musescore
[MU4 Issue] Command menu for accessing master palette by keyboard (Request)
One feature that I think would elevate MuseScore above all else (in my opinion at least) would be a universal command menu (like Spotlight on mac, or CMD/CTRL + K in GitHub), where the user could search for and insert symbols, text boxes, and more with the keyboard.
An example run would be: CMD/CTRL + K (for example) Type: "ferm" Highlight fermata option using up and down keys Press enter, and fermata is inserted at cursor point
This could also make it really quick and easy to open menus without using the mouse, and significantly speed up the process of finding something if you don't know where it is.
Just my opinion though, but I know that it would speed me up a TON with my notation, and also help new users to find the things they need.
Thank you for your consideration!
This exists (and has for years) with respect to the palettes - the command is Ctrl+F9, or simply click in the search box at the top of the palette panel. But not for menus or other commands.
Ah wonderful, thank you! I didn't realise this, as I'm new to MuseScore as of two days ago, so thank you for letting me know. I'll use this from now on, but I feel like maybe some of my ideas could be either added to this search bar, or possibly added into a new command menu. For example, this search box allows me to easily get access to the fermata symbol, but (at least from my experimenting) you still have to move the mouse over and click it, or somehow make complicated of tab and arrow keys (in the above example, tab + right arrow + down arrow + enter).
One of the ideas of design I had was something like VSCode's command menu, or IntelliJ IDEA's Search Everywhere function.
- IntelliJ IDEA's search allows for searching through settings, menu items, finding things to insert, toggling options, swapping between or opening new files, and so much more. This is really easy to use, as anything can be accessed through it, but that could cause problems as there could be too many results to be useful.
- VSCode's menu allows you to specify what sort of thing you want to do with a specific symbol (">" is for commands, "@" searches for variables or functions, ":" to navigate to a specific line number). This allows for you to filter down the specific results you want, but might be a little more complicated for new users to learn.
Another thought I had about this, is that it could teach new users where items were in a menu, by either making it so that every time you use the command menu to access something, it highlights where on the page you would get to it from, or that could be hidden behind a "right-click > reveal in menus" or something.
Just food for thought! And I'm sorry if this seems gripey or anything, given I'm a new user. I came from Sibelius, and this seems so much more intuitive to use, while feeling much less bloated and more fluent. If I could have quick access to things like this, I would never look back!
Thank you for considering!