A Metatool is a keyboard equivalent for a certain Articulation. By creating a Metatool for a symbol, you can pop it into the score with a single click of the mouse. You bypass the selection box that would otherwise appear.

To create an articulation metatool

1. Click the Articulation tool  .While pressing shift, press the letter or number key you wish to use for your metatool.

It makes no difference whether you use the top row of the alphabet keyboard or the numeric keypad with num lock on to use the numbers. The Articulation Selection dialog box appears. If the marking you want isn’t present in the Articulation Selection dialog box, you can create it in the usual way; see To design an articulation for instructions. (Predefined metatools are in parentheses in the Articulation Selection dialog box).

2. Double-click the desired marking.

You return to the document, having successfully prepared the Metatool for use. You’ve just assigned a specific Articulation mark to a number or letter key; you might want to write down which symbol you assign to each number. Repeat this procedure for other number or letter keys, if you wish; you can re-assign your Metatools at any time by repeating this procedure.

Here’s how to place the marking in the score:

3. While pressing the appropriate letter or number key, click the note on which you want the marking to appear.

The Articulation appears in the score. By pressing a different key each time you click a note, you can rapidly add articulations to your score. You can also drag-enclose a number of notes while pressing the metatool key and apply the articulation to all the notes at once.

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