Custom shortcuts for main menu

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Theu
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jul 13, 2022 10:34 am
Finale Version: 27
Operating System: Mac

Post by Theu » Fri Nov 04, 2022 10:38 am

Hello,

Recently I did an update and lost all my custom settings. Now I can't find how I implemented a certain setting back in the days: assigning custom shortcuts for changing the chosen mode in the main menu.

All the tutorials on the internet point to custom shortcuts in the simple entry tool, but that's not what I'm looking for. Previously I could quickly switch (with ctr+self chosen key I think) between simply entry, articulation, expression tool and so on. I also want to be able to quickly switch between layers 1 to 4.

Does anyone have any idea where I can set these custom shortcuts?

Thanks in advance!


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Peter Thomsen
Posts: 6602
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2003 6:47 pm
Finale Version: Finale v27.4
Operating System: Mac

Post by Peter Thomsen » Fri Nov 04, 2022 11:00 am

Theu wrote:
Fri Nov 04, 2022 10:38 am
… Previously I could quickly switch (with ctr+self chosen key I think) between simply entry, articulation, expression tool and so on …
Quoting the manual:
Keyboard equivalents are document-specific. If you decide you like these keyboard equivalents, you should save them to your default file.

While pressing CONTROL+OPTION, press one of the keys in the middle row of the alphabet keyboard (F through apostrophe). The Master Tool Palette dialog box appears.
Double-click the tool you want to assign to the key you pressed.
From now on, to select that tool, press CONTROL and the key you originally pressed (CONTROL+F, for example).


NB:
The above mentioned custom keyboard equivalents are document-specific.

For program-specific keyboard shortcuts, instead use the Mac OS
System Preferences > Keyboard
pane to set up shortcuts for menu items in Finale.
Before you can do so, you must enable Finale’s Tools menu - so that the tools are menu items.
This is done in
Preferences - View
Select {Show Tools Menu} (I could be wrong, but I think that it is selected by default).

Theu wrote:
Fri Nov 04, 2022 10:38 am
… I also want to be able to quickly switch between layers 1 to 4 …
Fortunately keyboard shortcuts to layers are already available.

A. The general layer shortcuts that work in all tools, are
Option-Command-Number (e. g. Option-Command-2 for Layer 2)
In the document window’s lower left corner you can see which layer is active (but you probably knew that already).

B. In the Speedy Entry Tool there are two other (very convenient) layer shortcuts:
Shift-DownArrow
and
Shift-UpArrow
for cycling though the layers
Mac OS X 12.6.9 (Monterey), Finale user since 1996

Theu
Posts: 5
Joined: Wed Jul 13, 2022 10:34 am
Finale Version: 27
Operating System: Mac

Post by Theu » Fri Nov 04, 2022 11:19 am

Peter Thomsen wrote:
Fri Nov 04, 2022 11:00 am
For program-specific keyboard shortcuts, instead use the Mac OS
System Preferences > Keyboard
pane to set up shortcuts for menu items in Finale.
Aha! Then I could have searched for a long time in Finale. Indeed it must have been in the Mac OS preferences at the time.. I forgot about that.. Thank you so much for the quick (and super accurate) response!

Edit: when I enter 'Speedy Entry' in the Mac OS shortcuts menu, the key command works fine but only when I first click on the Tools menu within Finale so this is dropdown. Is there a way to skip this?

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Peter Thomsen
Posts: 6602
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2003 6:47 pm
Finale Version: Finale v27.4
Operating System: Mac

Post by Peter Thomsen » Fri Nov 04, 2022 4:53 pm

1) Finale has lots of menus with the same name, so you can specify menu paths with "->" (no spaces).
In the case of MIDI Tool, that would be Tools->MIDI; for Playback Window, it's Window->Playback Controls.
Mac OS X 12.6.9 (Monterey), Finale user since 1996

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