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Sibelius Reference Guide
Version 2023.11
Legal Notices
© 2023 Avid Technology, Inc., (“Avid”), all rights reserved. This guide may not be duplicated in whole or in part without the written
consent of Avid.
For a current and complete list of Avid trademarks visit: www.avid.com/legal/trademarks-and-other-notices
Bonjour, the Bonjour logo, and the Bonjour symbol are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.
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This product may be protected by one or more U.S. and non-U.S. patents. Details are available at www.avid.com/patents.
Product features, specifications, system requirements, and availability are subject to change without notice.
Guide Part Number 9329-66519-00 REV A 11/23
Contents
iii
Introduction 2
Welcome to Sibelius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Sibelius First, Sibelius Artist,
and Sibelius Ultimate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Working with the Ribbon . . . . . . . . . . 12
Undo and Redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Connecting External MIDI devices . . . 20
1 File tab 22
1.1 Working with Files . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
1.2 Sharing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
1.3 Sharing on the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
1.4 Starting a New Score . . . . . . . . . . . 30
1.5 Opening Files from Previous
Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
1.6 Importing Sibelius Files . . . . . . . . 36
1.7 Opening MIDI Files . . . . . . . . . . . 40
1.8 Importing MIDI Files . . . . . . . . . . 45
1.9 Opening MusicXML Files . . . . . . . 51
1.10 Importing Music XML Files . . . . 55
1.11 PhotoScore Lite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
1.12 AudioScore Lite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
1.13 Splitting and Joining Scores
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 80
1.14 Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
1.15 Exporting Audio Files . . . . . . . . . 90
1.16 Exporting Video Files . . . . . . . . . 92
1.17 Exporting PDF Files . . . . . . . . . . 96
1.18 Exporting Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . 97
1.19 Exporting MusicXML Files . . . . 102
1.20 Exporting MIDI files . . . . . . . . . 103
1.21 Exporting to Previous Versions . 105
1.22 Exporting Manuscript Paper
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . .110
1.23 Classroom Control
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . .111
1.24 Worksheet Creator
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . .114
1.25 Adding your own Worksheets
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 121
1.26 Working with Plug-ins
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 126
1.27 Avid Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
1.28 Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
1.29 Display Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
1.30 Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . 144
2 Home tab 149
2.1 Selections and Passages . . . . . . . . 150
2.2 Cues
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 156
2.3 Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
2.4 Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
2.5 Staves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
2.6 Edit Instruments
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 182
2.7 Bars and Bar Rests . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
2.8 Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
2.9 Filters and Find . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
2.10 Hiding Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
2.11 Inspector
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 207
2.12 Sibelius | Cloud Sharing . . . . . . 212
2.13 Plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
2.14 Batch Processing plug-ins
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 217
2.15 Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
3 Note Input tab 222
3.1 Introduction to Note Input . . . . . . 223
3.2 Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224
3.3 Mouse Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230
3.4 Alphabetic and Step-time Input . . 232
3.5 Keyboard Window . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
3.6 Guitar Tab Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242
3.7 Fretboard Window . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
3.8 Guitar Notation and Tab . . . . . . . 247
3.9 Lute Tablature
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 254
3.10 Triplets and Other Tuplets . . . . . 256
3.11 Transposing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262
3.12 Note Input Options . . . . . . . . . .264
3.13 Input Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
3.14 Flexi-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
3.15 Voices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
3.16 Arrange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
3.17 Edit Arrange Styles
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 298
3.18 Transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303
3.19 Accidentals Plug-ins
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 308
3.20 Composing Tools Plug-ins
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 309
Contents
iv
3.21 Notes and Rests Plug-ins
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 314
3.22 Simplify Notation Plug-ins
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 319
3.23 Tuplets Plug-ins
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 322
3.24 HyperControl™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324
4 Notations tab 327
4.1 Clefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328
4.2 Key Signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332
4.3 Time Signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335
4.4 Free Rhythm
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 339
4.5 Barlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341
4.6 Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348
4.7 Hairpins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
4.8 Slurs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
4.9 Edit Lines
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 364
4.10 Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366
4.11 Edit Symbols
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 371
4.12 Noteheads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374
4.13 Percussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
4.14 Edit Noteheads
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 383
4.15 Beam Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385
4.16 Beam Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391
4.17 Beamed Rests and Stemlets
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 395
4.18 Importing Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . 398
4.19 Brackets and Braces . . . . . . . . . . 401
4.20 Accidentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
4.21 Arpeggios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
4.22 Articulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
4.23 Grace Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
4.24 Jazz Articulations . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
4.25 Repeat Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418
4.26 Stems and Ledger Lines . . . . . . . 420
4.27 Ties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422
4.28 Tremolos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426
5 Text tab 430
5.1 Working with Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431
5.2 Common Text Styles . . . . . . . . . . . 439
5.3 Figured Bass and Roman Numerals . .
446
5.4 Instrument Names . . . . . . . . . . . . .449
5.5 Typography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453
5.6 Edit Text Styles
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . .458
5.7 Lyrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465
5.8 Chord Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .475
5.9 Edit Chord Symbols . . . . . . . . . . .486
5.10 Chord Symbols Plug-ins
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . .494
5.11 Guitar Scale Diagrams
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . .498
5.12 Rehearsal Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
5.13 Bar Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502
5.14 Page Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509
5.15 Text Plug-ins
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . .513
5.16 Wildcards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521
5.17 Font Equivalents
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . .525
6 Play tab 528
6.1 Working with Playback . . . . . . . . . 529
6.2 Playback Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532
6.3 Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
6.4 Live Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555
6.5 Live Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .562
6.6 Interpretation of your score . . . . . . 567
6.7 Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .573
6.8 Playback dictionary
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . .579
6.9 Repeats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590
6.10 Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595
6.11 Timecode and Hit Points . . . . . . . 599
6.12 Playback Plug-ins
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . .603
6.13 Sibelius Sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606
6.14 MIDI for Beginners . . . . . . . . . . . 609
6.15 Virtual Instruments for Beginners 612
6.16 Working with Virtual Instruments 618
6.17 ReWire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623
6.18 MIDI Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . .626
6.19 SoundWorld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .633
Contents
v
7 Layout tab 636
7.1 Document Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637
7.2 Title and Blank Pages . . . . . . . . . 641
7.3 Staff Spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 642
7.4 Focus on Staves
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 647
7.5 Magnetic Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649
7.6 Auto Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655
7.7 Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658
7.8 Multirests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
7.9 Layout and Formatting
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 666
7.10 Attachment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670
8 Appearance tab 672
8.1 Music Engraving . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673
8.2 House Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678
8.3 Note Spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682
8.4 Default Positions
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 686
8.5 Order
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 690
8.6 Music Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692
9 Parts tab
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) 696
9.1 Working with Parts . . . . . . . . . . . 697
9.2 Editing Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 701
9.3 Multiple Part Appearance . . . . . . 706
9.4 Extracting Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710
9.5 Score Subsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714
10 Review tab 718
10.1 Annotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719
10.2 Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720
10.3 Highlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722
10.4 Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723
10.5 Restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731
10.6 Analysis Plug-ins
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 732
10.7 Proof-reading Plug-ins
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 734
11 View tab 740
11.1 Document View . . . . . . . . . . . . . 741
11.2 Timeline
(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 744
11.3 Zoom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747
11.4 Invisibles etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 748
11.5 Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750
11.6 Window Options . . . . . . . . . . . . 751
Glossary 752
Keyboard shortcuts 764
Visual index 774
Index 784
2
Introduction
3
Welcome to Sibelius
Welcome to Sibelius® music notation software from Avid®. Sibelius lets you create beautiful
scores, parts, charts, lead sheets, songbooks—really any kind of printed music in any style, for
any genre. Whether you are creating orchestral scores, jazz charts, guitar tab, worksheets for
music education, or anything else, Sibelius lets you do it quickly and easily with professional
results.
Sibelius provides a host of tools for composing, arranging, engraving, teaching, film scoring,
and more. Sibelius makes parts generation and management with your scores easy. Addition-
ally, Sibelius provides an extensive collection of plug-ins for almost any scoring workflow.
With Sibelius Ultimate, you can even create your own plug-ins to handle almost any task and
speed up your workflow.
Sibelius not only lets you create and print beautiful scores, you can import or record MIDI
which is directly transcribed into notation. Sibelius’ sophisticated MIDI and audio implemen-
tation—along with the included high-quality instrument sample library—lets you play back
your scores while you work as well as play back or export audio when the score is complete.
Sibelius seamlessly integrates into any music production studio using your favorite DAW
(such as Pro Tools), and outboard MIDI and audio gear. So whether you are using the Sibelius
sound library, virtual instruments and effects plug-ins, outboard gear, or any combination
thereof, you can produce studio-quality audio from your Sibelius scores.
This Reference Guide is a comprehensive guide to all of the features of Sibelius. The Sibelius
software product line consists of three tiers of feature functionality ranging from beginner to
professional: Sibelius First (perfect for beginners), Sibelius Artist (great for students and
skilled amateurs), and Sibelius Ultimate (a must for professionals). Throughout this Reference
Guide, “Sibelius” generally refers to all three—Sibelius First, Sibelius, and
Sibelius Ultimate—for the sake of readability. Features that are only supported in
Sibelius Ultimate are identified where they are covered in this guide. Features that are limited
or are unavailable in Sibelius First are likewise noted throughout this guide and are also specif-
ically listed in Sibelius First.
To learn how to use Sibelius quickly, take the necessary time to work through the Sibelius
Tutorial.pdf (which is available under File > Help within the program). After just the first few
projects in the tutorial and you will be ready to create your own scores in Sibelius with confi-
dence and ease.
Sibelius software runs on macOS or Windows, and the Sibelius app on iPad or iPhone. You
can share Sibelius scores (.sib files) between all platforms. This lets you work on your scores
in the studio on your desktop or laptop computer, or on the go with your iPad or iPhone. Keep
your Sibelius files on cloud storage to work on them with Sibelius on your desktop or laptop
computer in tandem with Sibelius on your iPad or iPhone. Note that not all features available
with each tier of Sibelius software on macOS or Windows are currently available with the
Sibelius app on iPad or iPhone. For information on using the Sibelius app on iPad and iPhone,
refer to Using Sibelius for Mobile.pdf.
Welcome to Sibelius
4
Sibelius First, Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius Ultimate
Sibelius software is installed using a single installer and runs the same application regardless
of which tier is authorized. Your software license determines which tier of Sibelius software
functionality is authorized to run on your computer. For the latest feature differences between
tiers, see the Sibelius Comparison Guide.pdf available online.
*Sibelius First: Runs when no license for either Sibelius Artist or Sibelius Ultimate is acti-
vated on your computer.
*Sibelius Artist: Only runs when a Sibelius Artist license is activated on your computer.
*Sibelius Ultimate: Only runs when a Sibelius Ultimate license is activated on your computer.
On macOS, Sibelius is installed in /Applications/Sibelius.app
On Windows, Sibelius is installed in C:\Program Files\Avid\Sibelius\Sibelius.exe
System Requirements and Compatibility Information
Avid can only assure compatibility and provide support for hardware and software it has tested
and approved. For complete system requirements and a list of qualified computers, operating
systems, hard drives, and third-party devices, visit: www.avid.com/compatibility.
Avid Master Account
Your Avid Master Account simplifies access to all of your user accounts and entitlements at
my.avid.com. To sign up, go to www.avid.com and click on “Sign In.”
Fill in the required fields located under the “Create Avid Master Account.”
The Master Account is divided into sections. Notice that the Avid Support Center, Download
Center, and Avid Community need to be linked. Choose “Link this account” if you already
have an account or choose “Create Account,” fill in the required fields and click Submit.
Avid Link
Avid Link is a free application for anyone wanting to connect with other artists, producers,
mixers, composers, editors, videographers, movie-makers, and graphic designers—and to the
Avid Marketplace—to expand your creative capabilities and possibilities. A desktop version is
available for macOS and Windows; a mobile version is available for iOS; it’s available online
using any browser; and it’s integrated within Sibelius.
Use Avid Link to manage your Avid account, licensing and subscriptions, as well as integrate a
number of other services. Your account login from Application Manager (which preceded
Avid Link) or the Avid Link application will be picked up by Sibelius when you start up, much
like the Cloud Sharing Dashboard. However, if you aren't logged in, you will be asked to log
into those pages you visit. For more information, see the Avid Link Guide.pdf.
Join the Avid Artist Community
Once you are online and up and running with Sibelius, join the Avid Artist Community. The
Avid Artist Community lets you connect with an extensive network of artists, musicians, pro-
ducers, and media professionals to share your work and your services, find collaborators, and
expand your music and audio opportunities. Visit www.avid.com/artistcommunity.
5
On-screen reference
To start the on-screen Reference Guide, click the button at the right-hand end of the
Ribbon tab bar, shown on the right, find it within Help in the File tab, or type the
shortcut F1 or Command+?.
Whichever application your computer uses to view PDF files will open—on Windows this is
normally Adobe Reader, and on Mac it is normally Preview—and the on-screen Reference
Guide will appear. To navigate the on-screen Reference Guide, you can use the bookmarks and
Edit > Find features built in to Adobe Reader and Preview.
Bookmarks are like a table of contents that you can have open beside the document you’re
reading, allowing you to jump to any chapter, topic, or even sub-heading in the Reference
Guide. To show bookmarks.
To search within the on-screen Reference Guide, use the Edit > Find feature.
Typography and cross-references
The main way in which you find commands in Sibelius is via the Ribbon, a wide band of
command buttons that appear at the top of the screen when you click a tab like File or Home.
Each tab describes a related set of commands (Note Input, Notations, Text, Layout, etc.);
when you click a tab, the Ribbon changes to show the buttons that let you use those com-
mands. Each Ribbon tab contains a number of groups of related commands.
As a quick way of describing how to access a particular command, this Reference Guide uses
the following format: “choose Home > Instruments > Add or Remove” means “click the
Home tab, look for the Instruments group, and click the Add or Remove button.”
The Ribbon is explained in greater detail, see Working with the Ribbon.
Resources
The Avid website (www.avid.com) is your best online source for information to help you get
the most out of Sibelius.
*Account Activation and Product Registration: Activate your product to access downloads
in your Avid account (or quickly create an account if you do not have one). Register your
purchase online, download software, updates, documentation, and other resources at
www.avid.com/account.
*Support and Downloads: Contact Avid Customer Success (technical support), download
software updates and the latest online manuals, browse the Compatibility documents for sys-
tem requirements, search the online Knowledge Base or join the worldwide Avid user com-
munity on the User Conference at www.avid.com/support.
*Visit the Get Started Fast with Sibelius YouTube channel.
*Training and Education: Study on your own using courses available online, find out how you
can learn in a classroom setting at an Avid-certified training center, or view video tutorials
and webinars www.avid.com/education.
*Products and Developers: Learn about Avid products, download demo software, or learn
about our Development Partners and their plug-ins, applications, and hardware at
www.avid.com/products.
Sibelius First, Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius Ultimate
6
Sibelius First, Sibelius Artist, and
Sibelius Ultimate
This topic identifies differences in features and functionality between Sibelius First,
Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius Ultimate.
Sibelius First is a great introduction to working with the Sibelius software line. It supports up
to four staves in a score and provides sufficient capabilities for most of your basic music nota-
tion needs. If you need more fully featured functionality, you can upgrade to Sibelius Artist or
Sibelius Ultimate anytime through your Avid Master Account.
Sibelius Artist is great for students and skilled amateurs. It supports up to 16 staves and pro-
vides all the tools you need to create professional looking scores for music of moderate com-
plexity.
Sibelius Ultimate is a must for professionals and educators. It lets you create as many staves as
the music demands; and it is extensively customizable, so you can make even the most com-
plex music look perfect. There are also easy to use classroom tools for creating, sharing, and
reviewing music worksheets and hand-outs.
General Sibelius First Sibelius Artist Sibelius Ultimate
Lets you... Create simple scores with up
to 4 staves—can open scores
with more than 4 staves for
review, but are read only
Create professional-quality
scores and compose simple to
moderate music—up to 16
staves; and can open scores
with more than 16 staves for
review, but they are read only
Compose, arrange, and
publish professional-quality
scores and parts of any size
and complexity with as many
staves as you need; create
notation worksheets and exer-
cises for education; and more
Availability Register for free download Subscribe monthly or annu-
ally, or purchase and own a
perpetual license
Subscribe monthly or annu-
ally, purchase and own a per-
petual license (educational
discount available), trade-up
from other notation software,
or get network licensing
Number of comput-
ers a single copy
can be installed on
N/A 2, but for use by one person only (so you can run a copy on your
desktop and another on your laptop or surface).
Software updates
and support
Download the latest update as
it becomes available
Access all new releases and Standard support through a
subscription or renewable 1-Year Software Updates + Support
Plan (included with a new perpetual license)
AudioScore and
PhotoScore
Includes Audio Score First
and PhotoScore First
Includes AudioScore Lite and PhotoScore Lite
Notation Sibelius First Sibelius Artist Sibelius Ultimate
Accidentals Normal and double only Normal and double only
bracketed
Normal, double, quarter-tones,
bracketed
Metadata Common ones only Full set
7
Bar numbers Limited Full range of formats
Special barline types Single, double, repeat only All
Bars, irregular No No, except pick-up bars Yes
Cross-staff beams
(keyboard music)
No Yes
Beam/rest groupings Fixed Customizable
Brackets and braces Fixed Customizable
Change transposition of
transposing instruments
No Yes
Chord symbols
appearance and
MIDI/text input
Limited preset options Fully customizable
Chord symbol
AI-assisted
auto-complete
No Yes
Cues No Yes
Dotted notes:
single, double, triple
Single dotted Yes
Guitar chord diagrams Limited Yes
Guitar scale diagrams No Yes
Guitar tab Basic only Full
Instruments Common only Common, jazz, and world
instruments only, with fixed
number of staves
Full customizable range
Jazz articulations: falls,
scoops, doits, and plops
No Yes
Custom lines No Yes
Rhythmic note values:
512th note (7 beams) to
double breve (4 times
duration of whole note)
32nd note to breve (twice
duration of whole note)
All
Custom Noteheads No Yes
Ossia staves No Yes
Page numbers Automatic Customizable
Special symbols No Yes
Split multirests in parts No Yes
Staves Up to 4 Up to 16 per system Unlimited
Notation Sibelius First Sibelius Artist Sibelius Ultimate
Sibelius First, Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius Ultimate
8
Stemlets (half-stems)
and feathered beams
No Yes
Tuplets Duplets (2:3) to
sextuplets (6:4)
Duplets (2:3) to
nonuplets (9:8)
Any (such as 2, 7, 44:31, and
even nested tuplets)
Playback Sibelius First Sibelius Artist Sibelius Ultimate
Advanced notation
interpretation
No Yes
Edit MIDI data No Yes
Includes Sibelius
Sound Libraries
No Sibelius Sounds
(10 GB library) provides
high-quality samples for most
common instruments
Sibelius Ultimate Sounds
(36 GB library) provides a full
range of professional-quality
orchestral, jazz, pop, marching
band, and percussion
Loop playback No Yes
Half-speed playback No Yes
Espressivo 2.0 No Presets only Customizable rhythmic feel
Live Tempo (tap tempo) Limited—playback only Record, edit, clear, and play
back Live Tempo
Playback markings on
specified repeats
No Yes
Playback of hairpins Fixed Adjustable
Playback of ritardandi
and accelerandi
Fixed Adjustable
Playback fermatas Fixed Adjustable
Words that affect play-
back (such as legato)
Fixed Editable
Utilities Sibelius First Sibelius Artist Sibelius Ultimate
Annotate Yes
Arrange: automatic arranging
and orchestration
No Yes
Comments (sticky notes) Yes
Compare different scores or
versions
No Yes
Copy and paste to Word and
other programs
No Low resolution (96 dpi) only Yes
Display timecode No Single format Customizable format
Notation Sibelius First Sibelius Artist Sibelius Ultimate
9
Edit Dynamic Parts No Limited Full
Edit word menus No Yes
Export a log of changes to a
score
No Yes
Export lyrics as text file No Yes
Filters for editing similar
objects
No Quick filters only Yes
Find No Yes
Focus on staves No Yes
Graphics export (for creating
worksheets and other content)
No Yes
Highlight music Yes
Ideas Hub No 300 library ideas included
and lets you capture your own
ideas (editing not supported)
2,000+ library ideas included,
and lets you capture and edit
your own ideas and add to a
score and/or the library
Import MusicXML files Yes
Instrument changes No Yes
Join scores together No Yes
Keyboard shortcuts Fixed Customizable
Lyric verses allowed 2 5 Unlimited
Lyrics from text file No Yes
Note input options Fixed Limited Full
Panorama scroll view Yes
Paper and desk textures 40 Over 60
Part extraction No Yes
Paste as Cue No Yes
Plug-ins None 38 included Over 140 included
Inspector window to edit indi-
vidual objects
No Full
Rehearsal marks No Default only Fully customizable
Repeat structures Fixed Customizable Fully customizable
Rulers No Yes
Score Starter: (40 genre-spe-
cific templates)
No Yes
Score Subsets Can view and edit, but cannot create or delete Create, delete, view, and edit
Slide notes and rests No Yes
Special page breaks No Yes
Utilities Sibelius First Sibelius Artist Sibelius Ultimate
Sibelius First, Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius Ultimate
10
Timeline window No Yes
Swap voices No Yes
Versions Latest (head) version only Save, view, and print only Yes
Video, including timecode and
hit points
No Add video, add/edit hit points Yes
Viewing options for Magnetic
Layout, page margins, note
colors, full screen, and more
No Yes
Worksheet Creator No Yes
Publishing Sibelius First Sibelius Artist Sibelius Ultimate
Advanced layout
features
No Yes
Auto Layout options No Yes
Edit fonts No Limited Full
Edit staff types No Yes
Edit text styles No Yes
Engraving rules
(hundreds to edit)
No Yes
Headers/footers No Yes
House Style
import/export
No Import only Yes
Intelligent Rests No Yes
Magnetic Layout No Fixed Fully customizable
Manage Dynamic Parts No Yes
Manuscript papers
(preset score layouts)
Includes a few, but you cannot create your own Includes many, and you can
create your own
Multiple staff size Fixed Fully customizable
Note spacing rules Fixed Fully customizable
Reset position/design
of objects
Limited Yes
Set default object
positions
No Yes
Staff spacing Fixed Manual adjustment only Yes
Utilities Sibelius First Sibelius Artist Sibelius Ultimate
11
Keypad in Sibelius First, Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius Ultimate
Sibelius First, Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius Ultimate each provide six Keypad layouts: Com-
mon notes (F7), More notes (F8), Beams/Tremolos (F9), Articulation (F10), Jazz articulations
(F11), and Accidentals (F12). However, not all options available with Sibelius Ultimate are
available with Sibelius Artist and Sibelius First. For more information, see Sibelius First,
Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius Ultimate. The Keypad also lets you select which voice in a staff
you want to add or edit notes. While Sibelius Artist and Sibelius Ultimate let you work with up
to four voices on a staff, you are limited to two voices with Sibelius First. For more informa-
tion about the Keypad, see 3.2 Keypad.
Sibelius First, Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius Ultimate and the Ribbon
The contents of the Ribbon differ between Sibelius First, Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius Ulti-
mate. For instance, the Parts tab is only available in Sibelius Ultimate. Similarly, Sibelius First
and Sibelius Artist provide fewer options in each tab than Sibelius Ultimate. For more infor-
mation about the Ribbon, see Working with the Ribbon.
Export and Share Sibelius First Sibelius Artist Sibelius Ultimate
Audio recording export N/A WAV, AIFF, and MP3
Email score as .sib
or .pdf
No Yes
Graphics file export No PDF export only Standard bitmap and vector
formats (SVG, PNG, JPG,
BMP, TIFF, GIF, and PDF)
MIDI file export—Type 0
and Type 1 any device
No Yes
MusicXML file export
(compressed or uncom-
pressed)
No Yes
Previous version export No Yes
Publish directly to
ScoreExchange.com
No Yes
Sibelius | Cloud Sharing 10 scores 20 scores Unlimited (up to 1 GB stor-
age)
Video file
(Export score as)
No Yes
Working with the Ribbon
12
Working with the Ribbon
The Ribbon is the wide band of command buttons that appears at the top of the Sibelius win-
dow, housing all of the features of the program, organized according to task. In addition to the
Ribbon, every Sibelius document window also contains other useful controls. Sibelius First
and Sibelius Artist provide 10 tabs in the Ribbon: File, Home, Note Input, Notations, Text,
Play, Layout, Appearance, Review, and View. Sibelius Ultimate has these and also includes
the Parts tab. Most images of the Ribbon in this guide show Sibelius Ultimate. However, not
all of the options included Sibelius Ultimate are available with Sibelius Artist and
Sibelius First, so you may not see all of the options in your software that you see in this guide
depending on which of version of Sibelius you are running. For example, the Home tab in
Sibelius Ultimate provides access to the Inspector and Plug-ins, while in Sibelius Artist, only
Plug-ins is available and in Sibelius First neither of these options are available.
For more information about what is or is not supported with Sibelius Artist or Sibelius First,
see Sibelius First, Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius Ultimate.
The Sibelius window
The picture below shows a typical Sibelius window, so you can see where the Ribbon is, and
several other useful controls at the top and bottom of the window:
Here’s a quick guided tour to the Sibelius window, starting at the top and working our way
down:
*Quick Access Toolbar (Windows only): this has three important buttons: Save, Undo and
Redo. The Undo and Redo buttons also have menus attached to them, allowing you to
quickly undo or redo to any point since you opened the score. (On Mac, these options are
found in the File and Edit menus respectively.)
The Ribbon
Ribbon tabs Help button
Open new tab
Switch tab
Status bar Zoom controlsDocument view
buttons
Information
read-outs
Title bar
Minimize
Ribbon
Window buttons
(at top left on Mac)
Document tabs
Quick Access Toolbar
(Windows only) Command Search
13
*Title bar: this shows the filename of the document, and the name of the current dynamic part
or version being viewed (if applicable). On Windows, you will see an asterisk (*) after the
filename if the score has unsaved changes. (On Mac, you will instead see a black dot inside
the red close button at the top left-hand corner of the window.)
*Window buttons: the title bar contains a set of buttons for working with the current window.
On Windows, these buttons appear at the top right-hand corner, while on Mac, they appear at
the top left-hand corner.
*Minimize is the first of the three buttons on Windows, and the middle of the three on Mac.
Click this to make your score window disappear from the screen without closing the file.
*Restore down/Maximize (called Zoom on Mac) is the second of the three buttons on
Windows, and is the third of the three buttons on Mac. This button resizes the document
window. Clicking this button toggles your window between maximum size or its previous
size.
*Close is the third of the three buttons on Windows, and the first on the Mac. As the name
suggests, clicking this button closes the current window.
*Command Search: lets you search for any command in Sibelius, whether it be in any of the
Ribbon menus, the File page, the Keypad, the Inspector, or the Add or Remove Instruments
dialog, by typing the name of the command. As you type, matching commands are shown
below the search field. Click the name of the command you want, or use the Up/Down
arrows to select the command from the search results and then press Enter (Windows) or
Return (Mac) to execute the selected command. Press “,” (comma) to enter the Command
Search field (you can also define your own keyboard shortcuts for entering the Command
Search field in File > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts > Other > Activate Command
Search). This lets you quickly execute commands even when the Ribbon is hidden.
*Minimize Ribbon: the Ribbon (described below) takes up a reasonable amount of vertical
space. If you want to see more of your score as you work on it, click the Minimize Ribbon
button. When you do, the Ribbon disappears, leaving only the Ribbon tabs across the top of
the screen. To make the Ribbon reappear, click the button again to make the Ribbon reappear
permanently, or simply click whichever tab you want to use to make the Ribbon reappear
until you have finished making a choice from it, at which point it disappears again.
*Help: click the ? button to open this Reference Guide in its on-screen form. You can find
further help in the File tab of the Ribbon.
*Ribbon: discussed in more detail below.
*Document tabs: you can open multiple different views of the same document—e.g. a full score
and individual instruments’ parts—inside a single window, and switch between them using
these tabs. When you start a new score, only one tab will be shown, labeled Full Score. You can
open new tabs using the + button at the right-hand side of the document tab bar, or through other
options that switch the view (e.g. hitting W switches between the full score and the dynamic part
corresponding to the current selection). You can re-order tabs simply by dragging them, and you
can “tear off” a tab to open the score or part currently being viewed in that tab in a new window
of its own: click and hold a tab, and drag it up or down; a Sibelius score icon appears under the
mouse pointer. Release the mouse button, and the a new window is created where you dropped
the Sibelius score icon.
*Open new tab: this + button shows a menu that lets you open a new tab containing a different
view from the current score, including dynamic parts and saved versions. You can also choose
New Window, which opens the current tab in a new window. You don’t have to click the button
itself to open the menu: simply right-click anywhere along the document tab bar to do the same
thing.
Working with the Ribbon
14
*Switch tabs: if you have many tabs open at once, you may not be able to see all of the names
of the tabs clearly across the width of the tab bar. Click this button to show a menu listing all
of the open tabs in the current window, allowing you to quickly switch to any of them.
*Status bar: the status bar runs along the bottom of the window, which gives you information
about the current document and has some useful buttons for quick access.
*Information read-outs: at the left-hand of the status bar is a series of useful read-outs. From
left to right: the current page and the total number of pages; the total number of bars; the
instrument on which the current selection resides, if there is one; the range of the current
selection, if there is one; the timecode of the current selection; the pitches of the selected
notes (or the first note or chord of a passage if you have a range of music selected); the har-
mony of the chord made up by all of the selected notes at the start of the selection, displayed
as a chord symbol; a description of the current operation (e.g. Edit Passage or Edit Text);
whether or not the current view is currently displayed at concert (sounding) pitch or trans-
posing (written) pitch; whether Layout > Hiding Staves > Focus on Staves is switched on;
whether or not Magnetic Layout is enabled or disabled for the selected objects; and/or the
font and point size of the selected text object.
*Zoom controls: at the right-hand end of the status bar is a slider with—and + buttons at either
end that allow you to change the zoom level of the current view quickly and easily. To the
left of the slider is a read-out of the current zoom level, expressed as a percentage.
*Document view buttons: to the left of the zoom controls is a set of buttons that allow you to
switch between different types of view quickly, for example between showing the pages of
your score laid out horizontally and Panorama view. These buttons are also found on the
View tab of the Ribbon.
The Ribbon tabs
The Ribbon itself is split into 11 tabs with Sibelius Ultimate (the Parts tab is not available in
Sibelius Artist or Sibelius First). The first tab, File, is unlike the other tabs: clicking it hides the
score altogether and instead shows you a special view called Backstage, which contains every-
thing you might want to do with a file (as opposed to what you might do to a file, which is
what the other 10 tabs are for). From the File tab you can create, open, save and close files,
import and export them in different formats, print music out, access special learning and teach-
ing features, get detailed help, and more. (The first chapter of this book is devoted to the oper-
ations you can perform from the File tab.)
The other 10 tabs are ordered roughly according to the order in which you typically perform
tasks while working on a score, so as you make your way from the start of a project towards its
end, you will typically work your way through most of the tabs of the Ribbon from left to
right. (This book is likewise ordered according to the order of the tabs.)
These 10 tabs contain the following kinds of commands:
*Home: basic score setup, like adding or removing instruments and bars, plus key editing
operations, including clipboard operations and Sibelius’s powerful filters.
*Note Input: commands relating to alphabetic, step-time and Flexi-time input, plus note edit-
ing operations, compositional tools such as explode/reduce, and transformations such as ret-
rograde, inversion, and so on.
*Notations: all of the basic markings other than notes, rests and text, including clefs, key and
time signatures, special barlines, lines, symbols, notehead types, etc.
*Text: font style and size controls, choice of text styles, plus lyrics, chord symbols, rehearsal
marks, and bar and page numbering options.
15
*Play: choice of playback configuration, mixer, transport (playback) controls, Live Tempo,
Live Playback, options for how Sibelius should interpret your score during playback, and
features for writing music to video.
*Layout: document setup options such as page and staff size, staff spacing, hiding staves,
Magnetic Layout options, plus formatting controls.
*Appearance: options that affect the visual appearance of your score, including choice of
house style, note spacing and instrument name format, plus commands to reset or change the
design or position of the objects in your score.
*Parts (Sibelius Ultimate Only): options relating to instrumental parts.
*Review: add annotations, add and review sticky note comments, create and manage multiple
versions of the same score, compare revisions, and access various proof-reading plug-ins.
*View: change the layout and size of the music on the screen, show or hide various “invisi-
bles” and other helpful markings that provide useful information about your score, hide or
show extra panels for advanced operation, and arrange or switch between the open docu-
ment windows.
Groups and controls
Each Ribbon tab contains a number of groups, which organize related commands together. The
name of each group is shown below the names of the individual commands in gray text, and
groups are separated from each other by a vertical line:
The picture above shows the Common and Lines groups from the Notations tab.
Each group contains one or more controls of various types, including buttons, buttons that
open menus, split buttons (where half the button is a regular button and the other half opens a
menu), checkboxes, combo boxes and galleries, which are menus with special features.
Galleries
Galleries provide access to a host of objects you can add to your score—from clefs and key
signatures to dynamic and expression markings, from symbols to text, and more.
Galleries come in two flavors:
*Drop-down galleries: these may look a lot like normal menus, displaying their contents as
text, or they may display their contents graphically. Unlike regular menus, galleries typically
list options organized by category, which can then be filtered (see below). An example of a
textual gallery is Home > Select > Filters. All of the buttons in the Notations > Common
group shown in the picture above use drop-down graphical galleries. You can also search for
objects by name in drop-down galleries, specifically the Lines and Symbols galleries on the
Notations tab, and the Text gallery on the Text tab.
*In-Ribbon galleries: these galleries are embedded directly in the Ribbon, letting you see the
first few items in the gallery without opening it. In-Ribbon galleries let you scroll up and
down the list using the scroll arrow buttons at the right-hand end, or to open the gallery,
making it appear like a drop-down gallery. Notations > Lines and Notations > Symbols
both contain in-Ribbon galleries, shown in the picture above.
/
