

2. Reading
As mentioned earlier, just scanning a page presents the computer with a grid of millions of black and white
dots, which as far as it’s concerned could be anything from text to a photograph.

“Reading” the music is the clever bit, where PhotoScore Lite works out from the scan where and what the
notes and other markings on the page are.

Pages Pane
On the left-hand side of the PhotoScore Lite window you should see the pages pane, as shown below. If you
can’t see this, choose View >Toggle Pages Pane.

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Pages that have not yet been read appear in the upper half of the pages pane, under the heading Pending
Pages. Notice how PhotoScore Lite helpfully shows you a thumbnail of the scanned page as you hover your
mouse pointer over its name.

When you want to read a page you have scanned, click the little checkbox at the right-hand side, which
expands to say Read when you hover your mouse pointer over it. PhotoScore Lite will start to think, and the
blue bar behind the name of the page will turn green as PhotoScore reads the page.

If you accidentally scanned the pages in the wrong order, you can correct the order in the list of Pending
Pages by clicking and dragging the pages into the correct order.

If you just scanned in some pages or opened a PDF, however, your pages have probably already been read
by PhotoScore Lite, and so will be found in the lower half of the pages pane, under the heading Read
Pages. The pages are automatically grouped into scores; you can show and hide the individual pages in
each score by clicking the + or—button at the left-hand side. To view a page in order to edit it, click on its
name under Read Pages.

What PhotoScore Lite Reads

PhotoScore Lite reads the following musical markings:
l Notes, chords (including tail direction, beams and flags) and rests
l Flats, sharps and naturals
l Treble and bass clefs, key signatures, time signatures
l 5-line staves (normal and small), standard barlines, 6-line guitar tab
l The format of the page, including the page size, staff-size, margins, and where systems end.
PhotoScore Ultimate, available separately, also reads text (including lyrics, dynamics, instrument names,
fingering, and so on), a wider variety of clefs and accidentals, tuplets, guitar chord diagrams, and various
other markings such as codas, segnos, ornaments, pedal markings and repeat endings. PhotoScore
Ultimate can even read neat handwritten music!

Hints on Reading
l You should not need to interrupt reading, but you can normally do so if necessary by hitting Esc or
Command, or by clicking Cancel on the progress window. PhotoScore Lite will show the part of the
page it has already read. You should delete this page by choosing Edit > Delete page before re-
scanning or re-reading the page.
l If the computer gives a warning message while reading a page, or if a page seems to be taking a very
long time to read, see "Possible Problems" on page 115.
l If you like, you can ask PhotoScore Lite to read just a single scan or a choice of scans instead of the
whole score; see "Advanced Features" on page 116.

3. Editing
When PhotoScore Lite has finished reading the music, its interpretation of the first page pops up in a
window called the output window. Here you can edit mistakes PhotoScore Lite has made.

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Notice how the pages pane doesn’t appear in the picture above: in order to give yourself more room to edit
the music, it’s a good idea to hide it while you edit, by choosing View > Toggle Pages Pane (shortcut
Control+E or Command+E).

The top part of the window (with a buff-colored background) shows you the original page. The Full
detail view window at the top right-hand corner shows a zoomed-in portion of the original page,
according to where you point your mouse.

The large bottom part of the window (with a light gray background) shows PhotoScore Lite’s interpretation
of the first scan—that is, what PhotoScore Lite thinks the first page of the original says. Hence this part of
the window is where PhotoScore Lite’s mistakes can occur.

At the top left of the window it says (for example,) Page 1 of 2, and by clicking on the arrows you can
move through all of the pages that have been read (the output score). It makes sense to edit the first page
completely, then advance to the second page and so on until the whole output score has been edited.

To the bottom right of the window is the Keypad, similar in function to Sibelius’s Keypad. This can be
repositioned by clicking its title bar, and dragging.

There is a Create menu at the top of the window, which is also similar in function to the Create menu you
can show in Sibelius by right-clicking on the score with no selection, though features not appropriate for
PhotoScore Lite have been omitted.

What to Correct
The minimum level of correction recommended before sending the output score to Sibelius is to correct key
signatures and time signatures. Other mistakes such as pitch can be corrected in Sibelius, but correcting
key signatures and time signatures is much easier in PhotoScore Lite, so we recommend you do that.

In particular, if the score you are scanning is a transposing score, you will need to correct the key
signatures of the transposed instruments—to delete a single key signature, select it and type
Control+Delete or Command+Delete. Then add the correct key signature to that staff alone: choose
Create > Key Signature (shortcut K), and Control-click or Command-click the staff to which you want
to add the key signature.

To correct rhythmic mistakes, add the appropriate time signature if it’s not already present: choose
Create > Time Signature (shortcut T) and click in one of the staves to add the time signature. Once

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PhotoScore Lite knows the time signature, any rhythmic inaccuracies are indicated by small red notes over
the barline, showing the number of missing or extra beats. As you correct the mistakes, these red notes
disappear—and once your score is free of red notes, you can send it to Sibelius.

Once you are more proficient with PhotoScore Lite, you can correct the music completely in PhotoScore Lite
before sending it to Sibelius. The advantage of this is that you can spot errors by looking at the scanned
original on the screen instead of having to refer to it on paper.

Checking for Mistakes

Check for mistakes by comparing the bottom part of the window with the original scan at the top. The top
and bottom parts move about to show the region of the page the mouse is pointing at.

Avoid the temptation to compare the output page with the original music on paper—it is almost always
quicker to compare with the scan on the screen.

At the top right of the output window is the full detail view window, which shows in close-up the part of the
original that the pointer is over. Control-clicking or Command-clicking on this window makes the view
larger or smaller. This window can be repositioned by clicking its title bar and dragging.

MIDI Playback
Another way to check for mistakes is to have the output played back to you. Your computer will need a MIDI
device attached to make use of this feature (if you have more than one attached, the default one will be
used).

To play the whole page from the start, ensure that nothing is selected by clicking on an area of the page
with no notation. Then choose Play > Play/Stop (shortcut space), or click the Play button on the
toolbar. Do the same to stop the music. To play from a particular point on the page, select an object in each
of the staves you want playback from. It will commence from the start of the bar with the earliest selection.

By default, all the staves will play back with a piano sound, but you can change this: right-click (Windows)
or Control-click (Mac) the names at the start of the first system (for example, Staff 1), choose
Instruments from the context menu, then click Rename. You will see a dialog that looks a little like
Sibelius’s Create > Instruments dialog, from which you can choose the correct name (and therefore the
sound) used by that staff.

While the music is playing, the currently played bars will be highlighted in gray.

4. Sending to Sibelius
Once you have edited all the pages in the score, you should send them to Sibelius by doing either of the
following:
t Choose File > Send to > Sibelius (shortcut Control+D or Command+D)
t Click the icon next to the Save button at the top of the output window.
If Sibelius isn’t already running, it will start, and the Open PhotoScore or AudioScore File dialog
will appear:

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l This is a transposing score: switch on this option if your score contains transposing
instruments, and you will be prompted to choose the correct instruments when you click OK
l Use default instruments: opens the file without trying to work out which instruments are used
in the score
l Choose instruments: allows the user to choose an instrument for each staff in the score from a
dialog similar to the usual Instruments dialog; choose the staff in the scanned music that you want
to replace with a Sibelius instrument, then click Add as normal. If you add an instrument that
normally uses two staves (such as a piano), this will ‘use up’ two of the staves in the left-most list on
the dialog.
l Let Sibelius choose instruments: with this option switched on, Sibelius will attempt to work
out which instruments are used in the score; it does this by checking the names of the staves that are
set in PhotoScore—if a staff’s name doesn’t match an instrument Sibelius knows, it opens the file with
the default piano sound
l Use scanned page dimensions: this option tells Sibelius to format the score according to the
page size suggested by PhotoScore. By default, the page size of the selected manuscript paper used
for importing will be used instead, but you can switch this on if you like.
l The Page size, House style and orientation (Portrait or Landscape) options determine the
document setup of the resulting score.
Once your music has been opened in Sibelius you can do anything you like to it, just as if you had inputted
it yourself—but see "Multi-staff Instruments" on the next page for some clarification.

Editing Rhythmic Mistakes

If you send a score from PhotoScore Lite to Sibelius which has bars that don’t “add up,” Sibelius will
lengthen bars that are too short, and shorten bars that are too long.

To do this, Sibelius compares the length of the bars with the prevailing time signature. If a bar is too short,
Sibelius inserts rests at the end. If a bar is too long, Sibelius shortens it by omitting one or more notes/rests
at the end of the bar.

Although Sibelius adjusts the lengths of bars like this, you are strongly advised to correct faulty rhythms in
PhotoScore Lite in the first place rather than trying to fix them in Sibelius afterwards, as it will save you
extra work.

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Format
Sibelius uses Make Into System and Make Into Page to ensure that the format of the music is the
same as the original. However, if the notes seem uncomfortably close together or far apart in the end result,
try changing the staff size in Layout > Document Setup > Document Setup (shortcut Control+D or
Command+D). Alternatively, if you don’t need the format of the music to match the original, select the whole
score (Control+A or Command+A) and unlock the format (Control+Shift+U or Command+Shift+U).

Multi-staff Instruments
For instruments that use two staves by default, such as a piano, you may find that it isn’t possible to use
cross-staff beaming in music you have scanned. This is because PhotoScore Lite treats all staves as
separate instruments, which means that, by default, multi-staff instruments such as keyboards will be sent
to Sibelius as two separately-named staves without a brace.

When you send a PhotoScore file to Sibelius, you can use the Open PhotoScore File dialog to tell
Sibelius that, say, staves 1 and 2 are actually the right- and left-hand staves of a piano—either choose the
instruments yourself, or click Let Sibelius choose instruments.

For multi-staff instruments such as Flutes 1+2, if you want them to be written as two sub-bracketed staves
with a single name, you could either import each staff as a flute and then change the name and add a
brace in Sibelius, or import both staves as a piano, and then change the name and the sound ("Mixer" on
page 549).

If your original contains instruments that have a different number of staves on different systems—for
example, strings that are sometimes divisi—see "Advanced Features" on the next page.

Closing the Output Score

Once you have finished scanning a score and have sent it to Sibelius, and are satisfied with the result, you
should close the score in PhotoScore Lite before you start scanning a new one. To do this, choose File >
Close Score; if the score has unsaved changes, you will be prompted to save.

Deleting Unwanted Scans

PhotoScore Lite automatically saves each page you scan as a scanned image. This occupies a not
insignificant amount of hard disk space, so you should regularly delete scans that have been read. You do
not, however, have to delete the scans before scanning the next piece of music.

To delete unwanted scans:

1. If the pages pane is not currently shown, choose View > Toggle Pages Pane (shortcut
Control+E or Command+E).
2. Click on the name of the page you want to delete.
You can select more than one page at the same time by holding down Shift and clicking elsewhere
in the list. When a page is selected, the word Remove appears to the right of its name.
3. Click Remove to delete the page(s).
PhotoScore will warn you that you are about to delete these pages.
4. Click Yes to confirm their deletion.

Possible Problems
Scanning Takes a Long Time
If there are no signs of scanning happening—for example, if after clicking on the Scan or Preview button
the scanner remains silent with no lights moving or flashing—communication between the computer and the
scanner has probably been interrupted.

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Check that the scanner is switched on and that the cable between it and the computer is firmly connected
at both ends. If this doesn’t help, try reinstalling your TWAIN scanner driver software.

Beware that some scanners need to be switched on before the computer is turned on, otherwise they are
not detected.

Not all Staves/Systems are Detected

If after scanning a page you find that not all staves are highlighted in blue, or the staves are not correctly
joined into systems by a thick red vertical line, this may be because:
l The original has 13 or more staves on a page: only PhotoScore Ultimate can scan scores with more
than 12 staves.
l The original was not flat on the scanner glass: always close the lid when scanning, unless scanning a
thick book. It may also help if you gently press down on the scanner lid during scanning.
l The page was scanned at too low a resolution (for example, the staves are smaller than you think):
check the staff size, alter the scanner setting accordingly, and re-scan.
l You tried scanning a double-page spread: PhotoScore Lite cannot read both pages of a double-page
spread (for example, from a miniature score) at once. Re-scan each of the pages separately. Ensure
that the music on the facing page is completely off the glass, or not scanned—if any of it impinges on
the scan, PhotoScore Lite will not read the music correctly.
l The staves are not clear enough in the original to be detected: in this case, you can tell PhotoScore
Lite where any missing staves are located on the page—see "Advanced Features" below.
Reading Takes a Long Time
l If the page was scanned without being flat on the glass or with the lid open: you will get a black
border around the page that may spread across and obliterate some of the music. This can make
PhotoScore Lite take an extremely long time to read the page. If this happens, interrupt reading (see
below), then re-scan the page.
l If not all staves were detected after scanning (for example, some were not highlighted in blue): this
can slow reading down, see "Not all Staves/Systems are Detected" above.
Music Reads Inaccurately
If you find music seems to be reading very inaccurately, this may be because:
l The original is of poor quality, for example, a photocopy or an old edition.
l The original is handwritten (or uses a music font that looks handwritten): PhotoScore Lite is not
designed to read handwritten music.
l The music uses more than two voices.
l The music was scanned in black & white and was not straight enough: it is recommended that you
scan in shades of gray.
l The music was not straight enough when scanned and Make scans level was not selected in the
preferences (see "Advanced Features" below).
l The music symbol designs used in the original are of a non-standard shape or size.

Advanced Features
PhotoScore Lite has many features and options for more advanced use.

You are strongly recommended to familiarize yourself with this whole section before embarking on any
intensive scanning, such as orchestral/band scores or scores with many pages.

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Choosing Between Scanners

In the unlikely event that you have more than one scanner connected to your computer, you can choose
between multiple scanner drivers by choosing File > Select Scanner.

Adjusting Detected Staves/Systems

When you scan a page, PhotoScore Lite highlights staves it detects in blue, and joins them into systems
with vertical red lines.

However, if the original is of poor quality, PhotoScore Lite may not detect some of the staves/systems, and
you should tell PhotoScore Lite where they are.

The easiest method is to select the nearest blue staff (by clicking on it) and copy it by Alt-clicking or
Option-clicking over the center line of the missing staff (the horizontal position is not important).

You can create a blue staff from scratch by clicking and dragging it out with the left mouse button.

After creating the staff, ensure that it is joined to any other staves in the same system (see below).

PhotoScore Lite will automatically “clip” the staff in place, by adjusting the position and size of it, if it finds
an appropriate staff underneath. If it fails to position/size the staff correctly, scale the image to full size (by
clicking on the button at the top marked 100) and adjust it using the blue “handles.”
l You can drag any blue staff up and down with the left mouse button. This also causes the staff to
automatically clip in place.
l You can drag the ends of blue staves around, and can even put blue staves at an angle.
l You can alter the size of any blue staff—pull the “handles” in the middle of the staff up or down.
PhotoScore Lite can read pages that have a mixture of staff-sizes, and each blue staff can have a
different size. The top circular handle lets you change the curvature of the staff. This is useful when
scanning pages from thick books, where it is not possible to prevent the page from being curved at
the edges.
l If any scanned staff is left with no blue staff on top of it, the scanned staff and any music on it will be
ignored when the page is read. This can slow reading down, but is otherwise harmless.
l To join two adjacent staves together into the same system, click one staff so it goes red, then Alt-
click or Option-click the other staff. They will be joined near the left-hand end by a thick vertical (or
near-vertical) red line.
l To separate two joined staves into two separate systems, do exactly the same as for joining two
staves.
l PhotoScore Lite automatically guesses whether staves should be joined together or not when you
create new ones, or move existing ones.
l If you’ve messed up the blue staves and want to start again, Control-double-click or Command-
double-click the scan, and PhotoScore Lite will reset the blue staves to their original positions.
l When you have finished editing the staves/systems, check carefully that the staves are all joined into
systems correctly, as you cannot alter this once the page has been read.

Scan Window Options

If you have chosen to use PhotoScore’s scanning interface in File > Scanner Setup, there are various
further options and buttons available on the scan window:

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l The Read this page button reads just this scan. Clicking the arrowed part of the button opens a
menu that lets you choose where in the output score to insert this page once it has been read.
l Scale produces a dialog that lets you zoom in and out of the scan. The button to the right of Scale
zooms the image to fit the main window; 50 zooms to 50%; 100 zooms to 100%.
l Upside down quickly rotates the image by 180 degrees, in case it was scanned the wrong way up.
l Re-scan re-scans the page.
l On side quickly rotates the image by 90 degrees, in case it was scanned on its side.

Omitted Staves
In scores for many instruments, particularly orchestral scores, unused staves are often omitted.

If you replace the default instrument names (for example, “Staff 1”) at the start with proper names, then on
subsequent systems PhotoScore Lite will allocate instruments to staves in order from the top down. Hence, if
the original page omits an instrument from one system, then in the output window some of the staves will
have the wrong names. To correct a name in this situation, Right-click or Control-click over the existing
instrument name against the staff in question, and choose the correct instrument from the list of current
instruments.

On any system that has staves omitted you will probably have to correct several instrument names like this.
Do it with care, otherwise confusion will arise.

Multi-staff Instruments
For multi-staff instruments such as keyboards and divided wind and strings, PhotoScore Lite treats each
staff as a separately-named instrument.

If the number of staves for a multi-staff instrument varies at all in the original, for example, where strings
are divisi, then to avoid any confusion between the staves it’s best to give them slightly different names, for
example, Viola a and Viola b. You can change the names back once the score has been sent to
Sibelius.

Wherever any of the instrument’s staves are omitted, follow "Omitted Staves" above.

N.B. If the number of staves for the instrument increases (say from 1 to 2) during the score, and the second
staff has not occurred before, treat it by following "Instruments/Staves Introduced After the Start" below.

Instruments/Staves Introduced After the Start

Some scores include instruments or staves that are not shown on the first system.

When this happens, you should do the following on the system where the instrument/staff is first
introduced:

1. Correct the names of each of the other staves by right-clicking (Windows or Mac) or Control-
clicking (Mac) each name, and then selecting the correct name from the list of current instruments.
2. Tell PhotoScore Lite the name of the newly-introduced instrument/staff.
3. Point over whatever name it has filled in (which may say for example, Staff 5, or the name of an
omitted instrument). Right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac), click New.
4. Click a name from the list of instruments displayed.
If you want a non-standard name, you can edit the name at the bottom.

c Take extra care when completing this process as mistakes can result in additional confusion.

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Small Staves
In the output window, small staves are displayed at full size to make them legible, but they are indicated by
the following symbol at the end of the staff:

Other Preferences
The File > Preferences dialog contains various other options, as follows.
l On the Scanning page:
– Automatic scanning and Scan more quickly are only available in PhotoScore Ultimate
– PhotoScore: with this selected, PhotoScore uses its own scanning interface
– TWAIN (scanner default): when chosen, the standard TWAIN interface (that works with
all scanning programs) will be used when you choose File > Scan pages
– Select TWAIN scanner lets you choose which scanning device PhotoScore should use
– Make scans level: with this switched on, PhotoScore Lite will work out how rotated a scan
is, and then rotate it so that the staves are level. It is recommended that this is left selected.
– Read pages after scanning/opening is only available in PhotoScore Ultimate.
l On the Reading page, most options are disabled (since they are only available in PhotoScore
Ultimate). The only option you can switch on or off is Ties, Slurs and Hairpins, which is partly
enabled, because PhotoScore Lite can only read ties.
l On the Editing page:
– Automatic page margins: creates suitable page margins on each page
– Attach scanned staff panel to current staff: on the output window, this puts the
original scan just above the highlighted staff instead of at the top of the window. This means
you have to move your eyes less when comparing the output with the original, but the effect
can be confusing.
– Drag paper by: lets you choose whether you drag the paper either by clicking and
dragging, or Holding Shift and dragging (in a similar way to the options in the Mouse
page of Sibelius’s File > Preferences dialog).
l On the Advanced page:
– MIDI playback device lets you choose which of your computer’s playback devices
PhotoScore should use for playback
– System playback properties launches your operating system’s sound and audio device
properties dialog, allowing you to choose your playback and recording devices for audio, and
your preferred playback device for MIDI
– Display splash screen at start-up: lets you switch off the PhotoScore Lite splash
screen when you run the program
– Auto-save to backup file every n minutes: automatically backs up your score
regularly at the time interval specified.
If you change any of these options, they will remain as the new default settings each time use you
PhotoScore until you change them again.

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AudioScore Lite
AudioScore Lite from Neuratron is a transcription program designed to work with Sibelius. You can use it to
input music into Sibelius by playing a monophonic acoustic instrument (such as a flute, clarinet, or trumpet)
or singing into a microphone—or you can import an existing audio file in .wav or .aiff format. AudioScore
listens to your performance, transcribes the notes, and lets you edit them before sending them to Sibelius
for further editing. AudioScore Lite lets you transcribe up to 4 instruments simultaneously for up to 6
minutes. Sixteenth notes are the shortest note duration it can transcribe.

On-Screen Help
In addition to this topic, AudioScore Lite has its own on-screen help.

To access the on-screen help:

t Select Help > Neuratron AudioScore Help from AudioScore Lite’s menus.
AudioScore First
AudioScore First is an introductory version of AudioScore that comes with Sibelius First. AudioScore First can
transcribe up to 2 instruments simultaneously for up to 1 minute. Eighth notes are the shortest note duration
it can transcribe.

AudioScore Ultimate
An advanced version of AudioScore, called AudioScore Ultimate, is available to buy separately. AudioScore
Ultimate can transcribe up to 32 instruments simultaneously for up to 6 minutes. Sixteenth notes are the
shortest note duration it can transcribe. It can also import MP3 audio files and supports more advanced
note editing.

For details of AudioScore Ultimate, see [Link]

Suitable Microphones
AudioScore Lite works with any microphone connected to your computer using the USB, microphone input
or line input ports. However, cheap microphones — which typically produce large amounts of background
noise — may not produce the best results. One indication that your microphone may not be of sufficient
quality is that AudioScore Lite’s level meter when recording shows a high level even when you are not
playing or singing.

AudioScore Lite will attempt to recognize the performance regardless, but the result is less accurate,
particularly at extremes of pitch. Playing or singing more loudly or closer to the microphone (taking care not
to touch or blow on it) may help, but if you want to use AudioScore most successfully, a good quality
microphone will improve the quality of results you can obtain.

Suitable Performances
For best results, try to perform as clearly and as cleanly as possible, at a steady tempo; for example, if you
are playing violin, move your fingers between strings as silently as possible, and avoid tapping on the
instrument’s body with the bow or your fingers. Try to perform in quiet surroundings with as little
background noise as possible (including electrical interference, which you will often hear as a low “hum” if
your cabling is poorly shielded).

Copyright Music
You should be aware that if you record someone else’s music without permission you are likely to infringe
copyright. Copyright infringement is forbidden by the Sibelius license agreement.

Starting AudioScore Lite

Run AudioScore Lite by clicking its icon in the Start menu (Windows) or in the Applications folder (Mac).

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In AudioScore Lite, choose File > Select Devices to check that appropriate audio input and MIDI
output devices are selected. You must make sure that you choose the input device that corresponds to the
input to which your microphone is connected; unless your microphone is connected by USB, it may well be
called something cryptic.

The Three Stages

There are three stages when using AudioScore Lite:
l Creating tracks. AudioScore records your performance, works out what notes and pitches are
played, and determines the rhythm of your performance. AudioScore Lite lets you create up to four
tracks (for example, four instruments, or four staves in Sibelius) in a single project.
l Editing tracks. Edit the performance to create a basic score containing the intended rhythm and
pitches.
l Sending to Sibelius. The music appears in Sibelius, as if you’d inputted it using any other input
method.
You can then play the music back, re-arrange it, transpose it, create parts, or print it out.

1. Creating Tracks
The first stage is to create one or more tracks, either by recording using a microphone, or opening an
existing audio file (in .wav or .aiff format, or from an audio CD).

Recording a New Track Using a Microphone

To record a new track:

1. Click Record new track on the toolbar (shortcut * on the numeric keypad).
Before recording begins, this dialog appears:

– If you want to record to a metronome click, you can choose between one of the predefined
tempos (such as Adagio (slow) or Allegro (fast)), or enter a tempo of your own
choosing in quarter note (crotchet) beats per minute.
– If you want to record in your own time without a metronome click, choose Calculated from
performance. AudioScore will do its best to work out the note durations automatically, and
it’s easy to adjust them if it makes any errors.

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– Whether or not you are recording to a click, you should set the time signature before you
begin: only simple time signatures are available in AudioScore Lite, so if you need compound
time signatures (like 6/8) you will need to upgrade to AudioScore Ultimate.
2. Do one of the following:
t Click Record or Open to have AudioScore automatically select an instrument.
t Click Instrument to choose an instrument you are going use to record.
In this case, the Please Choose an Instrument window appears with additional options.

a. Choose whether to name your instruments in English, German or Italian.

b. Choose the appropriate instrument family from the Section list.
c. Choose the instrument itself from the Available list, and set a custom Name if you
want.
d. You can switch on Set as the default instrument for all tracks in
this composition if you don’t want to have to choose the instrument again for any
other tracks you subsequently add.
e. Click Record,
If you chose to play to a metronome click, AudioScore plays one bar of clicks; otherwise, it
starts recording immediately.
3. Sing or play into your microphone. As you do, you will see the music appear in the top half of the
window, known as the performance area:

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The performance area shows AudioScore’s interpretation of the current track in terms of pitch and
time, and is also where you edit the pitch, position and duration of notes.
Below the performance area is the score preview area, which shows AudioScore’s interpretation of all
tracks in notation: the current track shown in the performance area is highlighted in light blue in the
score preview area.
You can resize the performance area and the score preview area by clicking and dragging the divider
between the two areas.
You will also see a small input level window, which shows the current input level from your
microphone. You can resize this window by clicking and dragging its edges.
4. When you have finished recording, click Stop recording on the toolbar, press Space (Windows
only), or press * on the numeric keypad. Depending on the speed of your computer, AudioScore may
need to finish recognizing the notes in your performance before you can proceed: the black
information bar at the bottom of AudioScore’s window shows you the progress.
Recording Another Track
To record another track, click Record new track again. The new track is inserted directly below the track
selected in the score preview area. To select a track, click the instrument name in the score preview area;
you can select multiple adjacent tracks by Shift-clicking, or multiple non-adjacent tracks by Control-
clicking or Command-clicking.

As you record your new track, AudioScore will play back all of the existing tracks (if no track was selected
before you started recording), or just the tracks you selected before starting recording. AudioScore will use
the same tempo and metronome settings as used for the previous track. If your first track was recorded
freely without a metronome, AudioScore will use the tempo it worked out from your first performance as the
basis of the metronome click for subsequent tracks.

Inserting Music Into an Existing Track

To insert or append more music to an existing track:

1. Select the track in the score preview area by clicking its name.
2. Click in the performance area at the point at which you want to insert more music.
3. Do one of the following:

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t Choose File > Record to Current Track.

t Click the small red record button at the top left-hand corner of the performance area.
n This is not the same button as the main Record new track button on the toolbar.

Creating a New Track From an Audio File

To create a new track from an audio file, choose File > Open, and choose the .wav or .aiff file you want
to open, or insert an audio CD into your computer’s DVD-ROM drive and choose that. Just as when you
record a track using a microphone, AudioScore prompts you to choose the tempo, time signature and
instrument, so see "Recording a New Track Using a Microphone" on page 121 for help with those settings.
Unless you already know the tempo of your audio file, you should choose Calculated from
performance instead of one of the preset tempos.

2. Editing Tracks
Having recorded one or more tracks, the next stage is to edit them.

Playing Back the Performance

To play back your performance:
t Click in the performance area to set the starting position, then choose Play > Play/Pause
Original (shortcut O).
t Click the small green playback button at the top left-hand corner of the performance area.
The notes in the performance area are highlighted during playback.
Playing Back an Individual Note
To play back an individual note, click it in the performance area. If the note is part of a chord, double-click
the note to play the whole chord.

Deleting Tracks
To delete the current track (for example, the one displayed in the performance area, and highlighted in the
score preview area), choose Edit > Delete Current Track.

To delete multiple tracks, select them in the score preview area with Shift-click or Control-click
or Command-click, then choose Edit > Delete Selected Tracks.

c Deleting a track cannot be undone.

Editing Notes
You can only edit notes in the performance area, not in the score preview area. As you move the mouse
pointer over the performance area, the mouse pointer changes to help you understand what kinds of edits
you can make. Notice also that the black information bar at the bottom of the screen updates to show you
useful information about whatever your mouse pointer is hovering over:

To select a single note, click on it. To select a range of notes, click and drag on a blank bit of the
performance area. You can also select a continuous range of notes using Shift-click, or add individual
notes to the selection using Control-click or Command-click.

The edits you can make to notes are as follows:

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l Drag a note up and down to change its pitch. Hold Alt or Option to change the pitch by half-steps
(semitones).
l Drag the left or right-hand end of a note to change its duration. Rests are automatically created in
the score preview area if notes don’t adjoin. Where notes do adjoin, dragging the boundary between
the notes lengthens one and shortens the other.
l Drag a note left or right to change its position in the bar.
l Delete a note by selecting it and hitting Delete.
l To split a note (for example, if AudioScore did not correctly detect two or more notes of the same
pitch one after another), select it, then choose Notes > Split Into Two/Three/Four; you can
also right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) a note to see these options.
l To join two or more notes into a single note (which will end up with the pitch of the first note), select
the notes you want to join, and choose Notes > Join Notes into One. This option is also
available when you right-click (Windows) or Control-click (Mac) a note.
Moving Barlines
The vertical lines in the performance area denote beats and barlines: beats are shown in light gray, and
barlines are shown in black. You can move barlines by clicking and dragging them. As you do so, the score
preview area updates to show the resulting notation.

If your original performance was recorded to a click, you can adjust the barlines in any order, but if your
original performance was recorded freely, you should adjust the barlines from left to right.

Inserting a Bar
If you need to insert a bar, click in the performance area at the point at which you want to insert a bar, then
choose one of the options from the Notes > Insert Bar submenu:
l In Current Track adds a single empty bar to the current track
l In All Tracks adds a single empty bar to all tracks
l Other lets you add more than one bar to the current track, the selected track(s), or all tracks. In the
dialog that appears, you can also switch on Fill with notes to fill the newly-created bars with
notes.
Changing the Key Signature
AudioScore attempts to set the appropriate key signature automatically, but in the event that you want to
change it, choose Composition > Key Signature, then choose the desired key signature from the
Major Key or Minor Key submenu.

Changing the Time Signature

If you want to change the time signature after making your initial choice when recording your first track,
choose Composition > Time Signature, choose the desired time signature, and click OK.

Changing the Instrument

If you want to change the instrument used by the current track, choose Composition > Set
Instrument for Current Track, choose the desired instrument, and click OK.

Staff Display and Piano Roll Display

AudioScore has two modes for displaying the notes in the performance area. By default, it displays the
pitches on a regular 5-line staff. When you drag a note up and down in diatonic mode, it snaps to the next
diatonic pitch, unless you hold down Alt or Option to move the note by half-steps (semitones).

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t You can switch to a piano roll display by clicking the button at the top of the performance area.
A piano keyboard appears at the left-hand side of the performance area, and the selected note is
highlighted on the keyboard.
t Click the button again to switch back to staff display .
3. Sending to Sibelius
Once you are satisfied with the appearance of the tracks in the score preview area, it’s time to send your
music to Sibelius.

Create Score
You can choose File > Create Score to format the music from the score preview area as a page of
music, which you can edit in a similar way to editing scanned music in PhotoScore ("PhotoScore Lite" on
page 104). However, since AudioScore Lite can’t print, and since you have Sibelius, you can normally
proceed directly to sending a score to Sibelius.

Send to Sibelius
To send your score to Sibelius, click the Send to Sibelius button on the toolbar, or choose File > Send
to > Sibelius (shortcut Control+D or Command+D). If Sibelius isn’t already running, it will launch, and a
dialog will appear asking you to choose instruments and set the page size. This dialog is the same as the
one that appears when you send music from PhotoScore to Sibelius—for more details, see "4. Sending to
Sibelius " on page 113.

Saving an .opt file

If, for some reason, clicking the Send to Sibelius button doesn’t work, you can use File > Save As to
save your current AudioScore project as a PhotoScore (.opt) file. Once you have saved your
AudioScore project as an .opt file, you can open the .opt file directly in Sibelius using File > Open.

Splitting and Joining Scores (Sibelius Ultimate Only)

You can write several movements, songs or pieces inside the same score file, or write them in separate
scores and combine them later. You can also split a score containing several pieces into individual scores.

Several Movements, Songs or Pieces

It’s preferable to put several sections (for example, movements, songs or pieces of music) into one score
instead of having a separate score for each. Moreover, if you want any new sections to be on the same
page as each other, in the score or in parts, you must input them in the same file.

If you have different sections in two or more files that you want to join together, see "Appending Scores" on
the next page.

To write, say, a couple of two-system exercises on the same page:

l Input the first exercise as normal
l Select the barline at the end of the first exercise and press Return (on the main keyboard) to create
a system break
l If you also need full instrument names and an indented staff, select the bar at the end of the previous
system, open the Bars panel of the Inspector, and switch on Section end
l Create a double or final barline at the end of the first exercise if desired (Notations > Common >
Barline > Final or Double)

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l If the key signature is different at the beginning of the second exercise, create a new one using More
Options at the bottom of Notations > Common > Key Signature, making sure to switch on
Hide; this will hide the key change at the end of the previous system
l Similarly, if you require a different time signature in the next exercise, create it using More Options
at the bottom of Notations > Common > Time Signature, making sure to switch off Allow
cautionary; this prevents a cautionary time signature from being drawn at the end of the previous
system
l Reset the bar number at the beginning of the second exercise if desired (Text > Numbering > Bar
Number Change).

Inputting a Score in Several Files

If you want to input a single score in several separate files—perhaps if several people are copying or
orchestrating it simultaneously—you will probably want to adjust the first bar number, first page number
and first rehearsal mark of each file so that the bars, pages and rehearsal marks follow on from the previous
one.

Beware that if you plan to use parts, each section into which the full score was divided will start on a new
page in every part, which may produce inconvenient page-turns. So once the score is finished, it’s best to
join the files together using the File > Append feature—see below.

Appending Scores
You may want to join two scores together if, for example, you are creating songbooks out of separate song
files. Sibelius has a feature to append a score to the end of an existing score, automatically checking that
the two scores have matching staves, and ensuring that the appended score starts on a new page.

To use this feature, open the first score and choose File > Append. A dialog appears from which you can
choose another score to append (the file you choose to append will not itself be changed).

If it doesn’t have the same number of staves, Sibelius will tell you (it won’t append a score unless the staves
match exactly). If the number of staves is the same but some of the instrument names are different, Sibelius
will warn you but let you continue if you like.

Text styles, symbols, noteheads and so on are merged between the two files; if two text styles have the
same name but are set up differently, the one in the first score is used. Sibelius does several things to make
sure the join between the scores is neat: changes of time signature, key signature, clef and instrument are
created at the join if necessary. The final barline in the first score is set to be a page break and a “section
end,” so that the appended score starts on a new page with (typically) full instrument names. Thus the
appended score’s layout will normally be just the same as it was.

You may want to hide the cautionary clef and time signature changes, as well as key changes, where the
two scores join, particularly if it’s at a break between two movements or pieces. The quickest way to do this
is using Home > Plug-ins > Other > Tidy Appended Score, which automates all of those steps for you:

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Each of the options has a handy Info button that lets you find out more about when you should switch it
on or leave it switched off. Make your choices, click OK, and Sibelius processes the join between the two
movements or pieces.

Splitting Scores
If you have a single Sibelius score that contains several pieces, and you need to split it into separate files,
the simplest way to do this is to use Home > Plug-ins > Other > Export Selection as Score. First,
make a passage selection that contains the bars you want to split into a new score, then run the plug-in:
you will be prompted for the new score’s filename and the folder where it should be saved. Click OK, and a
few moments later your new, cut-down score is opened.

Printing
For details of standard paper sizes and advice on what page and staff sizes to use for particular types of
music, see "Document Setup" on page 633.

Setting the Default Paper Size

Each Sibelius score you create stores its own print settings, including the default paper size on which it
should be printed, but it can be helpful to check that your printer driver is set to use the correct default
paper size.

On Mac, each program on your computer maintains its own default paper size, so you need to ensure that
the correct size is set in the Page Setup dialog, which you can access from the File > Print pane in
Sibelius.

On Windows, you can also change the paper size using the Page Setup dialog, but this only affects
documents printed from Sibelius. The next time you start up Sibelius, its default paper size is reset to your
printer driver’s default again. This means that you should ensure your printer’s default settings are correct.

To verify the Windows default printer settings:

1. From the Start menu, click Devices and Printers.

2. Right-click your printer’s icon and choose Printing preferences.
3. Exactly what you will see next varies by printer manufacturer and model, but somewhere within the
printer’s settings you should be able to the correct default paper size, then click OK twice to confirm
the changes.

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Quick Printing
To print your score, click the File tab, then choose the Print pane, or type the shortcut Control+P or
Command+P). At the top of the pane is a large Print button: if you just want to print one or more copies of
your score without setting any advanced features, you can set the number of copies and click Print to
send your score to the default printer..

Printing Options
For more sophisticated printing needs, such as booklets, take a look at the other options in the Print pane.

On the right is a large print preview, which shows exactly what will be sent to your printer. If, for example,
you set your B5 score to print on A4 paper with borders and crop marks showing, the print preview will show
you exactly how this will look. Likewise, if you set your portrait score to print 2-up on landscape paper, the
print preview will show you exactly what will come out of your printer. Below the print preview are controls
to flip between the pages that will be printed, and to zoom the print preview in or out, so you can take a
closer look if you like.

Above the large Print button you will normally see two checkboxes: Print full score, and Print
parts. If the tab you were looking at when you decided to print is a part, then Print parts will be
switched on, but otherwise by default it’s switched off. When you switch it on, a table appears in which you
can choose which parts to print, and how many copies—see "Printing Dynamic Parts and Score Subsets" on
page 134.

Below the large Print button are the options for setting up the print job, as follows:
l Printer lists the printers available to your computer. By default, the printer you have chosen as
your system-wide default will be chosen, unless you have previously chosen another printer during
this session.
l Printer Properties either launches the printer preferences dialog for the chosen printer
(Windows) or takes you to the Print & Fax pane of System Preferences (Mac). On Windows,
changes made here only take effect until you quit Sibelius: to make permanent changes to your

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printer’s default settings, use Printer Preferences in Printers and Devices in Control
Panel.
l Duplex Options lets you tell Sibelius how the chosen printer handles duplex printing—see "Double-
sided Printing" on the next page.
l Print all pages / Print current page / Print Range chooses between printing all, one or
some of the pages of the score—see "Print Range" on the next page.
l Print one sided / Manually print both sides / Automatically print both sides
chooses between printing on only one side of each sheet of paper, asking you to flip the paper over
half way through the print job in order to print on the other side as well, or printing on both sides of
each sheet of paper automatically (this latter option only being available if your printer has an
automatic duplexing feature)—see "Double-sided Printing" on the next page.
l Uncollated / Collated chooses between printing all copies of required pages together, or printing
all of the pages required for each copy together—see "Collate" on the next page.
l Portrait Orientation / Landscape Orientation changes the orientation of how the page
will be printed, but it doesn’t change the orientation of the score itself (to do that, use Layout >
Document Setup > Orientation). Be careful if you change this: unless you switch on Fit to
paper or otherwise adjust Scale (see below) it will result in some part of the page not being printed.
l Normal / Spreads / Booklet / 2 Pages per Sheet chooses between printing a single page of
the score onto a single side of a sheet of paper, and three other imposition options that each put two
pages onto a single side of a sheet of paper—see below.
l Fit to paper automatically shrinks the pages of your score if necessary to fit onto the currently
chosen paper size—see "Fit to Paper" on the next page.
l Scale lets you set any scale factor for printing. Your music is normally printed at 100% size. To
reduce the music to fit onto smaller paper, switch on Fit to paper instead of working out the scale
factor yourself.
l Date and time footer tells Sibelius to print date and time footers on each page of your score.
This is useful for keeping track of different versions of a score. For details on setting up and
customizing this footer, see "Preferences" on page 172.
l Border prints a thin border around the page. When printing on outsize paper, this makes the pages
easier to visualize, and easier to guillotine, than just using crop marks. It’s also very useful to proof-
read scores scaled to (say) 65%, with Border and Spreads (see below) switched on.
l Crop marks are little cross-hairs used in professional publishing to point to the corners of the page.
Crop marks are required because books are printed on oversized paper that is subsequently trimmed
to the required size. It’s only sensible to use crop marks if you’re printing on paper that is larger than
your score’s pages.
l View options prints options switched on in the View tab, such as highlights, hidden objects and
note colors—see "Invisibles, Magnetic Layout, and Note Colors" on page 730 for more details of these
options.
l Print in color (Windows only) tells Sibelius to print any objects that you have colored in your
score in color (or gray if you have a black-and-white printer). Colors in any graphics you may have in
your score will also be printed. When switched off, colored objects print in black.
On Mac, an extra button, Use OS Dialog, appears at the bottom left-hand corner of the Print pane,
which lets you use the standard macOS-provided Print dialog rather than the special controls provided by
Sibelius. Note that if you choose to use the macOS dialog, most of the options described in these pages will
not be available.

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Print Range
If you don’t want to print the whole score, you can type a list of pages to print (for example, 1, 3, 8),
and/or a range of pages (for example, 5-9), which can be backwards to print in reverse order (for example,
9-5).

The page numbers you specify here are not necessarily the page numbers displayed in the score if your
score uses page number changes. Instead they refer to the physical pages in your score: if you want to
print the second, third, and fourth pages of the score, even though they may be numbered ii, iii and iv, you
type 2-4 in the Pages control. See "Page Numbers" on page 517.

Collate
When you print multiple copies of a score, by default, multiple copies are printed Uncollated, so if you
choose two copies the pages will come out in the order 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, and so on.

However, if you choose Collated, each copy of the score is collated properly, so the pages come out in
the order 1, 2, 3, 4... 1, 2, 3, 4.... This saves you having to sort the pages into order yourself, but on laser
printers printing may take a little longer.

Fit to Paper
This scales the score down in size, if necessary, so that the music fits within the print margins of the paper,
to avoid the edges of the music being clipped. This is particularly useful for printing Letter sized scores on
A4 paper (and vice versa), and for reducing Tabloid/A3 scores onto Letter/A4 paper. Fit to paper does
not however expand the music to fill the paper if it is larger than the page size.

Beware that US paper sizes such as Letter and Tabloid are not quite the same shape as each other, so the
page margins may turn out differently than you expect. No such problem arises with European paper sizes.

This option automatically adjusts the Scale setting, so if you have Fit to paper switched on, you can’t
change the Scale setting yourself.

Double-sided Printing
If your printer does not support automatic duplex printing, before you embark on a major print job, you
should make sure to tell Sibelius how your printer feeds paper. The variables are whether printed sheets
come out of your printer face up or face down, and whether the paper needs to be flipped over before it is
fed back into the printer. These two factors together determine whether or not the pages to be printed on
the other side of each sheet should be printed in reverse order.

Before you print, choose File > Print and click Duplex Options, to see this dialog:

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In the Manual Duplexing Options group, choose the radio button that matches the behavior of your
printer. This determines whether or not the pages to be printed on the reverse of each sheet of paper should
be printed in reverse order. Sibelius remembers this setting for each printer on your system, so you will only
need to set it once per printer.

Once you have this set correctly:

l Select Print all pages and Manually print both sides, then click Print. Sibelius will print
the odd-numbered (for example, right-hand) pages, then stop and show a message box telling you to
turn the paper over and feed it back into the printer: don’t click OK until you have done this, because
Sibelius will start printing the even-numbered pages as soon as you click OK.
l Feed the pages back into the printer, flipping them if necessary.
l Now click OK. Sibelius now prints the even-numbered (for example, left-hand) pages on the back of
the odd-numbered ones.
If your printer supports automatic duplex printing, then you don’t need to worry about manually re-feeding
any pages, but Sibelius does need to know how your printer flips the paper, and this can vary based on
whether you are printing portrait or landscape. If you imagine a sheet of paper in portrait orientation, you
can flip it on its long edge, turning it over like the page of a portrait book, or you can flip it on its short edge,
turning it over like the page of a notebook with spiral binding at the top (sometimes known as tumbling).

The best way to establish how your printer behaves is to try it out. With a score open whose pages are in
landscape orientation:
l Choose File > Print, select Print all pages, Normal, and Automatically print both
sides, then click Print.
l Check the music is the same way up on both sides of the paper. If it is not, go back to Duplex
Options and choose the Flip on short edge radio button under Portrait orientation,
then try again.
l Now choose File > Print, select Booklet, and Automatically print both sides, then click
Print.
l Check the music is the same way up on both sides of the paper. If it is not, go back to Duplex
Options and choose the Flip on short edge radio button under Landscape orientation,
then try again.
The settings in Duplex Options are remembered by Sibelius on a per-printer basis, so once you have
established how the automatic duplexing works for your printer for both portrait and landscape scores, you
won’t need to change this again in future.

Spreads
This prints two consecutive pages side by side on each sheet of paper, and odd-numbered pages are
always printed at the right-hand side of the paper. This format is suitable for proofing.

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With Spreads selected, either:

t Make sure your paper is at least twice the size of your pages in Sibelius (for example, Tabloid/A3
paper for Letter/A4 pages).
t Use the same page size as paper size but reduce the Scale accordingly, for example, print Letter/A4
pages at 68% on Letter/A4 paper.
Then print as normal, using any other options such as Border.

2-Up
Similar to Spreads, except that the first page you specify is always printed on the left.

Booklet
A “booklet” is a small book consisting of double-sided pages stapled in the middle. Booklets are printed with
two pages side-by-side on sheets of paper that are twice the size of the pages.

The pages have to be numbered strangely when printed so that it all works when the booklet is assembled.
For instance, the outermost sheet of a 16-page booklet would have pages 16 and 1 on the front (in that
order) and pages 2 and 15 on the back. Fortunately this complicated layout procedure, known technically
as “imposition,” is done automatically for you by Sibelius.

To print as a booklet, choose Booklet in File > Print. Many of the other options are then set and
disabled, to ensure you get the right result: booklets are always printed in landscape orientation, always
collated, and always using both sides of each sheet of paper (you can choose between manual and
automatic duplexing if your printer supports automatic duplexing). Click Page Setup to check that the
right paper size is chosen: you could print a booklet from a score that uses A4 pages either on A3 paper, so
that each A4 page is printed full-size, or on, say, A4 paper, so that each A4 page is printed at 70% of its full
size.

Notice that the print preview shows what will actually be printed on each side of each sheet of paper. The
first page shown in the preview is one side of the first sheet of paper, the second page is the other side of
that sheet, the third page is the first side of the second sheet, and so on. This is not, however, the order in
which the pages will come out of your printer: Sibelius will print one side of each sheet first, then prompt
you to turn over the printed stack and feed it back into the printer to print the other side.

You may notice that the first page shown in the print preview is completely blank. This might happen if your
score has, say, six pages, and the first page is numbered as page 2: this requires an 8-page booklet, with
pages 8 and 1 (the outside of the booklet) left blank. If you find that Sibelius prints a blank sheet at the start
of a booklet printing job, don’t discard that blank sheet: feed it back into the printer to be sure of getting
the correct result.

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Finally, choose how many copies of the booklet you want to print using the Copies control next to the large
Print button, then click Print. Sibelius will print the outward pages of all of the copies of the booklet,
then show a message box prompting you to turn the paper over and feed it back into the printer. Once you
have done this, click OK and Sibelius will print the inward pages.

For example, the printing order of an 8-page booklet is like this:

l Outward pages: 1 & 8 (together, page 1 on the right), 3 & 6
l Inward pages: 2 & 7, 4 & 5.
Note also that two adjacent page numbers on a sheet always add up to the total number of pages (rounded
up to a multiple of four), plus 1; in the above case, 9.

When the job has finished, fold each booklet in half, and staple it.

Printing Dynamic Parts and Score Subsets

To print dynamic parts, either choose Parts > Print > Print All Parts, which selects all parts for
printing, choose File > Print when viewing a part, which selects just the current part for printing, or
enable Print parts & score subsets above the large Print button. In any of these cases, you see
the regular File > Print page, with an extra table at the top of the page, above the large Print button
(see right).

To print score subsets, choose File > Print and select Print parts & score subsets above the
large Print button. In any of these cases, you see the regular File > Print page, with an extra table at the
top of the page, above the large Print button (see right).

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The table lists the parts and any score subsets in the score, the number of copies to be printed (as specified
in Parts > Print > Copies, though you can also adjust the numbers here if you like), and the saved paper
size and orientation (as specified in Page Setup). Any changes you make to the controls in File > Print
or the Page Setup dialog will be applied to all of the parts selected in the table at the top of the page.

When you click Print, Sibelius will print all of the selected parts and score subsets, one after the other. If
you are printing more than one part or score subset, you will not be able to adjust the page range in the
Print page, and if you adjust the number of copies to be printed, the number specified here will override
the individual settings of the parts and score subsets to be printed.

Printing Multiple Scores at Once

You can print multiple files at once (for example, a whole folder) using Home > Plug-ins > Batch
Processing > Print Multiple Copies plug-in. You are first asked to choose a folder. Make your
selection, and a dialog appears:

l Choose the folder from the Folders containing scores list at the left.
l Select from the Scores in selected folder list, set the Copies drop-down to the number of
copies of this file you want to print, and click Add File. Click Add All to add all of the scores in
the chosen folder to the Print queue list, with the chosen number of copies.
l Build up the list in the Print queue at the right by adding more files, and when you’re ready to
print, click Print.
The plug-in will print all the scores in the queue the specified number of times with the default options (it is
not possible to set options such as booklet printing and such from the plug-in).

The Read Copies button opens each file in the chosen folder and looks for the text ~copies=n attached
to any of the first five bars in the first five staves, where n is the number of copies that should be printed,
and adds them to the Print queue list with the appropriate number of copies set. If a file contains more
than one text object of the form ~copies=n it is assumed to be a score before part extraction and so is not
added.

Choosing Quality Paper

Investing in very good paper can make your printouts look twice as good. Good paper is bright white, is
very opaque so the music doesn’t show through the back, and is reasonably stiff so it doesn’t flop on a
music stand. Avoid ordinary thin typing paper or photocopier paper—we recommend paper of about 26
lb/ream or 100 gsm.

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Problems with Margins

Some printers may cut off the edges of your music, particularly the bottom edge. This is because most
printers need room to grip the paper.

One solution is to move the music further away from the edge by increasing the music’s page margins using
Layout > Document Setup > Margins.

If your music’s layout is sensitive to reformatting, and you find that only (say) the bottom of the page is
being cropped off, you can prevent the music reformatting by decreasing the top page margin by (say) 0.2
inches (5mm) when you increase the bottom margin by 0.2 inches (5mm), so that the music just moves up
the page a little. Alternatively, use Lock Format before adjusting the margins (see "Layout and
Formatting (Sibelius Ultimate Only)" on page 660).

Problems with Double-sided Printing

Laser printers tend to wrinkle paper slightly when printing on it. This can make printers misfeed if you put
paper back in to print on the other side. This problem will be reduced if you leave the paper to settle for an
hour or so after printing the first side, or if you feed the paper manually sheet by sheet for the second side
(which is a bore). Some misfeed problems are also caused by residual static from the corona charge in most
laser printers; it may be alleviated by “riffling” the paper before re-feeding.

If your printer misfeeds, try any or all of these:

l Leave the paper to cool for a while after printing the first side
l Manual feed the second side
l Open the exit flap (if there is one) on the printer, which provides a straighter feed path.
If toner on the first side slips off when printing the second side:
l Leave the paper to cool for a while after printing the first side
l If there are settings to feed the paper faster (for example, a lower print resolution), try these for the
second side.

Exporting Audio Files

Sibelius can save a digital audio file of your score, ready to burn straight onto CD or turn into an MP3 file to
post on the Internet. You must be using a playback configuration that uses one or more virtual instruments
in order to save audio files from Sibelius, such as the supplied Sibelius Sounds sound library ("Sibelius
Sounds" on page 608).

Exporting the Whole Score

To create a digital audio file of your entire score in WAV, AIFF, or MP3 format:
l If you are using virtual instruments simultaneously with other MIDI devices for playback, only the
staves that are played back through virtual instruments can be exported as audio. Therefore, you
should preferably ensure that your current playback configuration only uses virtual instruments
before you start ("Playback Devices" on page 537).
l Choose File > Export > Audio to see the exporting options
l You can choose which playback configuration to use: if the current configuration is unsuitable,
Sibelius shows you a yellow warning triangle (meaning that only some of the staves are exported), or
a red warning circle (meaning that none of the staves are exported), to remind you to choose a more
appropriate configuration.

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l Enable the Omit muted instruments option to exclude any Instruments that are muted in the
Mixer.
l You can choose whether to export the score from the start of the score, or from the current position of
the playback line, if it is not currently located at the start of the score. If you want to export only a
section of the score as audio, a better approach is to use the Export Selection as Audio plug-
in—see "Exporting Part of the Score" below.
l For WAV and AIFF file formats you can specify the bit-depth and the sample rate to export: normally
a depth of 16 bits and a sample rate of 44.1KHz is sufficient (equivalent to CD-quality audio), but if
you know what you’re doing you can increase these settings, producing a higher-quality audio file at
the expense of requiring more hard disk space.
l For MP3 you can specify the Bit Rate in kbps (kilobytes per second) and the sample rate (44.1 or
48 kHz). The exported MP3 uses the score information for the MP3 ID3 tags where applicable.
l Sibelius tells you how long the audio file will be, and approximately how much hard disk space it will
occupy.
l When you are happy with these settings, click the Export button at the bottom of the page and the
export will begin. Sibelius exports the audio file off-line, meaning that it does not play the score back
audibly while it works; instead, it streams the audio data direct to your hard disk. Depending on the
complexity of the score and the speed of your computer, export may be faster or slower than real
time. This has the advantage that if the score is too complex for your computer to be able to play
back in real time without glitching or stuttering, you will still be able to export a glitch-free audio
track: it will just take longer to export than it would take to play the score back directly.
l If you want to stop the recording at any point, click Cancel in the progress window that appears.
The partial audio file is saved in the specified location.

Exporting Part of the Score

To export just a section of your score as an audio file, first select the passage you want to export, then
choose Home > Plug-ins > Other > Export Selection as Audio. A dialog appears, in which you can
choose the filename and folder for the exported audio file. Click OK, and the audio file is exported.

Exporting Each Staff as Audio

To export each staff in your score as a separate audio file—sometimes called a stem—you can use an
included plug-in. If you would like to export only some of the staves in your score, select those staves before
running the plug-in; otherwise, to export all staves, make sure nothing is selected, then choose Home >
Plug-ins > Batch Processing > Export Each Staff as Audio. A dialog appears, in which you
can choose whether to Export multi-staff instruments together (which exports, for example,
both the right- and left-hand staves of a piano together) or Export each staff separately (which
exports them as separate audio files).

You can also choose the format of filename to be used, and the location where the audio files should be
saved; by default they will be saved alongside the score. Click OK, and a progress bar appears as each
audio file is exported; this can take a little while, so be patient.

Exporting Rehearsal Recordings

It can be useful to create audio tracks for individual singers or players in a choir or other ensemble to
rehearse their line by making their line louder than all of the other instruments. Sibelius makes this very
easy: choose Home > Plug-ins > Batch Processing > Rehearsal Recordings.

This plug-in creates an audio track for each part in a single operation, with one part brought forward in the
texture (either by half-muting or scaling down the volume of the other staves) and even changing its pan
position (so that the principle part is, say, panned left and the accompaniment is panned right, or vice

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versa). If you don’t need audio tracks for every single part, you can change which parts will be exported by
selecting one or more parts from the list and clicking Set/Clear to either include or exclude them from the
export.

Once you click OK the audio files are exported, ready for burning to audio CD or conversion to MP3, so that
you can email them to your performers, or put them up on your web site.

Exporting Video Files

Sibelius can save a digital video file of your score, ready to burn straight onto DVD or upload to the Internet.
You must be using a playback configuration that uses one or more virtual instruments in order to save video
files from Sibelius, such as the supplied Sibelius Sounds sound library ("Sibelius Sounds" on page 608).

Exporting the Whole Score

To create a digital video file of your entire score in WMV (Windows) or MOV (Mac) format:
l If you are using virtual instruments simultaneously with other MIDI devices for playback, only the
staves that are played back through virtual instruments can be exported as video. Therefore, you
should preferably ensure that your current playback configuration only uses virtual instruments
before you start ("Playback Devices" on page 537).
l Choose File > Export > Video to see the exporting options.
l You can choose which playback configuration to use: if the current configuration is unsuitable,
Sibelius shows you a yellow warning triangle (meaning that only some of the staves are exported), or
a red warning circle (meaning that none of the staves are exported), to remind you to choose a more
appropriate configuration.
l Enable the Omit muted instruments option to exclude any Instruments that are muted in the
Mixer.
l You can choose whether to display the playback line in your exported video.
l You can choose to use the current score paper texture as the background in your video, or just use a
plain white background. (See "Textures" on page 183 for details on how to change the score paper
texture—note that only the score paper texture is used when exporting videos, not those of parts and
saved versions.)
l You can choose which staves you want to be displayed in the video (although the playback from all
staves in the score will be audible unless you’ve muted them in the Mixer—"Mixer" on page 549), to
ensure that the music isn’t too squashed to be legible.
l Sibelius includes all the staves by default, but you can override this if you prefer; or, if you wish, you
can preserve the exact layout of your score—generally you should only do this if you want to adjust
the appearance of your score by hand, see "Manually Preparing Scores for Video Export" on
page 140.
l Sibelius reformats the display to make best use of the video proportions—the Preview shows you
how the score will look when rendered as a video.
l You can specify the resolution to export at: normally a standard definition (480p) is sufficiently
legible, but if you know what you’re doing you can increase these settings, producing a higher-
quality video file at the expense of requiring more hard disk space. To learn more about different
video resolutions, see "A Word About Video Resolutions" on the next page.
l Sibelius tells you how long the video file will be, and the maximum hard disk space it will occupy (in
reality this will vary according to how busy your score is and which display options you’ve chosen).
l Filename: determines the name of the file given to the exported video file.

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l Save to folder: lets you choose where the exported video file is saved; click Browse and choose
the desired folder
l When you are happy with these settings, click Export at the bottom of the page and export will
begin. Sibelius exports the video file off-line, meaning that it does not play the score back audibly
while it works; instead, it streams the audio data direct to your hard disk and synchronizes this with
the video frames. Depending on the complexity of the score and the speed of your computer, export
may be faster or slower than real time. This has the advantage that if the score is too complex for
your computer to be able to play back in real time without glitching or stuttering, you will still be able
to export a glitch-free audio track for the video: it will just take longer to export than it would take to
play the score back directly.
l If you want to stop the export at any point, click Cancel in the progress window that appears.

Exporting Individual Parts

It can sometimes be useful to export a video, say for rehearsal purposes, which contains only one
instrumental part’s music but in which you can hear all the instruments in the score playing back.

To create a digital video file of an individual instrumental part in this way:

l As with exporting the full score, you should preferably ensure that your current playback
configuration only uses virtual instruments before you start ("Playback Devices" on page 537).
l Click the + menu at the right-hand end of the document tab bar, below the Ribbon.
l Click the name of the part you wish to view and Sibelius will open it in a new tab.
l Choose File > Export > Video to see the exporting options.
l Most of the same options are available as when exporting the full score, with the exception of the
layout settings for choosing the staves to appear in the video.
l Note that a warning message is displayed, telling you that only the staves in the current part will be
displayed in the video you export.
l Even though only one part’s music will be displayed, remember that the soundtrack will contain audio
from all the instruments in the score—to change this, use the Mute and Solo buttons in the Mixer
before exporting ("Mixer" on page 549).
l Choose the display settings, resolution and a filename using the remaining options.
l Finally, click Export at the bottom of the page and export will begin.
l If you want to stop the export at any point, click Cancel in the progress window that appears.

A Word About Video Resolutions

You should carefully consider which resolution you intend to export at, since different resolutions have
different aspect ratios (the relationship of width to height). Most videos either use a 4:3 ratio or 16:9 ratio for
widescreen. If you’re ever short of things to do, you could try measuring your computer monitor or television
screen to find out which aspect ratio it uses.

Video resolutions are usually described in terms of width x height (in pixels), or abbreviated to the height in
pixels followed by a letter indicating whether the lines of each frame of the video are drawn in sequence
(non-interlaced or progressive scanning, abbreviated to “p”) or alternately drawn (interlaced scanning,
abbreviated to “i”). Different resolutions will give rise to very different quality videos.

Consider whether your video will be watched on a device with a small screen, such as a smartphone, or on
larger devices like tablets or a high-definition monitor or television.

Sibelius exports at a range of standard video resolutions, all of which use progressive scan (indicated by the
“p”), suitable for watching on a range of display sizes:

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l Fastest (360p) uses a 4:3 aspect ratio, 480 pixels wide by 360 pixels high. This is the lowest
quality video you can export from Sibelius, suitable for watching on small screen devices such as
smartphones, but it has the advantage of being quicker to upload to the Internet.
l Standard (480p) uses a 4:3 aspect ratio, 640 pixels wide by 480 pixels high. This resolution should
be sufficient for you to read most scores on standard-definition (SD) screens including tablet devices.
l HD (720p) uses a 16:9 aspect ratio, 1280 pixels wide by 720 pixels high. This is the standard high-
definition (HD) video resolution, suitable for watching on any HD display, however the size of the file
produced means this will be much slower to upload to the Internet.
l Full HD (1080p) uses a 16:9 aspect ratio, 1920 pixels wide by 1080 pixels high. This is the highest
quality video you can export from Sibelius, though not all HD displays support such a high resolution.
Videos exported at Full HD are likely to take substantially longer to upload to the Internet.
If you are publishing your video on YouTube or Facebook, note that these services automatically produce
lower-resolution versions of videos you upload, so you should export at the highest resolution you can—
"Sharing on the Web" on page 76.

Manually Preparing Scores for Video Export

Sibelius automatically chooses optimal settings for laying out your score based on the resolution you
choose to export at. However, if you would prefer to lay out your score by hand for a video display, here are
a few things to bear in mind (for more detailed instructions on how to make these kinds of changes,
"Document Setup" on page 633, "Layout and Formatting (Sibelius Ultimate Only)" on page 660).
l Choose a page size appropriate to the resolution and aspect ratio of the video you will export at; here
are some sensible defaults:
– If exporting at 360p or 480p, set a custom page size of 11.69 inches wide by 8.77 inches tall
(297mm wide by 222.8mm tall);
– If exporting at 720p or 1080p, set a custom page size of 11.69 inches wide by 6.58 inches tall
(297mm wide by 167.1mm tall).
l Unlock all formatting in the score and then check to see if any new page or system breaks need to be
added ("Breaks" on page 653).
l Consider reducing the staff size only if the music on the page is too cramped; aim to fit a single
system on a page if there are four or more staves in the score, two systems to a page if there are
three staves and three systems to a page for one-staff scores.
l To prevent your score being squashed into the center of the page, reduce the top and bottom staff
margins to around 5mm (if your score has a title, you may wish to set the top staff margin to be
25mm on the first page only).
l To automatically improve the layout and appearance of the score, you should also consider making
judicious use of these tools:
– Appearance > Reset Notes > Reset Note Spacing
– Layout > Staff Spacing > Reset Space Above/Below
– Layout > Staff Spacing > Optimize
– Layout > Hiding Staves > Hide Empty Staves
– The various options in the Layout > Format group.
When you’re happy with the layout and appearance of your score, choose File > Export > Video, select
Use score layout and then choose any other options you wish before clicking the Export button.

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Sharing Video Files on the Web

If you want to publish your music online for people to view and comment on, Sibelius can export a suitable
file and upload it directly to a range of video-sharing services—"Sharing on the Web" on page 76.

Burning Video Files to DVD

If you have a DVD-R/RW drive (or “DVD burner” as they are often known) in your computer, it should have
come supplied with some software for creating DVDs. The exact process for burning video files saved from
Sibelius onto a DVD will vary according to the program supplied with your DVD burner; see its manual for
details.

Exporting PDF Files

Portable Document Format (PDF) files allow documents generated by programs such as word processors
and desktop publishers to be published electronically, preserving their original appearance, for viewing and
printing on any system.

You can export PDF files directly from Sibelius, and choose whether to export the full score only, the full
score and all the instrumental parts in a consolidated PDF file, or only the instrumental parts, either as one
consolidated PDF file, or as separate PDF files.

Choosing What to Export

First, choose File > Export > PDF. You will see a list of options:
l Score only exports only the full score.
l Score and all parts (one file) exports the full score and a single copy of each part into a
single PDF file.
l Score and all parts (separate file) exports the full score and a single copy of each part
into separate PDF files.
l All parts only (separate files) exports a single copy of each part, with a separate PDF file
for each part.
l All parts only (one file) exports a single copy of each part into a single PDF file.
l Selection of parts (separate files) exports a single copy of each part selected in the list
directly to the right of the list of options to separate files.
l Selection of parts (one file) exports a single copy of each part selected in the list directly
to the right of the list of options to a single file.
l Disable the Include colored objects option to ensure that the exported PDF is true black (grayscale).
Sibelius lets you create useful filenames for the PDFs being saved using tokens. Sibelius lists its recognized
tokens below the Filename edit control. By way of example, if your score were called Opus 1 and you
were extracting the 2nd oboe part, entering a filename of %f - %p (part %n of %o).pdf would
evaluate to Opus 1 - 2nd Oboe (part 4 of 29).pdf.

By default, Sibelius names the PDFs in a sensible format including the score’s filename and the part name.
Once you have made your choice, click the big Export button.

When exporting the score and parts together, or all of the parts together, if the different pages of the score
or parts use different paper sizes or orientation, this is correctly set in the exported PDF file.

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Font Embedding
PDF files exported from Sibelius always embed all of the fonts required to display the file correctly on
another computer (subject to any restrictions placed on third party fonts that may prohibit embedding), so
you can send your files to any recipient with confidence, even somebody who doesn’t have Sibelius.

Settings
Sibelius lets you maintain the score layout for PDF export or change the page margins and staff size to
optimize the score layout of the PDF for viewing on a tablet (such as iPad).

Exporting Graphics
Sibelius can export (save) a passage or page of music as a picture in various standard graphics file formats,
and you can even just copy and paste graphics from Sibelius directly into another application, such as
Microsoft Word. This means you can easily include music in other documents, such as articles, worksheets,
essays, music books, cover designs, posters and program notes.

There are three main ways to export graphics from Sibelius:

l Copy and paste directly into another application—see "Copying Graphics to the Clipboard" below.
l Exporting files in a variety of formats using File > Export > Graphics—see "Export Graphics" on
the next page.
l Exporting the whole score and/or its instrumental parts as PDF files—"Exporting PDF Files" on the
previous page.
If your final document will consist mostly of music, you can alternatively use Sibelius itself as the program in
which to assemble music and graphics, for example to create worksheets or scores with a graphical cover
page—"Importing Graphics" on page 415.

Copying Graphics to the Clipboard

Sibelius lets you copy an area of a score to the clipboard, which you can then paste directly into another
application as a graphic.
l If you want to export a specific bar or passage, select it first.
l Choose Home > Clipboard > Select Graphic (shortcut Alt+G or Option+G).
l If you made a selection, a dashed box appears around the selection. If you didn’t make a selection,
the cursor will turn into a crosshair and you can click and drag around the area of the score you wish
to export.
l Adjust the size of the marquee (see below) so that it encloses exactly what you want to copy
l Choose Home > Clipboard > Copy (shortcut Control+C or Command+C).
l Switch to the destination application, and choose Edit > Paste (shortcut normally Control+V or
Command+V) or Edit > Paste Special.
You can set the resolution of the graphic and choose whether Sibelius should export in monochrome or color
from the Other page of File > Preferences—"Preferences" on page 172.

When you use copy and paste graphics export, Sibelius produces a bitmap graphic. If you want to use a
vector graphic, use File > Export > Graphics dialog instead—see "Export Graphics" on the next page.

Adjusting the Marquee

To adjust the marquee, you can:

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l Click and drag a handle to extend the marquee in that direction.

l Hold down Control or Command and drag either left- or right-hand handles to snap the ends of the
marquee to barlines.
l Hold down Shift and drag any handles to enlarge the marquee proportionally in both directions,
for example, to make the marquee taller both above and below the staff, grab one of the top handles
and hold down Shift as you drag to extend the marquee both upwards and downwards.
If you have a passage or system selection in the score prior to carrying out the above steps, Sibelius will
automatically draw a box around that area when you choose Select Graphic. The box will snap to the
top and bottom of staves and so you will probably find it necessary to extend the selection both up and
down. To do this, hold down Shift and drag the top handle of the box up.

Inserting Graphics into Microsoft Word

To place a graphic created in Sibelius that you have copied to the clipboard using the steps above into a
Word document:
l Position the caret in your Word document where you want the graphic to go.
l Choose Edit > Paste, shortcut Control+V or Command+V. The graphic will appear in your
document.
l Now, increase or decrease the size of the music by dragging any corner of the box. Do not drag an
edge, otherwise the music will stretch and lose the correct aspect ratio. (Type Control+Z or
Command+Z to undo if you do this by accident.)
In some versions of Microsoft Word, you may find that attempting to paste a graphic from another
application does not work correctly. If you find this to be the case, choose Edit > Paste Special and,
from the list of available formats, choose Bitmap.

Beware of editing the graphic within Word—its graphics editor does not handle music well and might
produce unexpected results. Use a dedicated graphics program instead.

Export Graphics
Instead of using the clipboard, you can export a graphics file to disk. Sibelius lets you export the whole
score, a single page, one or more systems or a specific area of the score just as easily:
l If you want to export one or more systems, first select the desired systems as a passage, then choose
File > Export > Graphic, then under Pages, choose Selected systems.
l If you want to export one or more whole pages, or the whole score, just choose File > Export >
Graphic, then under Pages, choose All or Pages and enter the page numbers you wish to export
as appropriate.
l If you want to export a specific area of the score, make a passage selection around the area you wish
to export, then choose Home > Clipboard > Select Graphic (shortcut Alt+G or Option+G). The
cursor will change into a cross, at which point you can fine-tune the selected area by dragging any
of the marquee’s handles (see above). Now choose File > Export > Graphic, and under Pages
choose Graphic selection.
The File > Export > Graphics page has the following options:
l Graphics format: lists the various graphics file formats that Sibelius can save. See "Graphics
Formats" on page 145 for a discussion of the relative merits of each format and its suitability for
various applications.
l Options: further options, some of which are only available for certain formats:

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– Monochrome (TIFF, PNG, BMP only): unless you need to export a score that contains colored
objects (or imported graphics that use color), or need an anti-aliased image, it’s a good idea to
leave this switched on. Saving monochrome graphics files keeps the size of the resulting file
down to the minimum, but doesn’t compromise any quality (provided you don’t need color).
– Anti-aliased (TIFF, PNG, BMP only): if you are exporting bitmap graphics at a low
resolution for screen display rather than high-quality printing, switching on this option will
improve their appearance; only available if Monochrome is switched off.
– Include View menu options: this option specifies whether the current options from the
View menu (such as hidden objects, highlights, note colors and so on) should be included
visibly in the graphics file(s). By default this option is switched off.
– Include colored objects: if you have this option switched off (or if Monochrome is
switched on), any colored objects in your score will be colored black in the exported graphics
file, and any color TIFF graphics that have been imported will be exported in grayscale.
– Substitute: these options do the same as for printing ("Printing" on page 128), namely fix
bugs in certain graphics programs that can make lines and braces draw incorrectly.
l Size: these options control the size of the saved graphics file; different options are available for
different formats:
– Dots per inch (TIFF, PNG, BMP only): lets you control the resolution of exported bitmap
images. The higher the dpi setting, the higher the resolution of the exported file. The value here
gives the quality of the bitmap as compared with a laser printer; so choosing 300 will look the
same quality as a 300dpi laser print.
– Adjust size to improve staves (TIFF, PNG, BMP only): this option allows Sibelius to
make slight adjustments to the chosen Dots per inch/Scale settings in order to ensure
that the distance between all the staff lines in the exported file will be an even number of
pixels, which improves their appearance.
– Use smallest bounding box: defines the dimensions of the resulting graphics file. If this
option is switched off, the graphics file will use the page dimensions of the score (including the
margins) as the bounding box. With the option switched on, the file will be cropped to the
smallest size possible, for example, just to the edges of the music.
l Filename: determines the name of the file given to the exported graphics file; if you save multiple
pages, the name entered here forms the basis of the name of each file (which will be followed by the
page number of the score), and optionally also the name of the folder.
l Save to folder: lets you choose where the exported graphics file(s) will be saved; click Browse
and choose the desired folder.
l Create subfolder: if you choose to export a range of pages or the whole score and you switch
this on, Sibelius will create a folder to put all the graphics files in, by default taking its name from the
Filename specified above; so if you specify a filename of, say, Concerto 1st movt, the folder
will be called Concerto 1st movt (although you can change this if you like).
When you’ve chosen your options, click the big Export button to export the graphics file(s).

Batch Conversion
Sibelius includes a plug-in that can automatically save graphics files for all the scores in a folder.

To use the plug-in, choose Home > Plug-ins > Convert Folder of Scores to Graphics, and
choose the folder you want to convert. You will be prompted to choose the graphics format; you can also
choose whether or not to use the default settings. Generally you can leave Use default settings
switched on and click OK to save all the files; if it is switched off, you will be prompted to choose the settings
for each file in the folder.

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Graphics Formats
Graphics file formats fall into two kinds: vector graphics and bitmap graphics.

Vector graphics are scalable—in other words, you can make them larger or smaller without any degradation
in quality—and the files also tend to use less memory than bitmap graphics.

Bitmap graphics are lower quality than vector graphics (unless you use a very high resolution) and usually
occupy more memory, but are supported by a wider variety of programs.

The graphics formats that Sibelius can export are as follows:

l Windows bitmap (BMP)
l Portable Network Graphics (PNG)—bitmap
l Portable Document Format (PDF)—vector
l Tagged Image bitmap (TIFF)
l Scalable Vector Graphic (SVG)
Each of these formats is detailed below.

Windows Bitmap (BMP) files

BMP format is similar to TIFF and PNG, though less widely supported. The color depth of the saved BMP file
will be the same as the color depth of your current display settings, unless you switch on the Monochrome
option in File > Export > Graphics, which will make the file much smaller. In general, it is
recommended to use PNG instead of BMP format, because the resulting files will always be smaller, even
with color.

Portable Network Graphics (PNG) Files

PNG is another widely-supported bitmap format with excellent compression. PNG is not as widely
supported as TIFF in desktop publishing applications, but it is the ideal format for putting images of your
music on the Internet, particularly with the Anti-aliased option switched on.

If you plan to publish your graphics on the Internet, you may also consider using SVG format, but beware
that browser support for SVG files varies.

Portable Document Format (PDF) Files

PDF files allow documents generated by programs such as word processors and desktop publishers to be
published electronically, preserving their original appearance, for viewing and printing on any system.

If you want to export the whole score as a single PDF file, use File > Export > PDF instead ("Exporting
PDF Files" on page 141), but you can export any selected passage or range of pages as individual PDF files
using File > Export > Graphics if need be.

Disable the Include colored objects option to ensure that the exported PDF is true black (grayscale).

Tagged Image (TIFF) Files

TIFF is a widely-supported bitmap format particularly suitable for music because it can be compressed
efficiently.

TIFF export can use quite a lot of memory as files are exported; however, it should be possible to export
whole pages at up to 1200dpi without problems. Unless you need color in your TIFF files, keep the
Monochrome option switched on, as this minimizes the size of the saved file.

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Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) Files

SVG is an open standard for vector graphics that is specially designed for use on the web. All modern web
browsers support SVG (though if you are using Internet Explorer on Windows, it is recommended that you
upgrade to IE9 or later for optimal compatibility with SVG).

SVG is the ideal format to use if you are publishing graphics to a web site, and require the music to be
viewed at any size.

Exporting MusicXML Files

MusicXML is an interchange file format for music notation applications. It provides a better way to transfer
notation between different programs than other formats such as MIDI files. If you need to share files with
friends or colleagues using other music software, including Finale, then MusicXML is the ideal format to use.

To export a MusicXML file, choose File > Export > MusicXML. There is only one choice to make: whether
to use compressed MusicXML (file extension .mxl) or uncompressed MusicXML (file extension .musicxml)
format, then click the big Export button.

Unless you know that the destination application into which you plan to import your MusicXML file does not
support compressed MusicXML, we recommend that you use the compressed format. It has two main
advantages: firstly, the resulting file is much smaller and therefore easier to transport from place to place,
such as by email; and secondly, only compressed MusicXML files can include graphics. If your score
contains imported graphics and you choose to export an uncompressed MusicXML file, Sibelius will warn
you that the graphic will not be exported.

Limitations
MusicXML is a sophisticated format that is designed to describe the full breadth of common practice music
notation, so not all applications implement everything it can contain. As such, the same MusicXML file may
produce different results when opened in different applications.

Likewise, Sibelius does not currently implement every part of the MusicXML specification, but it exports
sufficient data to make MusicXML the optimal way of transferring notation data from Sibelius to other
programs.

Exporting MIDI Files

You can export a score as a MIDI file, so you can easily transfer music into virtually any other music
program. You do not need a MIDI interface or any MIDI devices in order to export a MIDI file.

Exporting a MIDI File

l Choose File > Export > MIDI. A page of options appears.
l You can choose whether you want to export the MIDI file for The current playback device or A
different playback device. By default, Sibelius will choose to export a MIDI file suitable for
playback on a General MIDI device, which is appropriate for sending a MIDI file to somebody else
for them to listen to, for example. However, if you’re using a virtual instrument and want to export a
MIDI file to open in, say, a sequencer like Pro Tools in order to continue working on the MIDI
performance, then choose the appropriate sound set from the A different playback device
list. Sibelius will export the MIDI file with all the appropriate MIDI controller changes, keyswitches and
so on.
l You can also choose whether you want to export a Type 0 or Type 1 MIDI file. For nearly every
purpose, a Type 1 MIDI file is recommended. However, there are certain devices, such as some
electronic pianos and keyboards, that can only play Type 0 MIDI files. Refer to your device’s
documentation to find out whether it requires Type 0 or Type 1 MIDI files; if in doubt, choose Type 1.

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l Tick resolution is a comfortingly obscure option. The default of 256 PPQN (“Pulses Per Quarter
Note”) matches Sibelius’s internal resolution and is recommended. Again, however, there are certain
devices that can only play MIDI files with specific PPQN settings. Refer to your device’s
documentation to find out whether it requires a specific value; if in doubt, leave this set to 256.
(Choosing a higher PPQN value doesn’t make the exported MIDI file any more “accurate”, since
Sibelius’s internal resolution is fixed at 256.)
l Export pick-up bars as full bars padded with rests lets you choose how Sibelius
should handle pick-up (upbeat) bars at the start of the score: with this option switched on (the
default), Sibelius exports a pick-up bar as a bar of full duration padded with rests at its start, which
works well for playback. However, if you are exporting a MIDI file from Sibelius for the purposes of
using it as a tempo track in a sequencer or DAW for ReWire sync, it is more useful to export an initial
pick-up bar as a short bar with a different time signature than the first full bar, in which case you
should switch this option off.
l If you have muted any of the instruments in your score, Sibelius will not by default include these
instruments in an exported MIDI file (on the grounds that the MIDI file should play back the same as
the score plays back in Sibelius). You may, however, want to include all instruments in your MIDI file
so that you can work with them in your sequencer, in which case switch off Omit muted
instruments.
l Once you have chosen the right options, click OK. Then type in the File name you want to use—
make it different than your original Sibelius file to avoid confusion! Find a suitable place to save, then
click Save.
When exporting MIDI files, Sibelius includes all of the playback options such as Espressivo, Rubato and
Rhythmic feel. So you can even use Sibelius as an ingenious “MIDI file improver”—just open a MIDI file,
switch on some interesting playback settings and save an improved version as a MIDI file in a moment!

Batch Conversion
Choose Home > Plug-ins > Batch Processing > Convert Folder of Scores to MIDI to batch
convert all scores in a folder into standard MIDI files, using the same filenames but with a .mid extension.

You can also export each instrument to a separate MIDI file, using Home > Plug-ins > Batch
Processing > Export Each Instrument as MIDI.

For more information, "Batch Processing plug-ins (Sibelius Ultimate Only)" on page 256.

Rubato
If Rubato is switched on in Play > Interpretation > Performance, and the score is saved as a MIDI file,
the timing changes made by Rubato will appear in the file, and consequently the notes will be “out of
alignment” when the file is opened in a MIDI sequencer.

This is because Rubato manipulates note start times directly, rather than creating tempo changes. So if you
want to save a MIDI file for use in other programs, and you want it to be correctly quantized, set Rubato to
Meccanico before you save the MIDI file.

Repeats
By default, MIDI files saved from Sibelius will include any repeats present in the original score. If, for some
reason, you would prefer repeats not to be included, set Don’t play repeats in Play >
Interpretation > Repeats before saving the MIDI file.

Copy and Paste MIDI Between Sibelius and Pro Tools

In Sibelius and Pro Tools (versions 2024.3 and later) you can copy and paste MIDI to the clipboard and then
paste it from any Pro Tools session or Sibelius score into any other as long as you do not clear the system
clipboard.

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To copy and paste MIDI between Pro Tools and Sibelius:

1. Make a selection of MIDI in either Sibelius or Pro Tools.

2. Copy the selection to the Clipboard (Commands > Copy MIDI to Clipboard).
3. Paste the selection to Pro Tools MIDI or Instrument tracks or to Sibelius Instruments (staves).

Exporting to Previous Versions

Sibelius is fully backwards compatible. Sibelius can open files from all previous versions of Sibelius for
Windows and Mac, including files saved in Sibelius Student, Sibelius First and G7.

Older versions cannot open files saved in the present version, but you can use File > Export > Previous
Version to save files that can be opened by any version of Sibelius as far back as Sibelius 2. Note,
however, that these earlier versions don’t have all the features of the most current version of Sibelius, so
scores may not look precisely the same when opened in them as they look in your current version of
Sibelius. In particular, the elements listed below are omitted or changed (for example, not exported in the
file).

Note also that the cut-down versions of Sibelius can only open scores with a limited number of staves
(Sibelius 3 Student is limited to eight staves, G7, Sibelius 5 Student, Sibelius 5 First and Sibelius 6 Student to
12 staves, and Sibelius 6 First, Sibelius 7 First, Sibelius 8 First and Sibelius Artist to 16 staves), so if your score
has more than the maximum number of staves supported by those programs, Sibelius will not allow you to
export in that format.

You should always choose the latest possible version of Sibelius as the target version, to minimize the
amount of data loss. Once you have chosen the target version from the list in File > Export > Previous
Version, click the big Export button to export the file.

Exporting Several Files

If you have several files that you need to send to somebody using an earlier version of Sibelius, you can use
a plug-in to export all of them one after the other. First, put the files you need to export into a single folder,
then choose Home > Plug-ins > Batch Processing > Convert Folder of Scores to Earlier
Version, and choose the folder you want to convert. A dialog appears, in which you can specify the
destination folder for the exported files, which version of Sibelius to export to, and how to alter the
filenames to avoid overwriting the original files. Click OK to confirm your choices.

Differences in All Previous and Cut-down Versions of Sibelius

The following are omitted or changed when exporting files to all other versions of Sibelius:
l Imported graphics that rely on a transparent background or opacity will look different. All graphics
are converted to TIFF on export, so SVG graphics may appear at a lower resolution.
l Symbols that rely on imported graphics will not be exported.
l Text that uses per-object leading (line spacing), tracking, superscript/subscript, horizontal or vertical
character scaling, custom background color, for example, ]look different. Text objects that use
frames for automatic word-wrapping have hard line breaks inserted, and fully justified text appears
left-aligned.

Differences in Sibelius 2025.1

The following are retained in Sibelius Ultimate 2025.1 but omitted in earlier versions (such as 2024.10 and
earlier):
l Staff Filtersare dropped when saving to any earlier version of Sibelius.

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Differences in Sibelius 2023.4

The following are retained in Sibelius Ultimate 2023.4 but omitted in earlier versions (such as 2023.2 and
earlier):
l Notes hidden in chords are shown when saving to any earlier version of Sibelius.

Differences in Sibelius 2022.12

The following are retained in Sibelius Ultimate 2022.12 but omitted in earlier versions (such as 2022.10 and
earlier):
l Score Subsets are removed when saving to any earlier version of Sibelius.
l Special barlines: triple and thick are converted to double, dotted is converted to dashed, and special
repeats (dots in all spaces and thick lines) are converted to regular repeats.

Differences in Sibelius 6, Sibelius 6 First, and Sibelius 6 Student

The following are retained in Sibelius 6, Sibelius 6 First and Sibelius 6 Student, but omitted or changed in
earlier versions:
l Arpeggio lines attached to notes, as created from the Keypad, will be converted into regular arpeggio
lines.
l Articulations:
– Articulations below the note that have been independently dragged will be shown at their
default position, unless the articulations above the note have not been dragged (in which case
the bottom position will be used).
– Articulations in the staff may move to less ideal positions.
– Bowing markings that are positioned outside slurs above the staff when other articulations are
inside the slur will appear inside the slur.
l Bar rests: double whole note (breve) bar rests in 4/2 will appear as normal whole note (semibreve) bar
rests.
l Beams:
– The state of the Beam over rests and Beam to and from rests options in Engraving
Rules are set in each time signature in the score, which will produce near-identical beaming
results in earlier versions but are not guaranteed to be the same.
– Beams may collide with rests, because earlier versions of Sibelius do not have the Adjust
stem lengths to avoid beamed rests option.
– Automatic secondary beam breaks for beamed rests will not appear, because earlier versions
of Sibelius do not have the Break secondary beams option.
– Stemlets will not appear.
l Cautionary accidentals will be omitted.
l Chord symbols:
– Horizontal guitar chord diagrams will appear as vertical chord diagrams.
– Fingering shown in dots on guitar chord diagrams will not appear.
– All fingering dots will appear as black dots, regardless of the design used in Sibelius 6.
– Chord diagrams that are set to show a different number of frets than the default setting on the
Guitar page of House Style > Engraving Rules will appear using the default number of
frets.

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– Chord diagrams that do not have a dot on a specific string but also do not show an O or an X
above the frame will show an O above the string.
– Chord diagrams that are set to a non-default size using the Scale control in the General
panel of the Inspector will appear at their default size.
l Comments will be omitted.
l Guitar scale diagrams will be omitted.
l Jazz symbols (plop, scoop, fall, doit) will be converted into regular symbols.
l Live Tempo data will be omitted.
l Magnetic Layout positions will be frozen, and not all objects will appear in the same positions in
earlier versions, such as continuation segments of lines after system or page breaks.
l Slash noteheads may appear in different positions on the staff for transposing instruments.
l Slurs will appear at their default thickness, shape and design; they may also curve in the opposite
direction (for example, slurs that are below the staff in Sibelius 6 may appear above in earlier
versions).
l Staff spacing will be different, because earlier versions of Sibelius always justify the distance
between staves of multi-staff instruments. (Extra space provided for lyrics, system object positions,
and between groups of bracketed/braced instruments will be retained until the staff spacing is reset
in the earlier version.)
l Ties will appear at the same thickness as slurs.
l Two-bar and four-bar repeat bars will not look correct, and any automatic formatting produced by
such repeat bars will not be retained in earlier versions, so bars may appear on different systems.
l Objects that are drawn at custom layers (such as behind the staff) will all be drawn on the same
layer.
l The vertical positions of system objects such as rehearsal marks at system object positions other than
above the top staff may be different.
l Any fermatas whose playback settings have been individually adjusted will play back using the
default settings in earlier versions.
l Repeat bars will not play back in earlier versions.

Differences in Sibelius 5, Sibelius 5 First and Sibelius 5 Student

The following are retained in Sibelius 5, Sibelius 5 First and Sibelius 5 Student, but omitted or changed in
earlier versions:
l Bar numbers:
– If bar numbers are set to appear every n bars, n will be turned into one of the existing options in
earlier versions, so bar numbers may appear on different bars.
– Bar number changes that include new bar number formats will be turned into normal bar
number changes.
– Bar number changes that include text before or after the number will be turned into normal bar
number changes.
– Bar numbers automatically hidden at the same locations as rehearsal marks will not be hidden.
– Bar numbering will not take repeats into account.
– Bar numbers will appear on the staves set in Layout > System Object Positions, not the
staves set in House Style > Engraving Rules.
l Cue-sized objects other than notes will appear at “normal” size.

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l Ideas saved in the score will be omitted.

l Instrument changes will be converted into appropriate staff type and transposition changes. Note,
however, that the playback sound will not change at the point of the instrument change when the
score is played back in the earlier version of Sibelius.
l Margin changes (including those produced by the After first page option in Layout >
Document Setup, and by special page breaks) are omitted; all pages in the score will use the
margins defined on the first page of the score.
l Multirests in parts may split differently in Sibelius 4 and earlier, due to page-attached system text not
splitting multirests in Sibelius 5 and later.
l Page number changes are omitted; when opened in earlier versions, the pages will be numbered from
the first page.
l Special page breaks are converted into regular page breaks, and any text items, symbols or
graphics set to appear on the blank pages are deleted from the score, together with blank page text
styles.
l Stem directions and rest placement may change, if Hidden notes and rests don’t affect
stem directions and rests is switched on (on the Notes and Tremolos page of House
Style > Engraving Rules).
l Technique text such as “pizz.” and “arco” will not play back correctly in the earlier version.
l All new instrument definitions, staff types, and ensemble data are omitted ("Edit Instruments (Sibelius
Ultimate Only)" on page 219).

Differences in Sibelius 4
The following are retained in Sibelius 4, but omitted or changed in earlier versions:
l Dynamic parts: any parts that exist in your score are omitted ("Working with Parts" on page 686),
though you could extract parts in Sibelius 5 and then export those in the same way as the score.
l Auto Breaks options: all Auto Breaks options are omitted. This includes auto system breaks,
splitting of multirests and tacet multirests, and advanced page break settings.
l Optical beam positions: beams will slightly change position when opened in earlier versions ("Beam
Positions" on page 409).
l Optical ties: ties will slightly change position when opened in earlier versions ("Ties" on page 437).
l Justification: the horizontal and vertical justification of notes and systems may change when opened
in earlier versions ("Staff Spacing" on page 638).
l Text styles whose sizes are set to Keep absolute will not scale correctly on small staves ("Edit Text
Styles (Sibelius Ultimate Only)" on page 468).

Further differences in Sibelius 4, Sibelius 3, G7 and Sibelius 3 Student

The following are retained in Sibelius 4, Sibelius 3, G7 and Sibelius 3 Student, but omitted or changed in
Sibelius 2:
l Note spacing: some note spacing options (for example, minimum space around notes, flags, and so
on) are omitted; note spacing may adjust slightly when the file is opened, especially when the
spacing is particularly tight or loose, but the overall layout (number of bars per system and page) will
not change.
l Playback: all Live Playback data will be omitted ("Live Playback" on page 566); Play on pass
options ("Repeats" on page 593); Play > Dictionary terms that use repeat behaviors or regular
expressions ("Playback Dictionary (Sibelius Ultimate Only)" on page 581); gaps between movements
in the same score ("Performance" on page 576).

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l Layout: Focus on Staves state will be omitted ("Focus on Staves (Sibelius Ultimate Only)" on
page 642).
l Engraving rules: Allow beams after rests option is omitted ("Beamed Rests and Stemlets
(Sibelius Ultimate Only)" on page 413), Center staccatos on stem is converted to Half-
center staccatos on stem ("Articulations" on page 425).
l Colored objects (including the color of highlights) will not appear colored.

Sibelius 1.4 Users

If you know people who use Sibelius 1.4 and you want to share files with them, they must update to the
current version, as you cannot export from the current version in Sibelius 1.4 format.

Exporting Manuscript Paper (Sibelius Ultimate Only)

If you often need to set up unusual groups of instruments and/or options, you can create your own
manuscript paper to save you time starting new scores. Like real manuscript paper, you can choose
different paper sizes, shapes and staff sizes, and have the manuscript paper pre-printed with particular
instruments. However, you can also include all of Sibelius’s house style settings, which means you can get a
consistent appearance without having to set up all the options each time.

Creating Your Own Manuscript Paper

l Open an existing score that has all the settings you want to be included in the manuscript paper—
such as page size/shape, staff size, instruments, Engraving Rules options, text styles, music font,
noteheads.
l Choose File > Export > Manuscript Paper to see a page of options.
l Type the name of your manuscript paper into the Name box at the top of the page. If you choose a
name that’s already in use, Sibelius will show a yellow warning triangle to warn you that the existing
manuscript paper will be overwritten if you proceed.
l By default, Sibelius will keep all of the system text attached to the first bar of the score, containing
information like the title, composer, lyricist, and so on. If you want to remove all of this text from your
manuscript paper, disable Keep title, Composer, and so on.
l From the list of categories, choose the category in which you want your new manuscript paper to
appear when you start a new score. If you want to create a new category, switch on the Other
checkbox and type the name of the new category.
Now click the big Export button, and Sibelius will export your manuscript paper, automatically removing
all the music (leaving eight empty bars), and text (if you chose that option). Next time you start a new score,
your new manuscript paper will appear in list of manuscript papers, in your chosen category.

Deleting Manuscript Paper

If you ever want to rename or delete manuscript paper, you will find the manuscript paper files in a folder
called Manuscript Paper within Sibelius’s application data folder (see "User-Editable Files" on page 74).

Classroom Control(Sibelius Ultimate Only)

If you are an educator running Sibelius in one or more classrooms or labs in your school, college or
university using Sibelius’s License Server, you can use the Classroom Control feature to perform useful
classroom management tasks from your own workstation. You can get files from other copies of Sibelius on
the network, send files to particular students, “freeze” copies of Sibelius to focus the attention of the class
on you, and more.

Classroom Control is only available if you are running a network site license of Sibelius.

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Setting the Teacher Password

Before you can use Classroom Control, you must change the teacher password for your network site
license. This is done in the License Server Control Panel, which should be installed on your workstation, or
on the server on which the Sibelius License Server itself is installed.

For security purposes, the default password is not printed here, and is instead printed in your Licence Server
User Guide, along with instructions for changing the password.

Logging in to Classroom Control

To get started with Classroom Control, run Sibelius on your workstation. Your copy of Sibelius must be one
of the networked copies of your network site license. Choose File > Teaching > Classroom Control,
and you are invited to log in:

(If you cannot see the Classroom Control button on the File > Teaching page, your copy of Sibelius
is not part of a network site license. Contact your network manager or system administrator for further
assistance.)

Type the password you have set in the Licence Server Control Panel, and click OK. If you switch on Keep me
logged in on this computer, Sibelius will save your password and not ask you to provide it when you
use Classroom Control in subsequent sessions. You should only switch this on if you are confident that
students do not have access to your workstation.

Keep Your Password Secure

Be aware that the File > Classroom Control menu item appears in the menus of all copies of
Sibelius running on your network. In order to guard against mischievous students being able to log in to
Classroom Control, it is important that you choose a strong password in the Licence Server Control Panel,
and don’t share it with your students.

Using Classroom Control

Once you have logged in by providing your teacher password, the following dialog appears:

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The table on the left of the dialog lists information about each copy of Sibelius that is currently running on
your network:
l Username lists the long form of the user’s account name, if available, or the short username used by
that user to log in to the computer if not.
l Hostname lists the hostname of the computer a given user is currently logged into; if no hostname is
available, you will see a numeric IP address instead.
l Status lists the filename of the score the user is working on, or No score open if the student does
not currently have a file open; if you have frozen this copy of Sibelius, it will say Frozen.
To perform classroom management functions, select one or more rows from the table, or click the Select
All button at the bottom of the window to select all of the rows with one click.

To close the Classroom Control dialog, click Close. Clicking Log Out and Close closes the dialog and
makes Sibelius forget the teacher password, so that you will be prompted to enter it next time you choose
File > Classroom Control; this is more secure, but marginally less convenient.

The classroom management options on the right are split into three groups, described below.

Freezing and Unfreezing

Freezing allows you temporarily to lock Sibelius on a user’s computer. When you select one or more users
from the list and click Freeze, the copy of Sibelius running on each of the selected computers will show a
message informing the user that their copy of Sibelius has been frozen by their teacher. You can choose to

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send a custom message (such as “10 minutes left!”) by switching on the Send custom message when
freezing option before you click Freeze: you will then be prompted to provide a message to be displayed
to the affected users. To unlock a frozen copy of Sibelius, select it in the table and click Unfreeze.

If you try to close the Classroom Control dialog while some copies of Sibelius on the network are still frozen,
Sibelius will prompt you to unfreeze them.

Getting and Sending Scores

The options in the Files group allow you to get the currently open score from any user’s computer, or send
a score from your own workstation to any of the other computers on the network. This is useful for, say,
showing one student’s work on the digital projector or interactive whiteboard connected to your own
workstation, or for distributing a worksheet or exercise to the students in your class.

Before you get a user’s score, first decide what you want to do with it, and set the radio buttons in the
Files group appropriately: choose Save retrieved scores if you don’t want to look at the score now,
but instead want to save it on your own workstation; choose Open retrieved scores if you just want to
take a look at the score, but don’t necessarily want to save it on your own workstation; or choose Save
and open retrieved scores if you want to look at the score now and save it on your workstation. If
you choose to save the score, Sibelius will create a folder inside your Scores folder named after the user
whose score you are retrieving, and save the score in there.

To get scores that are currently open on other computers on the network, choose one or more rows in the list
on the left, then click Get Score. A progress bar appears while Sibelius requests the scores from each
selected copy of Sibelius, and transfers them over the network; depending on the size of the scores and the
speed and congestion of your network, this may take a few seconds. If you chose to open, or save and
open, the retrieved scores, Sibelius opens each score as it arrives over the network.

You can also send a score to one or more copies of Sibelius on the network: if a score is currently open in
your copy of Sibelius, clicking Send Current Score will send it over the network to the copies of Sibelius
you have selected in the list at the left, automatically opening it on each copy. If no score is open, or if you
want to send a different score than the one you are currently looking at, click Send Other Score, which
shows a standard file selection window. Choose the file you want to send, and click Open. The file is sent
over the network and opened on each selected client copy.

Making Versions
If your students are working on a long-term project, such as exam coursework, you will find
Sibelius’s versioning features a very useful way for students to keep track of their progress. From the
Classroom Control dialog, you can click Make Version, which will prompt the selected users to provide a
comment about their current work and save their score. You may want to click this button, for example, a
few minutes before the end of a lesson in order to be sure that each student has saved his or her work
correctly, and been given the opportunity to provide a comment about the progress in that session.

For more information about versions, "Versions" on page 708.

Worksheet Creator (Sibelius Ultimate Only)

Music teachers need a steady supply of teaching and learning material to support the curriculum they
follow. The Worksheet Creator lets you choose from over 1700 ready-made worksheets, projects, exercises,
repertoire pieces, posters, reference materials and other resources. These are carefully designed for the
curricula of the USA, UK, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, and suitable for school students of all ages.
Some of the materials (such as Selected repertoire and Reference) are also useful at college and
university level.

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You can produce both a worksheet for the student and a completed answer sheet to aid with marking. You
can even generate worksheets with random questions that are different each time, so you’ll never run out of
materials to use. And it all takes you just a few seconds.

You can also add your own worksheets to the Worksheet Creator (in your own or your colleagues’ copies of
Sibelius)—"Adding Your Own Worksheets (Sibelius Ultimate Only)" on page 164.

Using the Worksheet Creator

To get started, choose File > Teaching and click the big Worksheet Creator button. The following
dialog appears:

l Choose whether you want to create Teaching and learning materials or a Template. A
template is a worksheet with no music in, which you can use as a basis for creating your own
materials "Categories" on page 163.
l Choose the page size of the worksheet you want to create: you can choose between A4 and Letter.
l The options under Add to Worksheet determine various extra things to print on the student
worksheet and the teacher’s answer sheet. On the student’s sheet:

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– Today’s date prints the date in the form 27 July, 2011. (This option is available both for
the student worksheet and for the teacher’s answer sheet.)
– Spaces for student’s name and class prints lines in the top right-hand corner of the
student worksheet for the student to write his or her name and class.
l On the teacher’s sheet:
– How to complete prints a reminder of whether a particular activity is designed to be
completed on paper, at the computer, or by performing.
– Teacher involvement prints a reminder of whether the teacher needs to be involved in the
completion of the activity, and whether the teacher needs access to Sibelius.
– Group size prints a reminder of whether the activity is designed to be completed by an
individual, a small group, or a larger group.
– Curriculum levels prints details of the specific curriculum that an activity is targeted
towards, where this information is available.
If you plan to print anything from the Resources, Reference, Selected repertoire or
Posters, Flashcards and Games sections, it’s best to switch all of these options off.
Having chosen to create Teaching and learning materials and made your choices, click Next to
narrow down the type of material you’re looking for:

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Because there is such a wide variety of material in the Worksheet Creator, you can choose to find only
materials that meet certain criteria. For example, if you only want to find materials suitable for a group of
students rather than individuals, choose Materials for Small groups and Groups of any size,
and click Next. If you only want to find worksheets that are to be filled in using Sibelius, choose Can be
completed At the computer and click Next.

(The Find by filename option is useful if you have already printed out a particular worksheet and want
to use it again. Each teacher’s answer sheet contains the Filename: in the bottom right-hand corner of
the first page. Type it here and click Next to go directly to that item so you can print it again.)

If this is the first time you have used this feature since installing Sibelius, it may take a minute or so for
Sibelius to generate a list of available materials.

You’re then shown the categories from which you can choose your material:

The materials are split into 6 main categories:

l Elements of music covers 14 core areas of music theory and musicianship, from pitch and
rhythm to sight reading and ear training.
l Writing and creating music covers notation, transposing, arranging, composing
and improvising.

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l Selected repertoire has over 400 pieces for voice, piano and other instruments, including songs
in 14 different languages and 50 Bach keyboard pieces, suitable for study, arranging, performance,
and your own worksheet creation. There are also 45 poems for students to set to music.
l Reference contains a huge library of musical information, from over 80 scales and modes to ranges
of different instruments.
l Posters, Flashcards & Games has nearly 200 of these to help teach musical concepts. Topics
range from notes and keys to dozens of pictures of instruments.
l UK KS3 & GCSE Projects has UK-specific projects covering performing, listening and composing,
with topics from African drumming to serialism.
For more details on the categories, see "Categories" on page 163.

Each of the categories and sub-categories are numbered with a prefix, for example, 16 Sight Reading.
This makes it easier to find your way around the large amount of supplied material, and also shows the
pedagogical progression of materials within each category, moving from the simpler to the more advanced.

The numbers at the end of each category name, for example, (8 of 27), show how many of the total
number of materials in the category match the selection criteria you have specified (shown near the bottom
of the dialog.) The number zero, for example, (0 of 27), means there’s no point choosing that category,
as nothing within it matches. If you find that there are very few matching items and you require a wider
choice, try changing your criteria by clicking the Change Type of Material button.

Choose the category you want to explore, and either double-click it in the list at the left-hand side of the
dialog, or click Next. The same page of the dialog will appear again, this time showing you the sub-
categories within your chosen category as well as the path you took to get there. If you want to return to
the parent category of the sub-category you are in, just click Previous.

When you get to the final sub-category in a given category, you will be able to choose a specific worksheet
or other material from a list:

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When you choose an item from the list, the right-hand side of the dialog gives information about it. The
Description field gives details of what the students must do to complete the worksheet or activity.

There are three options at the bottom of this page that are enabled or disabled depending on the chosen
material:
l Number of questions lets you choose the number of questions to be included on the printed
worksheet. This option is only available if the worksheet has a large number of questions available
from which it will pick at random. You can re-use these worksheets, because even if you choose to
include, say, 10 questions, if you come back and make this worksheet again in the future, Sibelius will
choose another 10 at random (though there may be some overlap).
l Include box of possible answers is available if you choose a worksheet based around
“matching” each question with a choice of answers.
l Create answer sheet too creates an answer sheet for the teacher (with answers already filled
in to save time when marking) together with the student sheet. This option is not available for
materials such as posters, repertoire, and so on. Note that many worksheets do not have single
correct or incorrect answers, in which case the answer sheet will contain an example of a possible
answer with the indication that answers may vary.
Having made your choices, click Next to see a preview:

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The student worksheet is shown on the left. If an answer sheet is available and you have chosen to create
one, it is shown on the right.

If the worksheet isn’t quite what you want, click Previous one or more times to go back and revise your
choices. Otherwise, click Finish to create the worksheet.

If you chose to create both a student worksheet and an answer sheet, Sibelius will create two scores. You
can now print them out, save them for later, or edit them to produce your own customized worksheet.

Rhythm Levels (RL1-4) and Scale Levels (SL1-4)

Various worksheets are classified by rhythm level and scale level, depending on the complexity of the
rhythms and scales they contain. In summary, the rhythm levels are:
l RL1: 2/4 and 3/4 time signatures, eighth notes (quavers) to dotted half note (minim), simple rests
l RL2: also 4/4, whole note (semibreve), 16th notes (semiquavers), more rests
l RL3: also 6/8, C (common time), dotted notes, simple 6/8 rhythms, syncopation, Scotch snap, more
dotted rests
l RL4: all other time signatures, triplets, complex 6/8 rhythms
The scale levels are:

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l SL1: major, natural (aeolian) minor, major pentatonic, minor pentatonic

l SL2: also chromatic, ionian hexatonic (for example, pieces using just the first 6 notes of major scale)
l SL3: also harmonic minor, melodic minor, dorian, dorian hexatonic
l SL4: also all other church modes/jazz scales, Blues scale, whole tone scale
Some of the scale terminology is provided for your own pedagogical interest rather than in order to teach
the terms to students.

Templates
If you want to create a blank template on which to base your own materials, then on the first page of the
Worksheet Creator dialog, choose the Template option and click Next. You are shown the available
templates, with a preview of each:

Choose the template you want to create, and click Finish. A score will be created that you can modify or
add music to create your own worksheet. If you’re feeling ambitious, you can add your own worksheets to
the Worksheet Creator for future re-use (particularly if you want to generate random questions)—"Adding
Your Own Worksheets (Sibelius Ultimate Only)" on page 164.

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Categories
Main category Contains Description

01 Elements of 01 Notes & Rests Activities arranged in learning sequences to cover the core
Music 02 Dynamics areas of music. Introduces the language and terminology of
03 Timbre & Tone Color music, helps develop basic musicianship, introduces aspects
04 Meter & Tempo of theory, and teaches analysis of tonality, form and
05 Rhythm structure, texture, and genre.
06 Scales & Key Signatures
07 Intervals, Chords,
Progressions & Cadences
08 Score Analysis,
09 Conducting
10 Dictation/Transcription
11 Sight Reading
12 Ear Training
13 Auditory Discrimination
14 Aural Recall
02 Writing and 01 Notation Activities leading to the acquisition of basic notation skills and
Creating Music 02 Adapting, Transposing & a wide range of creative exploration, including work with
Arranging sounds, rhythms, melodies, accompaniments, textures, lyrics,
03 Composing and orchestration.
04 Improvising
03 Selected 01 Bach Piano Repertoire Nearly 500 pieces of music and poetry, many used in
Repertoire 02 Other Piano Repertoire worksheets, and all available for extensions, other classroom
03 Instrumental Repertoire use, and your own worksheet creation. Includes nearly 100
04 Songs for Teaching pieces of keyboard repertoire including 50 by Bach and a
05 Rounds and Canons sampling from other masters; over 150 songs, including nearly
Collection 50 rounds and canons and works in 13 world languages; and
06 Poetry for Lyrics 45 poems.
07 Texts for Incidental
Music
08 Rhythm Collection
04 Reference 01 Encyclopedia of Scales & A handy library of musical information, including over 80
Modes scales and modes and nearly 150 chords with their chord
02 Chord Library symbols. To be used for research, exploration, and
03 Instrumental & Vocal incorporation into creative activities.
Ranges
04 US & British Music Terms
Compared
05 Keyboard Handouts
05 Posters, 01 Posters Nearly 200 posters, flashcards and games to help teach and
Flashcards & 02 Flashcards review musical concepts. Topics include notes, rests, scales,
Games 03 Games key signatures, circle of fifths, symbols, terminology, stick
notation, and nearly 100 pictures of instruments that can both
be used to decorate the classroom, and in preparing your own
learning materials.
06 UK KS3 & 01 African Drumming KS3 Seven UK-specific projects supporting the three main areas of
GCSE Projects 02 Blues (12-bar) KS3 study—performing, composing and listening—for Key Stage 3
03 Composing to Create a and GCSE, with comprehensive teacher’s notes and ideas for
Specific Mood KS3/GCSE extension.

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Main category Contains Description

04 Pop Songs (Reggae)

KS3/GCSE
05 Pop Songs (Dance
Grooves) GCSE
06 Serialism GCSE
07 Blues (Arranging) GCSE

Adding Your Own Worksheets (Sibelius Ultimate Only)

Adding Your Own Worksheets
Sibelius lets you create your own “intelligent” teaching materials and add them to the Worksheet Creator
(in your own copy of Sibelius, or your colleagues’). You can easily create scores that contain both questions
and answers, and create files that produce random questions, allowing them to be re-used over and over
again.

Page Size and Margins

In order to produce good-looking materials, you should bear in mind a few points when laying out and
formatting your score.

You could base your worksheet on a ready-made template if one is suitable ("Worksheet Creator (Sibelius
Ultimate Only)" on page 155); if so, choose A4 paper size rather than Letter. (Once the worksheet is
added to the Worksheet Creator you are able to create it at Letter size.) Alternatively, if you create a
worksheet from scratch, then in Layout > Document Setup:
l Use A4 as the page size.
l Use top and bottom margins of 24mm and left and right margins of 15mm. These margins
compensate for the differences in dimensions between A4 and Letter.
l Use 12mm as the top staff margin and 24mm as the bottom staff margin. These staff margins allow
room for the text created by the Worksheet Creator at the top and bottom of the page.

Answer Sheet
If you want to produce an answer sheet for your worksheet, you need to use voices consistently in the score
so that Sibelius can delete one or more voice(s) to remove the answers from the student’s sheet. Use
different voices for items you want to appear only on the student’s sheet, for items on the answer sheet,
and for those on both sheets. So, for example, imagine a worksheet in which the student has to write the
name of a given interval below the staff, and you want to print an answer sheet too.
l Put the each interval in (say) voice 1. The notes are included in both the student sheet and the
teacher’s answer sheet. It’s usually best to use voices 1 and 2 (the normal voices for writing music) for
anything meant for both sheets.
l Create the answer using (say) Lyrics line 1 text, in voice 4. You can specify later that voice 4
items will only appear on the teacher’s sheet.
l You may also want to include a line under each interval for the student to write his or her answer on.
Create horizontal lines (say) in voice 3. Again, you can specify later that this voice will only appear on
the student’s sheet.

Random and Fixed Questions

There are two basic kinds of worksheet: those with random questions and those with fixed questions. Those
with fixed questions are easier to produce, because you can lay them out exactly as you want them to
appear when they come out of the Worksheet Creator, but for both kinds of worksheet you need to use

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voices carefully.

If you plan to produce a worksheet with random questions, you shouldn’t add any additional text to the
score, and you don’t need to spend so long adjusting the layout, because the Worksheet Creator can do it
all for you. So don’t put a title at the top of the page, or number the questions, or add an instruction for the
student.

If you plan to produce a worksheet with fixed questions, you should now add various other bits of text to
your page, possibly including:
l A title—in our imagined example you may type “Name Intervals” in Title text.
l Some text to give the student instructions—for example, you might you create some Technique text
above the first bar of the score that says “Write the name for the given interval in the space
provided.”
l Question numbers—for example, you may want text above every bar with the question number. You
can do this quickly using Text > Plug-ins > Number Bars.
You will probably want to create each of these text objects in voice 1, so that they appear in both the
student and the answer worksheets.

For both fixed and random worksheets, you may also need to make some further layout adjustments. For
example, you should ensure there’s plenty of room above the top staff on the page so that the Worksheet
Creator has enough room to add the date and the spaces for the student to write his or her name and class.
You may also want to make gaps between each question, which you can do by selecting a bar and typing
(say) 4 into Gap before bar on the Bars panel of the Inspector. You may even want to enforce a
particular number of bars per system, using auto system breaks (from Layout > Breaks > Auto Breaks).

Once you’ve added text and adjusted the layout, you’re ready to add your worksheet to the Worksheet
Creator.

Using Ideas in Worksheets

Sibelius’s Ideas feature can be a powerful tool for producing exercises and worksheets for your students—
see "Ideas" on page 199 for an introduction.

It’s possible to use ideas from Sibelius’s built-in library of more than 1500 ideas, or indeed any ideas of your
own creation, in any score. In particular, you can save a certain set of ideas in a score, and then prevent
students from using any ideas other than those you have saved in the score. This is useful if you want your
students to build a composition using ideas you have carefully chosen. For more details, see "Limiting
Access to the Library" on page 205.

For more general information about how you might use ideas in your teaching, see "Using Ideas in Your
Teaching" on page 204.

Adding to the Worksheet Creator

Once you have created a worksheet and you want to add it to the Worksheet Creator, choose File >
Teaching and click the big Add Worksheet button:

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l First, choose the type of material you’re adding. To add a template, choose Template and click OK.
Otherwise, choose Teaching and learning materials.
l Skip over to the right-hand side of the dialog and set Random questions or Fixed questions as
appropriate. This affects which fields are available in the rest of the dialog.
l Name (in dialog) is the name that will appear in the Worksheet Creator. You should try to keep
this name as short as possible.
l Title (in score) is what Sibelius will create in the score as its title if you choose Random
questions. (If you choose Fixed questions, you should put the title in the score yourself before
adding it.)
l Description (for teacher) is the text that will appear in the Worksheet Creator to describe the
worksheet.
l Instructions (for student) is what Sibelius will create above the first question in the student
worksheet if you choose Random questions. (If you choose Fixed questions, you should create
the instructions for the student in the worksheet yourself before adding it.)
l Curriculum level should contain information about the specific curriculum your worksheet is
targeted towards, if applicable.
l Make a selection under Can be completed to specify the way (or ways) in which you intend the
worksheet to be completed.
l Choose the level of Teacher involvement as appropriate.
l Specify the Size of group for which the worksheet is intended.

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l The Bars per question option is only available if you choose Random questions. This option
tells Sibelius how many bars each question occupies: it’s very important that this option is set
correctly.
l The Questions per system option tells Sibelius how best to lay out your worksheet. If your
questions are 1, 2 or 4 bars long, you can leave this option set to Default. Otherwise, you should set
this option to tell Sibelius how many questions it should allow on a system before it inserts a system
break.
l Voices shown in student sheet specifies which voices Sibelius should leave in the student
worksheet. In our imagined example above, you would set this to 1 and 3.
l Answer sheet determines whether or not you want Sibelius to offer the choice of making an answer
sheet for your worksheet. If you switch it on, you also need to specify the Voices shown in
answer sheet. In our example above, you would set this to 1 and 4.
l Finally, you choose the place in the Worksheet Creator you want to put the worksheet. Use the
Choose and Back buttons to traverse the categories. When you find the correct spot, click OK to add
your worksheet.

Edit Worksheets
If you need to create a new category or want to modify a worksheet you have previously added, you use
the Edit Worksheets dialog, which is accessed by clicking the Edit button in the Add to Worksheet
Creator dialog, or by choosing File > Teaching and clicking Edit Worksheets:

The options on the left of the dialog deal with the categories and sub-categories rather than the worksheet
files themselves:

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l Choose Teaching and learning materials or Template at the top of the dialog to choose
between the two types of content.
l Choose and Back traverse through the list of categories on the left of the dialog, as in the Add to
Worksheet Creator dialog.
l Move Up and Move Down move the selected sub-category up and down in the order within the
current category.
l Add adds a new sub-category: click the button to choose its name.
l Rename renames the selected sub-category.
l Delete removes the selected sub-category, and any further sub-categories and worksheets it
contains, permanently. Be careful with this option!
l Import imports a category of material obtained from elsewhere.
l Export exports the selected category and its sub-categories and worksheets to a new folder inside
your Scores folder, so that you can share it with your colleagues, who can then Import it.
The options on the right-hand side of the dialog are concerned with the worksheets and templates
themselves. (The list will only contain items when you reach a sub-category that contains worksheets.)
l Move Up and Move Down move the selected sub-category up and down in the order within the
current category.
l Edit Details opens the Edit Activity Details dialog, so that you can make changes to the
settings you chose when you exported the worksheet. The options in Edit Worksheet Details
are the same as in the Add to Worksheet Creator dialog, except that you cannot change from
a worksheet to a template, or vice versa—see "Adding to the Worksheet Creator" on page 165.
l Open Score opens the chosen worksheet score so that you can make changes to the musical
material in it or the answers, for example. When you’ve finished editing the score, save and close it—
no need to add it to the Worksheet Creator again.
l Rename renames the selected worksheet, changing the Name (in dialog) field.
l Delete removes the selected worksheet permanently. Be careful with this option!
When you’ve finished making changes, click the Close button.

Working with Plug-ins (Sibelius Ultimate Only)

Sibelius supports plug-ins, which are extra features created using a built-in programming language called
ManuScript. Nearly 150 very useful plug-ins are included with Sibelius. Several of the tabs on the Ribbon
include Plug-ins galleries, listing plug-ins that are relevant to the features on that tab.

You can undo whatever a plug-in does to your score in the usual way, by choosing Edit > Undo (shortcut
Control+Z or Command+Z) after running it. You can also assign keyboard shortcuts to plug-ins that you
use frequently—"Keyboard Shortcuts" on page 184.

Installing Additional Plug-Ins

New plug-ins are constantly being developed for Sibelius. Extra free ones are added to the Sibelius web site
on a regular basis, and can easily be installed from within Sibelius itself, provided your computer is
connected to the Internet. Click the File tab in any score, then choose Plug-ins > Install Plug-ins
to see this dialog:

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The Show menu at the top of the dialog lets you choose between listing all available plug-ins, or just those
that have been added or updated since you last visited the dialog. The Plug-ins list on the left-hand side
shows the various categories into which the available plug-ins are organized, and you can expand the
categories to reveal the plug-ins within. Select a plug-in, and a description appears to the right.

Once you’ve found a plug-in you wish to install, choose the category into which it is installed from the
Location menu. If the category in which the plug-in is located matches one of the existing categories in
your Sibelius installation, that category is chosen by default, but you can choose any existing category, or
create your own by choosing Other and providing a name. Click Install, and a progress bar appears for
a moment while the plug-in is downloaded and installed.

If the plug-in has any accompanying documentation, it is copied to a new folder on your computer’s
desktop so that you can peruse it. Likewise, if the plug-in requires any house styles or manuscript papers to
be installed, Sibelius will install them automatically for you as well.

If you want to browse through the available plug-ins in your web browser instead, visit
[Link] to see what’s available. Instructions for installing plug-
ins manually (for example, because the computer on which Sibelius is installed is not connected to the
Internet) can be found by clicking the How to install plug-ins link on the right-hand side of that
page.

Changing Where Plug-Ins Appear

By default, the various default categories of plug-ins appear on the different Ribbon tabs as follows:
l Home tab: Batch Processing, Other.
l Note Input tab: Accidentals, Composing Tools, Notes and Rests, Simplify Notation,
Tuplets. Plug-ins added to a subfolder called Transformations will appear in the Note Input >
Transformations > More gallery.
l Text tab: Chord Symbols, Text.
l Play tab: Playback.
l Review tab: Analysis, Proof-reading.

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If you create a new category, any plug-ins in that category will appear in the Plug-ins gallery on the
Home tab by default.

To change where categories of plug-ins appear, choose File > Plug-ins > Edit Plug-ins, which lets
you control on which tabs of the Ribbon particular groups of plug-ins appear, as well as unload, reload and
delete (and, if you’re feeling really adventurous, edit and create) plug-ins. The dialog looks like this:

All of the plug-in categories are listed in the large list area, and can be expanded or collapsed by clicking
the arrow to the left of the category name. Click Expand All or Collapse All to show or hide all of the
plug-ins in all of the categories at once.

You can locate an individual plug-in by typing its name (either as it appears in the Plug-ins gallery or by
its filename) into the box at the top of the dialog, which selects it in the list.

The Location on Ribbon column shows the name of the Ribbon tab on which this category of plug-ins
can currently be found. Click the tab name to open a menu listing all of the tabs so that you can choose a
new tab. If you choose a tab on which there is no Plug-ins gallery by default, a new Plug-ins gallery
will appear at the very right-hand end of that tab containing plug-ins from the chosen category or
categories. You cannot move an individual plug-in from one tab to another, or indeed from one category to
another.

The other buttons in the dialog operate on a selected plug-in:

l Unloading a plug-in removes it from Sibelius; this doesn’t delete it from your hard disk. Unloaded
plug-ins are described as such in the list.
l Reloading a plug-in gets it back again after unloading it.
l Deleting a plug-in removes it from your hard disk.
l New and Edit are for creating your own plug-ins.

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Creating Your Own Plug-Ins

This requires a knowledge of the ManuScript language, which is straightforward enough to learn but
beyond the scope of this Reference Guide. Choose File > Plug-ins > ManuScript Language
Reference to read all about it.

File > Plug-ins > Show Plug-in Trace Window shows a trace window, which is useful for debugging
plug-ins you are developing yourself. See the ManuScript documentation for further details.

If you write a plug-in that you think would be useful to other Sibelius users, please contact us at
[Link] and we’ll consider including it on our web site or with
future versions of Sibelius.

Alternatively, if you have an idea for a plug-in but don’t feel up to writing it yourself, let us know.

Avid Link
Use Avid Link to manage your Avid account, licensing and subscriptions, as well as integrate a number of
other services. Your account login from Application Manager or the Avid Link application is picked up by
Sibelius when you start up, much like the Cloud Sharing Dashboard. However, if you aren't logged in, you
are asked to log into those pages you visit.

The following are available under Avid Link in the File tab:
l Home: Get informed and inspired with access to the latest industry news, customer stories, blogs,
and product info. You can filter your news feed by Audio, Video, Notation, Live Sound, and
Broadcast, and see the latest features for your products, discover great tips and tricks, be among the
first to hear about new product announcements, and gain workflow insight from creative pros.
l Profile: Showcase your work and talent for others to see and hear what you can do. Avid Link gives
you a powerful platform to tell your story and promote your work. Get discovered and increase your
creative opportunities by tagging your profile with your skills, specialties, and expertise, making it
easier for others to find and connect with you.
l Messages: With the ability to message your connections right within Avid Link, it’s easy to stay in
touch with others. Share ideas and discuss projects in real time with a group of collaborators. Seek
advice and give it by forming mentorships within your network. Or reach out and say hello to your
friends.
l Find Talent: Avid Link integrates with the entire Avid Community, making it easy to search for and
find other artists, musicians, composers, video editors, producers, mixers, filmmakers, and media
professionals to collaborate with and follow. Select Find Talent to scope out the profiles of available
talent, review their work, invite them to connect, and send messages about how you can work
together.
l Lounges: Looking to meet others to get or give advice, help, or feedback? Hang out in the Lounges,
which offer a variety of discussion topics for collaboration seekers, areas of interest, tips and tricks,
and more. Start or join a conversation, exchange ideas, and contribute to discussions about
products, workflows, and the industry, all in real time, on your computer or mobile device.
l Marketplace: Expand your creative capabilities further by shopping the Marketplace, conveniently
accessible right within Avid Link. Whether you need plugins, video effects, stock footage (coming
soon), a control surface, or other software or hardware to use with Pro Tools, Media Composer,
Sibelius, or a third-party audio or video tool.

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Preferences
Preferences are options that affect the Sibelius program as a whole, and which remain permanently set
until you change them again, rather than being saved in individual scores. They include things like display
settings, keyboard shortcuts and word menus for speeding up text entry. The a various preferences differ
between Sibelius Ultimate and Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius First.

If Sibelius is used on the same computer at different times by different users, then Sibelius automatically
remembers a different set of preferences for each person if they log on to the computer as a different user.

The File > Preferences dialog (shortcut Control+, or Command+,) contains miscellaneous preferences
categorized into 4 pages with Sibelius First (General, Input Devices, Note Input, and Textures), 5 pages with
Sibelius Artist (Accessibility, General, Input Devices, Note Input, and Textures), and into 18 pages with
Sibelius Ultimate (Accessibility, Display, Files, Font Equivalents, Ideas, Input Devices, Keyboard Shortcuts,
Language, Mouse, Music Fonts, Note Input, Paste as Cue, Playback, Saving and Exporting, Score Position,
Step-time and Flexi-time, Textures, Timeline, Versions, Word Menus, and Other).

General (Sibelius Artist and Sibelius First Only)

The General page lets you adjust various general preferences for Sibelius Artist and Sibelius First:

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l When Sibelius Starts—see "Other" on page 179.

l During Play and Flexi-Time—see "Note Input Options" on page 297.
l Warning Messages—see "Warning messages" on page 181.
l Default Page Size—see "Files (Sibelius Ultimate Only)" on the next page.
l Comments—see "Other" on page 179.
l Menus and Shortcuts—see "Keyboard Shortcuts" on page 184.
l Language—see "Language" on page 176.
l Quick Start—see "Other" on page 179.

Accessibility (Sibelius Artist and Sibelius Ultimate Only)

The Accessibility page lets you adjust various aspects of how commands, actions, and score
information are identified when read as well as color coding for score objects:

Display (Sibelius Ultimate Only)

The Display page lets you adjust various aspects of how things are displayed:

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l The options in Tool windows are discussed in "Translucent Windows" on page 183.
l Panorama settings are discussed in "Note Spacing in Panorama" on page 726 and "Staff Spacing in
Panorama" on page 726.
l Show bar numbers on all staves is described in "Invisibles" on page 730.
l Default View Options is discussed in "Setting Custom View Options" on page 182.

Files (Sibelius Ultimate Only)

The Files page lets you set how Sibelius should behave when opening, saving and printing files:

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l The options in the Opening Files group are discussed in "Setting Custom View Options" on
page 182.
l The Window Sizes and Positions group is discussed in "Setting Custom Window Size and
Position Preferences" on page 181.
l Print Date and Time Footer specifies the contents of the optional footer that may contain a
combination of the current date or the date the score was last saved, its filename and the user’s
name on each page. You can choose from a variety of date and time formats and choose whether
Sibelius should print just the filename or include its entire path—see "Printing Options" on page 129.
l Default Page Size lets you choose whether Sibelius should use European sizes (A4, A3,
and so on) or US sizes (Letter, Tabloid, and so on) when creating new scores.
Sibelius defaults this option according to the regional settings on your computer, but you can change
it here if you wish.
l Repair File Associations is a Windows-only option. If you have multiple versions of Sibelius
installed on your computer, and find that scores open in the wrong version when you double-click
them, or indeed that another program altogether runs and attempts to open them, click Repair to
restore the default file association for Sibelius files.

Font Equivalents (Sibelius Ultimate Only)

For details on the Font Equivalents page, "Font Equivalents (Sibelius Ultimate Only)" on page 532.

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Ideas (Sibelius Ultimate Only)

For details on the Ideas page, "Ideas" on page 199.

Input Devices
For details on the Input Devices page, "Input Devices" on page 301.

Keyboard Shortcuts
For details on the Keyboard Shortcuts page, "Keyboard Shortcuts" on page 184.

Language
The Language page lets you change the language Sibelius uses to display menus, dialogs, and so on. By
default, Sibelius runs in the language specified by your operating system, but if you want to override the
language used, choose the My application language is radio button and then your desired
language from the drop-down list.

Mouse (Sibelius Ultimate Only)

The Mouse page determines how Sibelius should behave when inputting music with the mouse:

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l When you create an object determines whether It appears near the current
selection (the recommended setting) or whether you should Click the mouse to position
it. This option is included for those users familiar with Sibelius 1.4 or earlier in which objects were
always placed with the mouse; however, this Reference Guide assumes throughout that this option is
set to the default (It appears near the current selection).
l Enable copying with the mouse controls whether clicking the middle mouse button, left and
right mouse buttons together, or the scroll wheel does the same as Alt-click.
l To drag the paper (instead of making a selection box) defaults to Drag, but if you
prefer you can set this to Hold Shift and drag (or Hold Command and drag on Mac).
l Automatically scroll when dragging close to the edges lets you control scrolling
behavior of the Navigator. When this option is enabled, you can scroll quickly through large scores
by dragging the white rectangle to the extreme left or right of the Navigator window.
– In the Mouse Note Input group, you can choose between a number of options for what
happens when you click with the mouse while the note input caret is visible:
– Input notes is the default choice: each click inputs another note. If the dependent option
Use voice 2 when rhythms conflict is switched on, if you input a note halfway
through the duration of an existing note, Sibelius will create the new note in voice 2, leaving the
existing note alone; if you switch this off, Sibelius will shorten the first note instead.
– Moves caret means that you cannot input notes with the mouse, and instead the note input
caret moves to the rhythmic position where you click. If you are used to the Speedy Entry note
input method used in Finale, you may prefer this option.
– Selects object and leaves note input means that you can leave note input by
selecting any object; in other words, clicking with the mouse moves the selection but does not
input notes.
– Selects object and stays in note input means that you can both move the note
input caret and select an object; if you select a note, the first note you input subsequently will
replace the selected note.

Music Fonts (Sibelius Ultimate Only)

For details on the Music Fonts page, "Music Fonts" on page 682.

Note Input
For details on the Note Input page, "Note Input Options" on page 297.

Paste as Cue (Sibelius Ultimate Only)

For details on the Paste as Cue page, see "Paste as Cue Preferences" on page 197.

Playback (Sibelius Ultimate Only)

For details on the Playback page, see "Playback Preferences" on page 547.

Saving and Exporting (Sibelius Ultimate Only)

The Saving and Exporting page lets you set folder locations for saving Sibelius scores and for
exporting various file types from Sibelius.
l Auto-save controls Sibelius’s auto-save feature—see "Auto-Save" on page 73.
l Auto-backup lets you set the number and location for backups—see "Backups" on page 73.

Score Position (Sibelius Ultimate Only)

The Score Position page lets you set how and when Sibelius should reposition your score:

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l When Follow selection is switched on, Sibelius will ensure that the current selection is always in
view. When switched on, you will be able to switch the following options on or off:
– During note input follow caret means that the caret will always be visible before a
note is entered.
– Center selection will force the current selection to be centered in your display at all times.
Some people may like to work with this option switched on, as it provides a means of working
to a focal point rather than from left to right. This option is particularly recommended for users
who are visually impaired.
– Avoid tool windows ensures that Sibelius will try not to position the current selection
underneath one of the tool windows.
– View whole width of system ensures that, whenever possible during note input, Sibelius
will position the current view so that the entire width of the system you are working on is in
view. If the system is wider than the width of your display, Sibelius retains the horizontal
position of the score.
– View whole height of system ensures that, whenever possible during note input,
Sibelius will position the current view so that you can see the entire height of the system you
are working on.

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l If you would prefer that Sibelius never repositions your score for you automatically, switch off
Follow selection. (You can assign a keyboard shortcut to this option if you want to—"Keyboard
Shortcuts" on page 184.)
l Sibelius follows the score during playback with a green line that shows the current position. If you’d
rather Sibelius didn’t do this (for example, to use up less processor power), switch off Follow
playback line.
l Hide unnecessary tool windows is switched on by default; all except the Playback, Video,
Kontakt and Navigator windows will be hidden during playback when this option is on.
l Use different zoom lets you set a specific zoom level for playback, independent of the zoom
level used during editing. You can set the desired zoom level directly using the list in this dialog;
alternatively, if you change the zoom level during playback with this option switched on, the zoom
level that you end up with will be remembered the next time you play back.
l Move n beats early lets you choose how early Sibelius should reposition the score when the next
passage of music it is going to play will be out of view. This can be useful if you’re using Sibelius as an
accompanist, or for when you are closely following a score during playback, as it will ensure that you
are always looking at a passage of music before Sibelius actually plays it.

Step-time and Flexi-time

For details on the Step-time and Flexi-time page, "Note Input Options" on page 297.

Textures
For details on the Textures page, see "Textures" on page 183.

Timeline (Sibelius Ultimate Only)

For details on the Timeline page, see "Timeline Preferences" on page 728.

Versions (Sibelius Ultimate Only)

The options on the Versions page are explained in "Versions" on page 708.

Word Menus
For details on the Word Menus page, see "Creating and Modifying Word Menus" on page 447.

Other
The Other page lets you change miscellaneous other options:

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l Rulers determine the units of measurement used by the on-screen rulers—see "Rulers" on page 731.
l Undo lets you set how many changes to your score Sibelius will remember—see "Undo and Redo" on
page 68.
l The options in the Comments group are explained in "Changing the Username Displayed in a
Comment" on page 707.
l The options in the Chord Symbols group are explained in "Legacy Chord Symbol Input" on
page 495.
l The options in the Auto-Completion group are explained in "Auto-Completion Preferences" on
page 494.
l Show all messages resets warning messages you’ve suppressed—see "Warning messages" on the
next page.

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l Paste Graphics into Other Programs lets you choose whether Sibelius should export
graphics on the clipboard in Monochrome, and also gives you control over the image’s resolution,
which you can change using Dots per inch—"Exporting Graphics" on page 142.
l The options in the Paste Lyrics from Clipboard group determine whether or not Sibelius
should automatically split lyrics into syllables when pasting them into the score—"Lyrics" on
page 474.
l The options under When Sibelius Starts control whether Sibelius plays a short musical excerpt
when you run it, whether you want the Quick Start window to appear automatically on start-up,
and whether you want Sibelius to check for updates every 90 days.
l If you are running a network site license copy of Sibelius on Windows, you will see a further button,
Set Global Preferences. This lets you, or your network manager or system administrator, to set
the current preferences as the global preferences for all users who log in to this computer. This is
useful if your network policy prohibits limited user accounts from writing any data to the Windows
Registry or other similar areas, but you still want to enforce a certain set of default preferences for
users on your computer. Please refer to the Sibelius License Server User Guide for more information.

Warning messages
A number of the helpful messages that pop up in the course of using Sibelius can be suppressed by
switching on Don’t say this again in the message boxes if they start to get on your nerves.

If you suddenly forget how to use Sibelius and want all these messages to appear again, click Show All
Messages. This will make all of the messages you suppressed reappear in future.

Display Settings
It’s worth spending a few moments setting Sibelius’s display to suit your preferences and to make sure it
runs as quickly and smoothly as possible on your computer.

Setting Custom Window Size and Position Preferences

By default, Sibelius keeps track of the arrangement of windows, tabs and panels (both docked at the edges
of the document window and floating around it), saves them when you close a score, and will restore them
when you later re-open the score, so that you can pick up where you left off.

You may not want Sibelius to do this, in which case you can choose instead to have scores opened
maximized with a default arrangement of panels, or you can specify your own custom settings for window
size and position, and have Sibelius use that for all scores, irrespective of the settings saved within.

The options in question are on the Files page of File > Preferences, in the Window Size and
Position group. First are the choices for starting a new score, or opening a score for the first time (such as
one sent to you by a colleague):
l Open at page width tells Sibelius to create new document windows to the width of the page. This
is useful if, for example, you have a widescreen display: when you create a new score, Sibelius will
only make the window as wide as the first page of the score, rather than as wide as your whole
display.
l Open maximized tells Sibelius whether or not all score windows should open maximized (for
example, as large as your screen will allow).
l Open to custom size and position uses your own custom settings, but the radio button can
only be chosen once you have made your choices.
Next come the choices for reopening a score that you have previously worked on, and for which Sibelius has
consequently remembered the last size and position at which it was viewed:

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l Restore score window size and positions tells Sibelius to use the saved positions.
l Open maximized overrides the saved positions, and opens each document window maximized (for
example, as large as your screen will allow).
l Open to custom size and position uses your own custom settings.
To make your own custom settings, first leave the Preferences dialog, then arrange all of the windows as
you want them to appear in future: resize the document window, hide or show the panels you want to
appear, position any undocked panels where you want them to appear, and minimize the Ribbon if you
prefer it to open minimized by default. Then return to the Files page of File > Preferences and click
Set Custom Size and Position. Sibelius automatically chooses Open to custom size and
position for reopening existing scores.

If you want Sibelius to forget all of the size and position data it has saved, click Clear History.

Setting Custom View Options

In addition to keeping track of the size and position of document windows and which panels are displayed
when you close your score, Sibelius also keeps track of which page is in view and at what zoom level when
you save, as well as which page display mode is active, together with which options in the Invisibles,
Magnetic Layout, Note Colors and Rulers groups on the View tab are switched on.

The options for initial zoom and page display are found in the Opening Files group on the Files page
of File > Preferences:
l Open at zoom level lets you determine whether Sibelius opens scores at the zoom level specified
here, or at the zoom level you were using when you last saved the score.
l Open scores using lets you choose whether Sibelius should open scores in Panorama, normal
view, or the view last used in the score (the default).
l For page view, use lets you choose the default page arrangement Sibelius should use when
opening a score—"Document View" on page 724.
l If score uses Magnetic Layout, also use it in Panorama determines whether or not
Sibelius should use Magnetic Layout in Panorama—see "Magnetic Layout in Panorama" on page 650.
The options for the other settings on the View tab are in the Default View Options group on the
Display page of Preferences.

To make your own custom settings, first leave the Preferences dialog, then go to the View tab of the
Ribbon and switch on and off the options in the Invisibles, Magnetic Layout, Note Colors and
Rulers groups as desired, then return to the Display page of Preferences and click Set Custom
View Options. Sibelius automatically chooses the Custom View options radio button; to revert to
using the options saved in each score, choose the View options saved in score radio button instead.

Screen Resolution
The larger the screen resolution you have available, the more music you will be able to see at once with
sufficient fidelity to really see what’s going on. The minimum recommended vertical resolution required for
Sibelius is 900 pixels: anything less than that and you may not be able to see the tops or bottoms of larger
dialogs, such as Preferences or Engraving Rules.

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To change your screen resolution:

t On Windows:
– Minimize any open programs, then right-click on the desktop, and choose Screen
resolution from the context menu.
– Drag the Screen Resolution slider up to increase the screen resolution, and click Apply to
try out your changes, or OK to confirm them.
t On Mac:
– From the dock, launch System Preferences, and click the Displays icon.
– Choose a new screen resolution from the available list; your Mac is automatically set to use the
new resolution.
Depending on your computer’s graphics card, higher resolutions may cause screen redraw to slow down a
bit; if you find this to be the case, you may want to consider upgrading to a more powerful graphics card.

Textures
Within Sibelius, both the virtual paper and desk use high-quality textures to make them easier on the eye.
You can easily change the textures from a huge range of papers, woods, marbles and so on, using the
Textures page of File > Preferences.

By choosing from the Edit textures for menu you can set the textures for the Score, Parts, editing
Ideas, and viewing read-only Versions independently.

There are some fun textures to choose between—try Tiger skin for your desktop, or Paper, coffee-
stained for your paper if you’ve been up all night writing music! Perhaps more useful is the Paper,
graph texture, which is very good for visually aligning objects in your score—the grid lines are 1 space apart
when viewed at 100%.

If screen redraw is still slow, you will probably find that switching textures off (by setting the options to Use
color, not texture) makes screen redraw quicker.

You can even add your own textures to Sibelius if you like—just create a folder called Textures inside your
computer’s application data area (see "User-Editable Files" on page 74), and drop some suitable Windows
bitmap (BMP) files into it. When you next run Sibelius, the new textures will be available on the Textures
page of File > Preferences.

Translucent Windows
You can switch on the Translucent tool windows option on the Display page of File >
Preferences to make the panels displayed by View > Panels translucent when they are undocked so
that you can see your music through them. If you experience flickering or other problems during playback,
switching on Except video window to prevent the video window from being translucent should resolve
this issue ("Video" on page 598).

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Sibelius also lets you set how transparent windows should be using the Translucency slider. A value of 0%
means the windows are completely opaque, whilst 100% makes them rather uselessly invisible.

Using translucency usually speeds up screen redraw, so we recommend that you switch this option on.

Multiple Monitors
You can run Sibelius across multiple monitors, which is very useful as you can, say, have a different score
open on each monitor, or even view two pages of the same score across both displays.

Speed Tips
Here are a few ways you can improve the speed at which Sibelius runs on your computer:
l If dragging the paper seems slow, switch off the paper and desk textures (see "Textures" on the
previous page). You could also try changing the smoothing level and color depth, and switch on
Translucent Windows.
l If selecting objects seems slow, close up any open panels on the Inspector you’re not specifically
using, or allow it to disappear when you’re not using it, by unpinning it.
l Once you’ve memorized everything on the Keypad, hiding it by switching off View > Panels >
Keypad (shortcut Control+Alt+K or Command+Option+K) will provide a small speed increase.
l You will also find that switching off rulers in the View > Rulers group speeds things up too.
l As you are inputting or editing, Sibelius always checks to make sure that what you hear when you
click on a note is the best available sound (for example, if you click on a staccato note, Sibelius will
try to play a staccato sound if one is available). If your playback device provides lots of different
playing techniques, working out which sound to play at any given moment can take a little while,
particularly if you are working with a large score. So consider either switching off Play notes as
you edit on the Note Input page of File > Preferences (in the Sibelius menu on Mac), or
switching to a playback configuration that uses simpler playback devices; for example, choose
General MIDI (enhanced) from the Configuration menu in Play > Setup. You can switch
back to your more capable playback configuration when you’ve done the majority of the input and
editing work.

Keyboard Shortcuts
Every function of Sibelius can be performed using just the keyboard. Once you’ve learned the keyboard
shortcuts for the features you use most often, you’ll find using Sibelius much quicker and easier.

There are two kinds of keyboard shortcuts in Sibelius:

l Key tips for controls on the Ribbon—see "Keyboard Access" on page 66.
l Assignable keyboard shortcuts that can be used from anywhere, without needing to navigate to a
particular control on the Ribbon.
In this Reference Guide, where a keyboard shortcut shown it is of the latter kind, rather than a key tip. You
can see keyboard shortcuts in the screen tips that appear when you hover over a control in the Ribbon, and
a comprehensive list is provided at the back of this Reference Guide.

You can customize the keyboard shortcuts if you want (though you cannot customize the key tips), and you
can also enable or disable particular features in Sibelius’s menus, which is useful in schools.

Shortcut Patterns
Here are some general patterns to shortcuts that make them easier to remember:

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l Standard operations common to all programs (such as New, Copy, Print, Find, Save, Undo) use
standard shortcuts, which are mostly Control or Command plus the initial letter of the operation (the
notable exceptions being Undo, which is Control+Z or Command+Z, and Paste, which is
Control+V or Command+V).
l Most shortcuts for creating common notations (other than text) are a single letter, usually the initial
letter (for example, L for line, K for key signature).
l Text style shortcuts are Control or Command, or Control+Alt or Command+Option, plus the initial
letter (for example, Control+E or Command+E for Expression, Control+T or Command+T for
Technique, Control+Alt+T or Command+Option+T for Tempo).
l Most Layout and Appearance tab shortcuts are Control+Shift or Command+Shift plus the
initial letter. For Appearance > Design and Position options they use the initial letter of the
thing to be reset (for example, Control+Shift+P or Command+Shift+P for Reset Position).
l Shortcuts for panels are Control+Alt or Command+Option plus the initial letter (or a letter from the
name) of the panel you want to show or hide.
l Control or Command with the arrow keys or Home/End/Page Up/Page Down means “large steps,”
for example, with a note selected, Control+Up Arrow or Command+Up Arrow transposes by an
octave; with a bar selected, Control+Alt+Shift+Up Arrow or Command+Option+Shift+Right
Arrow increases note spacing by a large amount.
l Shift with arrows or mouse click means “extend selection,” for example, with a bar selected,
Shift+Up Arrow extends the selection to the staff above.

Windows / Mac Differences

The keyboard shortcuts in Sibelius are virtually identical on Windows and Mac. The Command key on Mac
keyboards is equivalent to the Control key on Windows keyboards, and the Option key on Mac is
equivalent to the Alt key on Windows. As a result, almost all shortcuts are interchangeable as long as, for
example, Command is substituted for Control as appropriate. There are a few exceptions, but these are
clearly explained where they arise.

Likewise, Mac notebook computers have trackpads with only one button, so Mac users may need to use
Control-click to access the context menus, while users with a multi-button mouse can use right-click.

School Features
Sibelius comes with a ready-made educational feature set called School features, which disables all of
the program’s advanced features. To use this feature set, select the Keyboard Shortcuts page of
File > Preferences, select School features from the Current feature set list, then click OK.

The features that remain enabled are the main ones likely to be used by students (for example, inputting of
notes and other common objects, basic playback, printing), but with more advanced features (or features
you don’t want students to waste time playing around with!) disabled, for example, most Layout and
Appearance tab features, advanced playback features, and plug-ins.

Note that Sibelius doesn’t prevent students going into the Preferences dialog themselves to switch the
disabled features back on.

You can also use School features as the basis for your own custom feature set—see "Enabling and
Disabling Features" on page 188.

Notebook (Laptop) Features

Sibelius comes with a feature set especially designed for laptop users who don’t have a keypad on their
computer. To use this feature set, select Notebook (laptop) features from the Current feature
set list, then click OK. See "Accessing Numeric Keypad Functions on a Notebook (Laptop)" on page 263 for
more information.

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Keyboard Layout
Sibelius supports a variety of international keyboard layouts. By default, Sibelius assumes that you are
using the keyboard layout most commonly associated with the language in which you choose to run
Sibelius (see "Language" on page 176).

If you wish to change the keyboard language, choose your desired layout from the Keyboard language
menu on the Keyboard Shortcuts page of Preferences.

Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts

You can customize the existing shortcuts in Sibelius as you like. For instance, if you use lots of triplets and
find Control+3 or Command+3 a pain to type, you could assign a single key, preferably an unused one,
such as U.

To get started, choose the Keyboard Shortcuts page of File > Preferences to see this dialog:

Before you can define a new shortcut, you need to create a new feature set, a specific set of keyboard
shortcuts and enabled features (see "Enabling and Disabling Features" on page 188). By default, Sibelius
uses the Standard menus and shortcuts feature set (though other sets are also included—see above),
but you can have as many different feature sets as you like.

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To create one:

1. Click Add Feature Set to create a new feature set.

2. In the New Feature Set dialog, type a suitable name. The Base on default set option
(switched on by default) is recommended: this retains all of Sibelius’s standard shortcuts and lets you
add to them—if you switch this option off, you’ll have to define every single shortcut from scratch.
3. Click OK, and your new feature set is automatically chosen in the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog.
Now you can get down to the serious business of defining your own shortcuts:
l All of the features for which you can customize shortcuts are organized according to their Tab or
Category; choose the appropriate option in the list—for example, choose Tuplets.
l The Feature list shows the available features within the chosen menu or category; choose
Triplet.
l In the Keyboard Shortcuts box at the right, any current shortcuts for that function are displayed;
the standard shortcut for creating a triplet will be shown.
l You can select the existing shortcut and click Delete to remove it, but there’s seldom need as you
can define multiple shortcuts for the same feature (the first shortcut listed is the one that will be
shown in Sibelius’s menus, if that feature has a menu item). So let’s just add another shortcut—click
Add.
l The Add Keyboard Shortcut dialog appears. Type your own shortcut (in this case, just U), then
click OK. You can type a single key or a combination (such as Control+Alt+U or
Command+Option+U), but single key shortcuts will reduce your stress levels enormously.
l If the shortcut you choose is already used by another feature, Sibelius will ask if you want to override
it.
l When you have finished customizing shortcuts, click OK to close the Preferences dialog.
Here are a few things to bear in mind when customizing shortcuts:
l You can theoretically reassign keys on the Keypad (this could be useful for emulating other music
programs), but the Keypad on the screen won’t magically rearrange itself to show this: so if you
make 3 on the Keypad the shortcut for a triplet, you don’t get a little triplet drawn there.
l On Mac, you can’t assign a number of combinations, since they are intercepted by the operating
system, including: Command+Shift+0–9, F1–F12, Command+Option+T, Command+M and
Command+H.
l On Windows, you should not attempt to re-assign standard Windows shortcuts such as
Control+F4, Alt+F4, Control+Esc, Control+Tab, Alt+Tab and so on.
To customize shortcuts for items in word menus, "Working with Text" on page 443.

Searching Keyboard Shortcuts

Sibelius lets you search keyboard shortcuts be feature or shortcut.

To search keyboard shortcuts:

1. Choose File > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts.

2. Type the name of the feature for which you want to its shortcut.
3. Click Search (or press Return).

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Finding Unused Keyboard Shortcuts

There are various possible keyboard shortcuts left unused by Sibelius’s standard set. Generally speaking,
most of the combinations of single letters, Control or Command plus letters, and Control+Shift or
Command+Shift plus letters (and a smaller number of Control+Alt+Shift or Command+Option+Shift
plus letters) are already used by default, but without affecting these you could use:
t Control+Shift or Command+Shift, or Control+Alt+Shift or Command+Option+Shift, plus
the numbers on the main keyboard.
t Control or Command, Control+Shift or Command+Shift, or Control+Alt+Shift or
Command+Option+Shift plus most of the function keys.
t Single-key shortcuts using punctuation keys (for example, , . / # ;).
t On Mac, you can also use the Control key, which is practically unused by Sibelius’s defaults.
Exporting a List of Keyboard Shortcuts
Sibelius lets you export a list of all keyboard shortcuts as an HTML file for easy reference. You can choose to
group keyboard shortcuts in the list by category or not, and sort the list by Shortcut or Feature.

Enabling and Disabling Features

As well as allowing you to customize keyboard shortcuts, the Keyboard Shortcuts page of
Preferences also allows you selectively to disable individual features, which may be useful in schools
when you don’t want students to be able to use particular functions of the program.

To do this, create a feature set (for example, based on the supplied School features set—you can’t
disable features in the default feature set)—see "Customizing Keyboard Shortcuts" on page 186. Then
choose the feature you want to disable from the Feature list and switch off the Enable feature option.
Disabled features do not disappear from the Ribbon, but they are grayed out and cannot be accessed by
their keyboard shortcuts.

Sharing Feature Sets

Feature sets are saved in the Keyboard Shortcuts folder inside your application data folder (see "User-
Editable Files" on page 74), and have the file extension .sfs. You can transfer feature sets from one
computer to another by copying this file, then choosing the copied feature set on the second computer from
the Keyboard Shortcuts page of Preferences.

Feature set files are platform-dependent; that is, a feature set created on Windows will not work on Mac,
and vice versa (because the keys on Windows and Mac keyboards are different).

Editing Feature Sets

If you need to delete or rename a feature set, click Edit Feature Sets on the Keyboard Shortcuts
page of Preferences. You can also duplicate an existing feature set, which is useful for for example,
basing a new set on the supplied School features set.

Restoring Default Keyboard Shortcuts

To restore keyboard shortcuts to their default settings, reselect the Standard menus and shortcuts
feature set in the Keyboard Shortcuts page of Preferences, and click OK.

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