Keyboard shortcuts for MIDI Tool and Playback Window

[gogreen]

I've found plenty of information in the manual and elsewhere on keyboard shortcuts for Finale tools, but I've found nothing on bringing up certain tools themselves (those without pre-established shortcuts). Nor have I found anything in the manual on how to create a shortcut in Finale. So are there Mac shortcuts for the MIDI Tool and for the Playback Window? And if not, how would I create them from within Finale (preferably not with a third party shortcut app)?

[miker]

Art,
I have mapped all of my shortcuts through the Apple keyboard. If a command is listed in a menu, it can usually be assigned. Which commands, specifically, are you trying to map?

[Peter Thomsen]

… So are there Mac shortcuts for the MIDI Tool and for the Playback Window? And if not, how would I create them from within Finale (preferably not with a third party shortcut app)?

1) You can - from within Finale - create shortcuts to 8 tools, e. g. to the MIDI Tool.
The 8 trigger keys are located in the middle row on the computer keyboard:
F, G, H, J, K, L, semicolon (;), or apostrophe (').
However, these tool shortcuts are document specific (not program specific), i. e. they are saved in the document, and they work in the document. *)
In your post it sounds like you prefer program specific shortcuts that “automatically” work in all documents, right?


2) What Mike Rosen said.
You can program Mac OS shortcuts to all menu items, including items in the Window menu (e. g. Playback Controls), and items in the Tools menu (e. g. the MIDI Tool).
And all these shortcuts are program specific (not document specific).


*) To program a document specific tool shortcut, hold down ctrl and option, and press one of the 8 trigger keys, e. g. the semicolon key.
In the Master Tool Palette, double-click the icon for tool you need to program, e. g. the MIDI Tool.
From now on the shortcut ctrl-; will switch to the MIDI Tool.

[BuonTempi]

Use Mac's System Preferences > Keyboard pane to set up shortcuts for Finale.

Click on "Shortcuts" tab; then on App Shortcuts. Press + to add a shortcut: select Finale from the list of Applications, and then the name of the menu command (in the case of MIDI Tool, that would be Tools->MIDI; for Playback Window, it's Window->Playback Controls). Then set the key command you want to use.

The beauty of this is that it will apply to ALL versions of Finale on your Mac.

Screen Shot 2.png

[gogreen]

Thanks, Mike, Peter, and Buontempi.

I've set up shortcuts in my Mac System Preferences. I've set option-control-1 to toggle the Playback Controls, which works perfectly. I'm left-handed, so left-side shortcut commands feel comfortable for me. Control-option-[number or letter] works well for me because I can easily spread my thumb across both keys and press a number with my index finger. I thought that was a cool discovery.

However, I've set option-control-2 for the MIDI Tool, but nothing happens. I expect that this shortcut would toggle the MIDI Tool's appearance in the menu bar, but nothing happens when I invoke it. What am I doing wrong?

[Peter Thomsen]

… I've set up shortcuts in my Mac System Preferences …
… I've set option-control-2 for the MIDI Tool, but nothing happens. I expect that this shortcut would toggle the MIDI Tool's appearance in the menu bar, but nothing happens when I invoke it …

The custom shortcuts in Mac OS X are shortcuts to menu items.
My guess is that you can not get a shortcut to a tool unless that tool is a menu item.

In Other Words:
Go to Finale’s
Preferences - View
and select “Show Tools menu”.

Does that help?

[gogreen]

Thanks, Peter. I had "Show Tools menu" already checked. No change. I also tried changing the shortcut keys. That didn't change anything, either. Does creating a shortcut this way work for you?

[Peter Thomsen]

… Does creating a shortcut this way work for you?

Yes.
See the attached screen shot.

However, I think that you can only use certain key combinations.
Key combinations which do not conflict with other shortcuts.

The number 2 key is already used in some shortcuts.
I could not make ctrl-option-2 work.

On The Other Hand, ctrl-option-Q works for me.

[gogreen]

I got it to work. Not sure why it didn't work at first. I tried several keystroke combinations, which eventually worked. Then I went back to control-option-2, which now works. Ah, well... Ours is not to reason why. Maybe it was the order in which I was effecting the keystrokes--it's a bit awkward to smash my thumb against both keys. Maybe, maybe not. Anyway, it's working. Thanks, Peter!