Selecting notes and ranges

The cursor you move around with the arrow keys isn’t separate from selection — it is one, just a one-note selection. Every command in QuickStave works the same way: select first, then act, whether “select” means the cursor sitting on one note or a whole passage highlighted across several staves.

Extend a selection

Hold Shift while moving the cursor to grow the selection instead of moving past it:

• Shift + ←/→ — extend by one note or rest.
• Shift + ↑/↓ — extend to include the staff above or below.

The fast way to select a measure

Ctrl+Shift + ←/→ extends the selection by a whole measure at a time — the single most useful selection shortcut, and the one worth learning first if you only learn one. Ctrl+Shift+Home/End extends all the way to the start or end of the staff, and Ctrl+A selects the entire score.

Mouse and touch

Click sets the cursor; Shift+click extends a selection to that point, the same as Shift+arrow. Double-click a measure to select the whole thing; triple-click a staff to select all of it. On touch, where there’s no drag-to-select, use the Select tab’s Mark button instead: it anchors the selection where your cursor is, then any navigation — tap, swipe, whatever you’d normally use to move around — extends it until you confirm.

Selection sticks around

A selection isn’t tied to whichever palette tab is open — make one, then switch between F1–F8 tabs and try different commands against it without reselecting. It clears when you move the cursor or click without holding Shift.

Tips

• Want to select everything on one staff without a range gesture? Use Select Staff on the Select tab (F6 S).
• A selection is what “select first, then act” always refers to elsewhere in these guides — including the automatic one-note selection your cursor already gives you when nothing else is highlighted.