The Sibelius Forum

The scenario is: I have an orchestral score that has multiple sections, not necessarily all the same length, and I want to move them around relative to each other -- call them A B C D E F, I want to try A C E B D F.... or just, say, B A C D E F... etc. Now, I *can* do that by inserting empty bars, cutting and pasting into them, and then deleting the now empty ones... but that's a bit of a pain. It would be nice to be able to select and maybe cut a section, and then choose an insertion point and paste -- but automatically move the existing bars from that point on, to accommodate the new bars without overwriting the existing music. In other words, paste without overwrite... Suggestions? Thanks.

Use a system selection. This will automatically insert the new bars in the new place, moving existing music to either side. You just have to be careful how you do it.

Aha! Thanks. So, looking up "selections and passages"... ctrl-click seems to be the trick? This would be when selecting the section that I need to copy/move? (I would have thought ctrl-paste, or some such, more intuitive... but whatever works!)

[ctrl]-click makes a system selection. It does not copy anything to the clipboad. You need to extend the selection to cover the bars you want and then [ctrl]c or [ctrl]x and then [ctrl[v] it into place.

Ok, so now I am again confused... isn't ctrl-v just paste? What makes it insert as opposed to overwriting?
Apologies for my denseness...

What makes it insert is the fact that it was a system selection rather than just a passage selection. A passage selection will paste over other music. A system selection will insert itself into the new place, movimg bars after the insertion point to fit.

I think, perhaps, that I would just create a new blank score and copy and paste sections into it in the order I wanted them.

Mike: Ah, that clears it up.
Bob: Yes, I've used that trick before, but was looking for something easier for this one project. Figured there had to be a way to accomplish this without the overhead of potentially many versions hanging around (I am easily confused).

Thank you both for your help!

JcP