Selecting elements

Not to be confused with the note input cursor (caret) explained in Note input chapter.

Selected score items are highlighted with repect to their Voice, otherwise black or grey (if invisible) by default. The current selection status is shown on the bottom left status bar. There are four in total,

• "nothing is selected" status. The status bar is blank;
• "single item selection" status. The status bar shows the its type;
• List Selection status when multiple objects are selected;
• Range Selection status when a time segment across a given set of staves is selected. A blue rectangle is visible. Requirement of common operations such as Copy and Paste and repeat selection.

Shown below are single Voice 1 note selection (top); and "Range Selection" and status bar (bottom).

De-selecting

1. Press Esc to reset to Normal mode.
2. Press Esc again, or click empty page margin to deselect.

Clicking score item

• In Normal mode, click to select single score item except chord and measure. This repositions playback cursor.
• In Note edit mode, doing so repositions note input cursor.

Clicking chord notes

• Click notehead to select a note.
• Shift+click either one notehead to create a Range selection that encompasses the chord as shown above. The phrase "select a chord" refers to this command.
• Ctrl (Mac: Cmd) + click chord notes one by one to create a List Selection of multiple notes. Less commonly used.

Clicking a measure

• Click any blank space within measure to create a Range selection that encompasses it. The phrase "select measure(s)" refers to this command.

Selecting a single element

• Mouse click works as explained.
• Click notehead to select a note.
• Stem, flag, dot, accidental are selectable separately.
• In Normal mode, Left and Right navigate through notes (one note per chord) and rests.
• In Normal mode, Alt+Left and Alt+Right navigate through notes (every note of chord), rests, articulation, dynamics etc. See also the Viewing and navigation chapter.
• The phrases "select a chord" and "select a measure" refer to Range selection.

Selecting one in a group of overlapping items

• Ctrl+click to switch-select when items fully overlap each other eg notes in different Voices sharing the same pitch.
• In Normal mode, Alt+Left, Right navigate through every note of chord.

Selecting a note to copy its pitch only

• To copy every aspects of a note including duration, create a Range Selection containing it.
• To copy note pitch information only, which can be pasted onto note or rest, select the notehead. Removed in Musescore 4.

Creating a List Selection

To select multiple score items other than notes or rests, Shift+click any blank space outside of staff lines and drag to create a selection box enclosing them.

To add or remove from the current selection, Ctrl (Mac: Cmd) + click (requires Musescore 3.5 version or later). This converts the selection to a List Selection.

To select a certain type of elements across the staff or the score,

1. Right-click a score item.
2. Select → All Similar Elements or All Similar Elements in Same Staff

To select by type within a virtual Range selection enclosed by those two item (requires Musescore 3.5 version or later),

1. Select the first and top item.
2. Shift+click the last and bottom element, or vice versa.

To select by type across a Range selection (works on all Musescore 3 versions),

1. Create a Range selection
2. Right-click an item inside
3. Click Select→All Similar Elements in Range Selection

To create a more complex selection,

1. Either,
   • Create a Range selection, and right-click an item inside, or
   • Right-click a score item,
2. Click Select→More.
3. Check required options (option availability varies with the right-clicked item),

Options available when the right-clicked item is a note are,

• Same notehead: see the Noteheads chapter.
• Same pitch: notes with the same pitch name, accidental, and octave.
• Same string: notes with the on the same string (tablature only).
• Same type: notes of the same type (normal, acciaccatura, appoggiatura).
• Same note type: notes of the same duration, not considering presence of dots or tuplets.
• Same duration: notes of the same actual duration.
• Same note name: notes with the same pitch name and accidental, not considering octave.
• Same staff: notes in the same staff.
• Same voice: see the Voice chapter.
• Same beat: based on time signature only, not beaming.
• In selection: from currently selected. Useful when the current is List Selection or Range selection.
• Same system: notes in the same system (layout concept. See Layout and formatting).
• Same measure: notes in the same measure.

Choose one out of four if required,

• Replace selection: deselect current selection.
• Add to selection: add to current selection. Converts to List Selection.
• Search in selection: filter currently selected items.
• Subtract from selection: removes from current selection.

Creating a Range Selection

To select notes and rests, Shift+click any blank space outside of staff lines and drag to create a selection box enclosing them.

To create a Range Selection enclosing a starting and an end note or rest,

1. Select a note or rest.
2. Optionally reposition the score.
3. Shift+click another note or rest.

To create and resize a Range Selection,

1. Select a note or rest.
2. Hold Shift and resize
   • by one chord with Shift+Left and Shift+Right,
   • by one measure with Shift+Ctrl+Left and Shift+Ctrl+Right (Mac: use Cmd instead of Ctrl),
   • by one staff with Shift+Up and Shift+Down,
   • to the closest system (layout concept. See Layout and formatting) with Shift+Home and Shift+End, and
   • to the beginning or the end of the score with Shift+Ctrl+Home and Shift+Ctrl+End (Mac: use Cmd instead of Ctrl)
3. Release Shift.

For example, to select a chord (Range selection),

1. Esc to reset to Normal mode.
2. Left, Right to navigate to any chord note.
3. Shift+Right
4. Shift+Left

Special Range Selection commands

• Edit→Select all or Ctrl+A (Mac: Cmd+A) to select the entire score.
• Edit→Select section to select everything between two section breaks enclosing the current selection.

Excluding elements from a Range Selection

To remove items from (the current and any future) Range selection, uncheck options under Selection Filter window. For example, use this to leave out lyrics when duplicating notes and rests.

1. View→Selection filter or F6 (Mac: Fn+F6).
2. Uncheck options. eg. To copy content of measures 1 and 2 to 3 and 4 as shown in Example 1 above, uncheck Articulations & Ornaments and Slurs options.
3. Create a Range selection.
4. Execute command eg. Copy (Ctrl+C).
5. Re-check options to restore selectability. See example 2.
6. Select destination score item.
7. Execute command eg. Paste (Ctrl+V).

Example 2: To copy Voice 2 items onto Voice 1,

1. Uncheck Voice 1 option.
2. Create a Range selection.
3. Copy (Ctrl+C).
4. Re-check Voice 1 option.
5. Select destination Voice 1 item.
6. Paste (Ctrl+V).