- Click the Simple Entry tool
. The Simple Entry Palettes appear. (If they don’t, you’ve probably hidden the palette. Choose Window > Simple Entry Palette and Simple Entry Rests Palette.) See Simple Entry Palette for more information on moving and resizing the palette.
- Click the desired note (rhythmic value) icon in the palette. Click additional tools as needed, such as Sharp, Flat, Grace, Tuplet, Dot or Tie. Click the staff. A note appears at the pitch you clicked.
- To change the rhythmic value of a note, click the icon representing the new value; then click the note.
- To change the rhythmic value of a rest, select the desired rhythmic-value icon on the Rests palette, and then click the rest.
- To change a note to a rest, CTRL+click the note to select it. Type R. The note turns into a rest.
- To delete a note, click the Eraser
; then click the note. The note disappears. If you click on a notehead that’s part of a chord, only that note disappears. If you click a rest, it disappears. - To move a note vertically, click and drag the note up or down. To move a rest, CTRL+click the rest to select it, then drag it up or down. If you want to move a whole chord up or down, CTRL+click the chord, then press CTRL+A.
- To build a chord, click another pitch above or below the first note.
- To hide a note or rest, CTRL+click the note to select it then press the letter H key. Press the H key again to display the note or rest again. See also Notes and Rests (Hide) Plug-in, Notes and Rests (Show) Plug-in.
- To flip a stem, CTRL+click the note to select it then press the L key. This process freezes the stem up or down, so that it’s no longer free to flip if, for example, it gets transposed. To restore the note to its “flippable” status, press SHIFT+L.
- To make a note sharp, flat or natural, click the Sharp Tool
, Flat Tool 
, or Natural Tool 
; then click the note. A sharp, flat or natural appears next to the note, if needed by the key signature. - To raise or lower a note by a half step, double-click the Half Step Up or Half Step Down icon; then click the note. The note is raised or lowered a half step. If appropriate for the key signature, an accidental will appear or change.
- To remove any accidentals from a note, click the Eraser Tool ; then click the accidental.
- To hide a courtesy accidental, CTRL+click the note to select it then press CTRL+SHIFT+-(hyphen). If no accidental is displayed, CTRL+SHIFT+-(hyphen) forces a courtesy accidental to appear; for parentheses, press the P key.
- To tie a note to the next one, double-click the Tie icon
; then click the notehead. To tie every note of a chord, click its stem. Click the notehead (for a single note) or the stem (for a chord) to remove the tie. - To flip a tie, press CTRL+F.
- To dot a note, double-click the Dot icon
; then click the note. Click again to add another dot (you can add up to ten dots). To remove the dots, click the Eraser Tool ; then click the dot. All of the dots are removed. - To change a note to a grace note, double- click the Grace Note icon
, then click the note. Click the note again to restore it to full size. Press ALT+G when the grace note is selected to toggle between grace note and full size. If “Always Slash Flagged Grace Notes” in unchecked in Document Options-Grace Notes, press ALT+G to cycle between full size, grace note, and slashed grace note. - To create or break a beam, CTRL+click the note to select it then press the / key. If the notes were flagged separately, they’re now beamed. If they were beamed, the beam is broken (and the notes are individually flagged, if they’re not beamed to any other notes). Use SHIFT+/ to restore the beaming to the defaults found in the Document Options-Beams.
- To flatten a beam, CTRL+click the note to select it then press ALT+/. If the beam was angled, it will now be flattened. If the beam was already flattened, the beam will now return to the default angle. See Flat Beams Plug-in, Flat Beams (Remove) Plug-in.
- To enter a tuplet, click the Simple Tuplet tool
and the desired rhythmic duration icon, then click the staff. For more complicated tuplets, SHIFT-click the staff to display the Simple Entry Tuplet Definition dialog box.
See Simple Entry Tool for a complete list of Simple Entry keyboard shortcuts.
