14 Sibelius Keyboard Shortcuts You Need to Know

Sibelius is a great notation tool, but it's also known for its unintuitive interface. Knowing the essential keyboard shortcuts will make it easier.

Sibelius is perhaps the best notation software available to composers, but it also has one of the worst user interfaces. It's not intuitive to navigate and takes a long time to master, so how do the professionals do it? The secret is keyboard shortcuts.

Ask any long-time Sibelius pro, and they will have their own collection of keyboard shortcuts that make scoring a breeze. To help you get your ideas down faster, we've highlighted the top keyboard shortcuts that will make your life easier.

1. Deselect

The first shortcut that any new user needs to know is N for deselect. Press this key and no matter how lost you are in the Sibelius toolkit, your cursor will switch back to the mouse pointer. From there, you can navigate to the tool that you need to use.

Notating music involves frequently shifting between the mouse pointer and many note input tools, so the deselect function is essential.

2. Copy

You may be surprised to know that there is a faster way to copy and paste in Sibelius. Simply select a note or passage and use Alt (Option) + click to paste it into a new location. Once you get used to this shortcut, you will find that it's much faster than using the standard Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V keyboard shortcuts.

3. Repeat Bar

If you need to copy and paste a selection into a bar that immediately follows it, pressing R on the keyboard is the quickest solution. The "R" stands for repeat, and you can use this to duplicate a selected note, bar, or entire section of music.

4. Create New Bar(s)

Inserting new bars in the middle of your music isn't difficult when you use Ctrl (Command) + Shift + B. Use this shortcut to create a new bar after what is currently selected. To add multiple bars hold Ctrl (Command) + Shift and press B as many times as you need to.

5. Delete Bar(s)

To permanently delete extra bars from the score, highlight the passage and press Ctrl (Command) + Backspace. A dialogue window will appear asking you to confirm your decision to delete the bars. If you just want to remove the contents of the bar, then pressing Backspace will do it.

6. Note Input

The last thing you want to do is input each individual note onto the staff lines using just the pointer tool. It's painstakingly tedious which is why Sibelius has programmed the letters A to G as note inputs.

You can select an existing note, an empty bar, or a rest note, then press A through to G on the keyboard for the musical note you want. If you made a mistake, just use the Arrow keys to move your note up or down by a step and reassign it.

7. Octave Up/Down

Similar to moving a note selection up or down using the arrow keys, you can shift a note an octave up or down by simply pressing Ctrl (Command) + Up/Down key. This works for multiple note groups like chords, as well as whole selected passages. It's a great way to vary your music and try out a different sound.

If you don't have access to your copy of Sibelius and need to get some ideas down, there are several online tools to write musical notation that you can also use in a pinch.

8. Build Chord

Building a chord can be made much easier by using the numbers on your keyboard (not the keypad). First, select an existing note, then use the keyboard numbers to add an interval above your note.

For example, if you want to build a major chord on note C, you will need the third and fifth notes from the C major scale. To achieve this, select number 3 on the keyboard to give you the third interval above C, and press number 5 to add the fifth interval above C.

This also works in reverse, just use Shift + Number to add an interval below the selected note.

9. Slur

Chances are that you will use slurs quite often to vary the articulation in your music. Use the keyboard letter S to add a slur to the selected note, then press Spacebar to extend the slur to the next note. If you extended the slur too far and want to go back a step, use Shift + Spacebar to retract it.

10. Crescendo/Diminuendo

Another extremely handy expression to have assigned to a keyboard shortcut is a crescendo. The letter H will add a crescendo mark underneath your current selection, and pressing Spacebar will extend the crescendo to the next note. Again, use Shift + Spacebar to retract the crescendo if you want to shorten it.

To create a diminuendo or decrescendo underneath your selected note, use Shift + H. The Spacebar can also be used to extend the diminuendo to the next note.

11. Expression Marking

Expression markings like mezzo piano and fortissimo are the bread and butter of score writing, but to access them you need to go into the Text tab on the ribbon bar at the top of the screen just to access the dropdown menu.

The better way to find what you are looking for is to select a note and press Ctrl (Command) + E. After doing this, a space will appear below the note for you to type in a dynamic. In this space, right-click with the mouse to bring up the quick access menu with all the dynamic markings available.

12. Flip Note Stem

Once you finish writing the score, the next step is to make it presentable. Using X on the keyboard will flip the stem of the note in the opposite direction which can help with making a phrase easier for a performer to read. Normally, Sibelius automatically does this according to its own rules of notation, but in practice, there will be lots of time when you want to override it.

Another great tool to have when composing music is a trusted audio recording app, so make sure to check out our list of the best music recording apps for Android.

13. System Break

Another intuitive keyboard shortcut is using Enter to create a system break in the score. Use this shortcut to break up overly dense passages and spread them out on the page. Just select the barline you want to force a system break and press Enter.

To view and delete system breaks, go to the ribbon bar and navigate to View > Invisibles > Layout Mark. When the Layout Mark checkbox is ticked, it will reveal small arrows at the end of staff lines wherever there is a system break. Select the arrow and press Backspace to delete it.

14. Toggle Score/Part View

When working on a score for more than one instrument, it's essential to check what each individual score part looks like before printing. You can do this by pressing W on the keyboard. To view different parts, right-click on the thin tab area just below the ribbon bar at the top of the screen, and it will display a dropdown menu with the different score parts available to view.

The Secret to Sibelius Is Keyboard Shortcuts

Learning just one of these keyboard shortcuts will help speed up your Sibelius workflow. As you get more familiar with Sibelius over time, refer back to this list of shortcuts to see what else you can incorporate into your process.

Even if you are a seasoned veteran, there may be one or two tricks that you didn't know about. Either way, it's clear that the key to success in Sibelius is a robust knowledge of keyboard shortcuts.