Sibelius Tips

Also check out the Sibelius Keyboard Shortcuts page.

Laptop Command Mappings

• Sibelius likes to use the numeric keypad for many computer keyboard commands. However, laptops don't have a numeric keypad, or it is very cumbersome to activate it to overlay the regular keyboard. To use laptop-friendly commands in Sibelius, go to the menu option File→Preferences→Menus and Shortcuts and then select "Notebook (laptop) shortcuts" in the top selection box in the preference window.

Click-dragging

• Move a page around by click-dragging in a white region on a page.
• Move a staff to a different position by click dragging on staff lines.
• Change the width of a measure by click-dragging on the ending barline of a measure.

Deleting

• Highlight a note and then press Delete to turn it into a rest.
• Highlight a rest and then press Delete to hide it.
• To delete a measure: press Ctrl/⌘ and click on a measure. A double box will surround it. Press Delete to get rid of that measure. To delete more measures, Shft+Click on a second measure, and then press Delete. If you delete the first measure of a score, the title and composer information will also disappear.

Creating

• To create a key signature type k, choose the key you want, and then click in the measure that you want to start that key signature.
• Right click on a blank area of the page to bring up a list of things which can be created.
• Number every measure on screen (toggle): View→Staff Names and Bar Numbers.

Copying

• To copy a range of measures and paste in another range of meausres:

1. Click on the first measure to copy. A single blue box should surround the measure.
2. ⇧ Shift+Click on the last measure. The single blue box should now surround a range of measures.
3. Press Alt+Click on Windows, or Option+Click on mac to paste the music starting in the measure which you click.