Zooming

This video is dedicated to the topic of zooming. I think zooming in and out is a crucial feature in most software applications that does not always get the amount of attention it deserves. I often see beginners in particular squinting at the screen because their score is so far zoomed out, they can't see what they're doing. So, zooming needs to become natural to you. You need to know when to use it without thinking about when to use it, and you need to be able to accomplish it without too much of a headache, and thankfully, Sibelius makes it pretty easy for us to zoom in and out by giving us several options. I'll show you some of my favorites, but pick the option that works best for you, and use it often.

I think the easiest way to zoom is by using the simple quick keys that Sibelius has given us, which is Command+Plus for zooming in and Command+Minus for zooming out, and that will be Ctrl+Plus and Ctrl+Minus on PC. Now, the quick key will zoom you in and out based on the zoom levels here in the dropdown menu. Now, using the Zoom dropdown menu is another way that you're able to zoom in and out in Sibelius. It offers you not just percentages, but if you scroll down a little bit in the menu, you have some other options, like fitting the page width and fitting the page height.

We can also fit two pages. And remember, when you make a selection here, you can hit Enter to enter the selection. Now another option for zooming in and out on this specific area of the score is using the Magnifier tool. There are two ways to use the Magnifier tool. First, you've got to select it from the toolbar. Once you have it on the score page, if you click, it will zoom you in, again, based on the levels that you'll see up here in the dropdown menu. To zoom out, if you have a right- clicking mouse, you can right-click.

If you're on a Mac and you don't have a right-clicking mouse, you can Option+Click. When I hold down Option, you will see that the Plus sign turns to minus, and when I click, it zooms me back out. Now you can also use the magnifier to click and drag over in area of your score. When you release the mouse button, your selection will center and fill your screen. So, click, hold down the mouse button, and drag, and that selection within that box will fill the screen. And you will have to zoom back out in any of the other ways.

I'm going to use Command+Minus to zoom back out. You can escape using the Escape key to exit the Magnifier tool, or you can deselect the Magnifier tool here in the toolbar. Your final option for zooming is using the scroll wheel on your mouse. Simply hold down Command on Mac or Ctrl on PC and scroll up or down. Scrolling up zooms you in; scrolling down zooms you out. Again, I hope you spend some time becoming very comfortable with zooming.

Remember, if you are straining to see something on the score page, you are not working correctly in the software; zoom in.