Entering note input, or not! (or: difficulty selecting)

I’m having a lot of trouble figuring out how to have my mouse not be in note input mode when I don’t want it to.

For example, I just clicked on a dynamic, deleted it, and then clicked on a note I wanted to select, but instead of selecting that note it inputted a note. Or I click on a dynamic, delete it, then try to click on another dynamic to select it, but instead it enters a note at the pitch equivalent to the dynamic’s place on the page. Or I delete a dynamic (deleting a dynamic is simply my test case for the first step of this problem), try to click on a rest to select it, and instead it changes the pitch of the note before the rest, using the staff location that I clicked on when trying to select the rest.

Hitting Escape sometimes works, or sometimes it takes multiple Escape hits (hard to count since I’m always hitting it a dozen times out of frustration). It’s honestly hard to replicate the problem.

Is there a way to fix this? I would assume note input mode would only be active when I activate it, and be in “select” mode if I haven’t.

Thank you!

There is a General Preference under the Edit menu to enable/disable mouse input of notes.

THANK YOU!!! :slight_smile:

That preference sets the default for the ‘select mode’ button at the bottom of the left side note input panel (arrow icon). If that button is enabled, then mouse in put is effectively disabled.

Where is that? I cannot find anything about editing in the Preferences. When I open Preferences (on Mac, “CMD-,”), I get a window with “General” and “Key Commands” tabs, submenus, whatever to call that.

I can only find the switch on the left hand side (bearing the mouse arrow symbol).

And, digging in “preferences.xml” in “~/Library/Application Support/Steinberg/Dorico/” (on MacOS), I kan change the value of the corresponding key “MouseInputEnabled” to “false”. But how do I set the default from within the Program?

In the preferences (cmd-,), go to General and untick the option “enable note input using the mouse”.
Capture d’écran 2016-11-29 à 14.05.38.png
Hope it helps

Gosh, how did I miss that?? Need new glasses I suppose. Thank you!

When I need to enter notes in a new place in a score, I’ve gotten used to pressing Esc when in Write mode to disable inadvertent note entry with the mouse (trackpad), otherwise an unwanted note will get entered. This preferences option you mention sounds like just what I need, but unfortunately it doesn’t affect what I just described. I deselected ‘Enable note input using the mouse’ but unwanted notes still get entered when I’m trying to select a spot to begin entering notes with my MIDI keyboard. Am I overlooking something or is this option not intended as I thought?

You are right, Vaughan. I just tried it, and I still can input notes with the mouse… Strange.
I think we need someone from Dorico to explain us the meaning of this option !

The option in Preferences affects the default state of the selection tool (the mouse pointer icon at the bottom of the note input toolbox) when opening a new project window. It doesn’t affect the state of the tool in any existing window you have open.

If you don’t want to use mouse input, then I suggest you set the preference to disable mouse input by default, which should take care of any new project windows you subsequently open.

Thank you Daniel ! Indeed, in a new project, I cannot input notes with the mouse. I was surprised because on the previous project, when I changed the preferences, the change did not apply. Maybe it requires a restart to take effect on an existing project ?
Bingo ! I works :slight_smile:

Or at least, closing and re-opening the project.

You still have the option to use mouse input, by clicking the arrow icon to switch it off, even when the default is “don’t use mouse input”.