Any way to select the first beat only in a 2/4 measure?

[Djard]

I use the Staff Tool or Selection Tool, hold down the "Shift" key and click from one end to the other to select any note(s) in a 4/4 measure for editing, like changing a note to a slash. But in a 2/4 measure, I can only highlight the last beat. The only way I can highlight the first beat in 2/4 is to highlight the measure before it also, which is unacceptable. Am I overlooking something?

[David Ward]

I don't know if this is the official way, but on a Mac I can do the following.

1) Select the whole 2/4 bar.
2) With shift and right arrow extend the selection into the first beat (or partial beat) of the next bar.
3) Then use shift and left arrow so that the selection will reduce progressively to the left until only the first beat (or even just the first note if shorter than the first beat) is selected.

This is assuming that something (eg a plethora of notational elements) is preventing you from simply lassoing the the first beat with the selection tool.

[Peter Thomsen]

… simply lassoing the the first beat with the selection tool.

That would be my first suggestion, since it probably the faster way.
Just drag diagonally across the first beat, but begin outside the staff.

A more general method for precise selection - which can be used in a macro, e. g. in a FinaleScript script:
Edit menu > Select Region…
In the dialog box Select Region there is a pop up menu where you can specify (mini-)selection in Beats or in EDUs.

[motet]

Djard, start by clicking outside the staff, then drag a rectangle around the area you want.

[zuill]

Occasionally I've seen oddity in the selection process. Can we see a sample that displays this behavior? That way we can test things for ourselves to find the cause.

Zuill

[Djard]

I found Motet's method the most practical. But I made note of the othger options. Thanks to everybody for kindly responding.