Chapter 11

Keyboard shortcuts

Here are all of Maestro’s keyboard shortcuts, grouped by topic, with columns for Mac and Windows. On Windows, ⌘ generally becomes Ctrl, but many Mac shortcuts have no Windows equivalent: in that case the column shows “—” and the command is still available from the menu. Shortcuts are also shown next to menu items and for the toolbar buttons (on the Mac in their tooltips, on Windows in the status bar).

The Mac Edit menu corresponds to the Edit and Notation menus on Windows.

Files and windows

Command Mac Windows
New Score… (setup wizard) ⌘N Ctrl+N
New Blank Score ⌥⌘N —
Open… ⌘O Ctrl+O
Close ⌘W Ctrl+W
Save ⌘S Ctrl+S
Save As… ⇧⌘S Ctrl+Shift+S
Export PDF… ⇧⌘P —
Export MusicXML… ⇧⌘E —
Export Audio… ⌥⇧⌘E —
Print… ⌘P Ctrl+P
Settings… ⌘, Ctrl+,
Next / previous document — Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab
Minimize window ⌘M —
Hide Maestro / Hide Others ⌘H / ⌥⌘H —
Quit Maestro ⌘Q —

Editing and selection

Command Mac Windows
Undo ⌘Z Ctrl+Z
Redo ⇧⌘Z Ctrl+Y or Ctrl+Shift+Z
Cut ⌘X Ctrl+X
Copy ⌘C Ctrl+C
Paste ⌘V Ctrl+V
Paste Multiple… ⌥⌘V —
Select All ⌘A Ctrl+A
Delete the selection ⌫ or ⌦ Backspace or Del
Selected notes up / down a step ↑ / ↓ ↑ / ↓
Selected notes up / down an octave ⇧↑ / ⇧↓ Shift+↑ / Shift+↓
Raise / lower by a semitone + / - + / -
Note → acciaccatura → appoggiatura → note ; ;
Automatic Position (for items moved by hand) ⌥⇧⌘R —

With an item selected (dynamic, text, chord symbol, slur, hairpin…), the arrow keys move it by a quarter of a space, or by a whole space with ⇧ (Shift on Windows); ⌫ deletes it.

With the mouse

Action Mac Windows
Extend the selection ⇧-click Shift+click
Select the measure in all staves ⌥-click Alt+click
Switch to Speedy Entry in that measure double-click double-click
Staff spacing in that system only (Staff tool) drag with ⌥ drag with Alt

You can also zoom by pinching on the Mac trackpad or a Windows touchpad; on Windows, Ctrl+mouse wheel zooms too.

Tools and layers

Command Mac Windows
Selection ⌘1 Ctrl+1
Simple Entry ⌘2 Ctrl+2
Speedy Entry ⌘3 Ctrl+3
Key Signature ⌘4 Ctrl+4
Time Signature ⌘5 Ctrl+5
Clef ⌘6 Ctrl+6
Measure ⌘7 Ctrl+7
Staff ⌘8 Ctrl+8
Articulations ⌘9 Ctrl+9
Layer 1–4 ⌥⌘1…⌥⌘4 Ctrl+Alt+1…Ctrl+Alt+4
Back to the Selection tool (when stopped) Esc Esc

Speedy Entry

As in Finale, the Speedy Entry tool lets you write without the mouse. See also Entering notes.

Command Mac Windows
Duration: 1 sixty-fourth, 2 thirty-second, 3 sixteenth, 4 eighth, 5 quarter, 6 half, 7 whole, 8 breve 1…8 1…8
Note (nearest to the cursor) A…G A…G
Cursor up / down ↑ / ↓ ↑ / ↓
Cursor up / down an octave ⇧↑ / ⇧↓ Shift+↑ / Shift+↓
Move the note by a step / an octave ⌥↑ ⌥↓ / ⌥⇧↑ ⌥⇧↓ Alt+↑ Alt+↓ / Alt+Shift+↑ Alt+Shift+↓
Previous / next note ← / → ← / →
Add or remove the note in the chord ↩ Enter
Dot . .
Raise / lower by a semitone + / - + / -
Tie = =
Note ↔ rest ⌫ or R Backspace or R
Delete the note ⌦ Del
Acciaccatura / appoggiatura ; ;
Next / previous staff ⇥ / ⇧⇥ Tab / Shift+Tab
Triplet, quintuplet, sextuplet, septuplet, duplet, quadruplet ⌥3 ⌥5 ⌥6 ⌥7 ⌥2 ⌥4 Alt+3 Alt+5 Alt+6 Alt+7 Alt+2 Alt+4
Other tuplet… ⌥1 Alt+1

The tuplet shortcuts also work on selected notes.

Simple Entry

Command Mac Windows
Choose the duration 1…8 1…8
Dot . .
Enter rests instead of notes R R
Raise / lower the selected note by a semitone + / - + / -
Selected note up / down a step (an octave with ⇧) ↑ / ↓ ↑ / ↓
Delete the selected note ⌫ or ⌦ Backspace or Del

Articulations, dynamics and markings

These apply to the note at the Speedy Entry cursor or to the selected notes. On Windows these commands are in the Notation menu, without shortcuts.

Command Mac Windows
Accent ⌃A —
Staccato ⌃S —
Tenuto ⌃T —
Staccatissimo ⌃E —
Marcato ⌃M —
Fermata ⌃F —
Dynamic from ppp to fff ⌃1…⌃8 —
Remove Dynamic ⌃0 —
Slur ⌃L —
Crescendo ⌃C —
Diminuendo ⌃D —
Glissando ⌃G —
Text… ⌃X —
Rehearsal Mark… ⌃R —
Chord Symbol… ⌃K —
Lyrics… ⌃Y —

Document and layout

Command Mac Windows
Key Signature… ⌥⌘K —
Time Signature… ⌥⌘T —
Add Measures… ⌥⌘M —
Delete Selected Measures ⌘⌫ —
New System from This Measure ⌥⌘↩ —
New Page from This Measure ⌥⇧⌘↩ —
Extract Parts… ⌥⌘P —

View

Command Mac Windows
Page View ↔ Scroll View ⌘E Ctrl+E
Concert Pitch ⇧⌘K —
Multimeasure Rests ⇧⌘M —
Next Part ⌥⌘] —
Previous Part ⌥⌘[ —
Zoom In ⌘+ Ctrl++
Zoom Out ⌘- Ctrl+-
Actual Size (100%) ⌘0 Ctrl+0
Inspector ⌥⌘I Ctrl+I
Mixer ⌥⌘X —
Playback Bar ⌥⌘B —
Hide / show the toolbar ⌥⇧⌘T Ctrl+Alt+Shift+T

Playback

Command Mac Windows
Play / stop Space Space
Play (from the menu) ⌥⌘R —
Pause and resume ⇧Space Shift+Space
Stop (recording too) Esc Esc
Rewind ⇧⌥⌘← —
Previous Measure ⌥⌘← —
Next Measure ⌥⌘→ —
Loop Selection ⌥⌘L —
Tap Tempo ⌃⌥T —
Tuner ⌃⌘T —
Record from MIDI Keyboard ⌃⌥R Ctrl+R

In the playback bar, after clicking a value (measure, elapsed time, ♩ = …, percentage), Enter confirms and Esc cancels. See Playback and audio.

Dialogs, inspector and print preview

  • In dialogs, Enter confirms and Esc cancels.
  • On Windows, in the inspector fields Enter confirms the value and Esc discards it.
  • On Windows, you page through the print preview with the arrow keys, PgUp and PgDn, Home and End; Enter or Ctrl+P prints, Esc closes.