How to assign shortcut/metatool for main tools

[David M]

Hello all,

I've been away from Finale for quite a while, just getting back to it. There's something I used to do which I forgot how to program. I was about to ask anyone if they knew how when I rediscovered the trick by mistake. So instead of posting as a question I'm posting this as help for anyone who'd like to use this. I could not find this in the online manual or forum, tried various search terms but they're too broad and I didn't find wherever the info is (I must have got it from somewhere the first time, years back).

It's this. You can select tools (Expression, Articulation, Simple Entry, what have you) by keyboard shortcut, or perhaps this would be referred to as a Metatool. To clarify, I'm not talking about applying some particular thing like an accent or dynamic to a particular note — those are very useful metatools for once you're already in the tool. I'm talking about simply instantiating a tool by pressing a key rather than reaching over with the mouse and picking the tool off the main tool palette. Finale has such a lot of little niggling things you have to do if you're going to make your music look good, so saving mouse moves is huge and I've found these shortcuts to be a real hand-saver.

This definitely works with the keys F over through ; — I don't think it will work with others but these 7 keys are all I need. With Finale open in front of you, your hold down (on a Mac, don't know about Windows) cmd-opt-ctrl-shift and then press one of the keys F through ;. Then a little Master Tool Palette window pops up and you just click the picture of the tool you want to associate with that key. After this, you can press ctrl-key and that tool will be instantiated and ready to use.

My own particular programming was for the tools I found myself most often going back and forth between, especially in the clearing up phase of making a score or part look right.

ctrl-F = expression tool
ctrl-G = measure tool
ctrl-H = special tool
ctrl-J = smart shape tool
ctrl-K = articulation tool
ctrl-L = simple entry tool
ctrl-; = page layout tool
(automatically already the esc key will take you to the select tool)

That's it. I hope some of you find this useful. Oh and if anyone knows where this is in the manual or if there's been a more thorough post about it, please do reply with that location.

Best to you all...

[Peter Thomsen]

… if anyone knows where this is in the manual or if there's been a more thorough post about it, please do reply with that location …

Those programmable {tool metatools} are document specific => in different projects (documents) you can have {tool metatools} for different Finale tools.

You can read about it in the manual:
http://usermanuals.finalemusic.com/Fina ... og_box.htm