Neuratron PhotoScore

Version 6

User Guide

www.neuratron.com
Edition 1 1997, Edition 2 1998, Edition 3 1999
Edition 4, 5, 6 2000, Edition 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 2001
Edition 12 2002, Edition 13, 14, 15 2003
Edition 16, 17 2005
Edition 18 2006
Edition 19, 20 2007
Edition 21 2009

This User Guide was written by Martin Dawe and Ben Finn.
Published by Neuratron Limited.
Neuratron PhotoScore was written by Martin Dawe, Richard Cheng, David Dawe,
Andrew Hills, Chunhua Hu, Graham Jones and Tristan McAuley.
The handwritten music recognition engine was written by Anthony Wilkes.
PhotoScore image designed and modeled by Zara Slevin.

Neuratron PhotoScore Copyright © 1995 – 2009 Neuratron Limited

Neuratron PhotoScore User Guide Copyright © 1997 – 2009 Neuratron Limited
OCR (Text recognition) and Linguistic technology by Image Recognition Integrated
Systems S.A. © 2000 I.R.I.S. S.A. All rights reserved

All rights reserved. This User Guide may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means - electronic, recording,
mechanical, photocopying or otherwise - in whole or in part, without the prior
written consent of the publisher. Although every care has been taken in the
preparation of this User Guide, neither the publisher nor the authors can take
responsibility for any loss or damage arising from any errors or omissions it may
contain.

Neuratron, PhotoScore, PhotoScore Ultimate, PhotoScore Lite, neuratron.com,

photoscore.com, musicscanning.com, musicocr.com, scorerecognition.com, and
Recognizing Intelligence are all registered trademarks or trademarks of Neuratron
Ltd. Sibelius is a registered trademark of Avid Technology, Inc. Espressivo is a
trademark of Avid Technology, Inc. Dolet is a trademark of Recordare LLC. Finale is a
registered trademark of MakeMusic Inc. iTunes is a registered trademark of Apple
Computer, Inc. Windows Media Player and DirectX are trademarks of Microsoft
Corporation. Footime is a trademark or registered trademark of Bili, Inc. All other
trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
All specifications are subject to change without prior notice.

Remember, it is illegal to scan copyrighted music without the owner's permission.

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CONTENTS
HOW TO USE THIS USER GUIDE ....................... 7
INSTALLATION .......................................................... 7
Requirements ............................................................... 7
Installing Neuratron PhotoScore.................................. 9
INTRODUCTION.............................................. 10
Suitable originals ........................................................ 10
Handwritten music (Ultimate version only) ............... 11
Copyright music ......................................................... 11
Lite version users - Important information ................ 12
GETTING STARTED ......................................... 13
Screen resolution and colors ..................................... 13
The three stages ........................................................ 13
1. SCANNING .................................................. 14
The three scanning interfaces ................................... 14
Scanning a page of music ......................................... 16
Scanning summarized................................................ 18
Scanned page catalog ............................................... 19
Scanning hints............................................................ 19
Longer scores ............................................................ 20
Opening .bmp & TIFF files ......................................... 20
Opening PDF files ...................................................... 20
2. READING .................................................... 22
Reading and the Pages Pane ..................................... 22
What PhotoScore reads (printed music) ................... 24
What PhotoScore reads (handwritten music) ........... 25
3. EDITING .................................................... 26
What to correct .......................................................... 28
Checking for mistakes ............................................... 28

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 Mouse and keys ......................................................... 28
Selecting..................................................................... 29
Multiple selections ..................................................... 29
Position of markings .................................................. 29
Re-reading a page ...................................................... 30
Re-scanning a page.................................................... 30
Deleting a page .......................................................... 30
EDITING RHYTHM & KEY SIGNATURES .......................... 30
The bad timing navigator (not Lite version) ............... 31
Initial time signature................................................... 31
Pick-up (upbeat) / irregular bars ................................. 32
Key signatures / transposing instruments ................. 32
Altering note-values ................................................... 33
Inserting notes/rests .................................................. 33
Deleting notes/rests ................................................... 33
Attachment................................................................. 34
Inserting barlines........................................................ 34
Two or more voices ................................................... 34
Grace-notes and cue notes ........................................ 35
Editing hints ............................................................... 35
EDITING OTHER MARKINGS ........................................ 35
Copying markings ...................................................... 35
Deleting markings ...................................................... 36
Accidentals and articulation marks ............................ 36
Barlines....................................................................... 36
Beams ........................................................................ 36
Clefs ........................................................................... 36
Codas and Segnos (not Lite version) ......................... 36
Cross-staff notes (not Lite version)............................ 37
Fingering (not Lite version) ........................................ 37
Guitar Chord Diagrams & Symbols (not Lite version) 37
Instrument names ...................................................... 38
Multirests ................................................................... 38
Ornaments (not Lite version) ..................................... 38
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 Pedal markings (not Lite version) .............................. 39
Pitch ........................................................................... 39
Repeat endings (not Lite version) .............................. 39
Slurs / hairpins (not Lite version) / ties ...................... 39
Text (Lite version – tempo text only) ......................... 40
Triplets and tuplets (Lite version – triplets only) ....... 41
READING HANDWRITTEN MUSIC ................... 42
Capabilities ................................................................. 42
Scanning..................................................................... 43
Describing the handwriting style ............................... 43
AFTER PHOTOSCORING .................................. 46
Reformatting and extracting parts (not Lite version) 46
Transposing ................................................................ 47
Printing (not Lite version) ........................................... 47
Playing ........................................................................ 47
Saving ......................................................................... 49
Saving PhotoScore (.opt) files.................................... 49
Saving MusicXML & NIFF files ................................... 50
Saving MIDI files ........................................................ 50
Saving Wave & AIFF files (not Lite version) ............... 52
Burning to audio CD (not Lite version) ...................... 53
Converting to MP3 (not Lite version) ......................... 54
Saving files containing rhythmic mistakes ................ 54
Saving page and system format ................................ 55
Saving multi-staff instruments ................................... 55
Saving Bitmap (.bmp) and TIFF files .......................... 55
CLEANING UP ......................................................... 57
Closing the output score ........................................... 57
Deleting unwanted scans .......................................... 57
POSSIBLE PROBLEMS ..................................... 59
Scanning takes a long time or won’t work ................ 59
Not all staves/systems are detected ......................... 59
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 Reading takes a long time ......................................... 60
Music reads inaccurately ........................................... 60
Handwriting recognition problems ............................ 61
Warning messages .................................................... 61
If all else fails.............................................................. 61
ADVANCED FEATURES .................................... 62
Choosing between scanners ..................................... 62
Scanning only one page............................................. 62
Adjusting detected staves/systems .......................... 62
Scan window options ................................................ 64
Omitted staves ........................................................... 64
Multi-staff instruments .............................................. 65
Instruments/staves introduced after the start ........... 65
Reading slurs / hairpins (not Lite version) / ties ........ 66
Reading appoggiaturas and cue notes (not Lite
version) ....................................................................... 66
Reading text (not Lite version) ................................... 66
Performance mode .................................................... 67
PhotoScore preferences ............................................ 67
HANDWRITING STYLE FEATURES .................. 71
KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS ................................. 75
KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS ................................. 75
GLOSSARY ...................................................... 77
LICENSE AGREEMENT ......................................... 79

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 HOW TO USE THIS USER GUIDE
The Neuratron PhotoScore programs are highly sophisticated with many
advanced features. Please read this entire user guide, with the exception
of the Advanced features section, before embarking on any scanning.
If you intend to scan relatively complex scores such as orchestral/band
music, or scores of many pages, we strongly recommend that you start
with more simple music until you are proficient with PhotoScore, and
then familiarize yourself with the Advanced features section.
There are two main versions of this software: PhotoScore Ultimate
(before version 5 this was named PhotoScore Professional but the name
was changed to reflect the introduction of handwritten music
recognition) and PhotoScore Lite. The former allows printing and saving
of music in a variety of formats, and the latter has reduced functionality.
All can be run on Mac OS X and Windows operating systems. As the
interface varies slightly between these versions, parts of this user guide
are specifically aimed at different users. These sections are highlighted
with gray backgrounds, and the type of user they are aimed at is printed
at the top. E.g. ‘Macintosh users’ (like below) or ‘Sibelius users’.
Further to this, Macintosh and Windows systems typically have different
keyboards and, as such, keyboard shortcuts are executed differently.
Where necessary, both shortcuts are written with the Macintosh one
first. E.g. ‘xXA or Ctrl+Shift+A’.
Please also note that where it proves easier for explanations, ‘to
PhotoScore’ is used as a verb meaning to scan and read music.

INSTALLATION
Requirements
To use PhotoScore, you will need:
Macintosh users
• An Apple Macintosh PowerPC/Intel with Mac OS X 10.3 or higher. It
should have at least 256 MB RAM and 512 MB is recommended. If
your computer has less than 256 MB RAM, contact your supplier for
a memory upgrade. More than 512 MB may be desirable if you need
to scan small staves a lot, or for scanning photos and graphics.

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• Your computer should also have a reasonable amount of free hard
disk space - at least 40Mb and preferably rather more.
• Sibelius users note: Although PhotoScore will work with Sibelius
version 3.0 and higher, it is recommended that you use Sibelius 5 or
higher as it has greatly improved PhotoScore importing capabilities.
• A scanner (probably connected to your computer via a USB, Printer
or SCSI port), and installed Mac OS X TWAIN driver software (it is
highly recommended you visit your scanner manufacturer’s website
and download the latest version – also note that classic Mac OS
TWAIN drivers will not work). You may need to contact your scanner
manufacturer for information on installing a suitable TWAIN driver. If
a Mac OS X TWAIN driver is not available for your scanner, you will
need to scan using separate software, save suitable TIFF files, and
open these in PhotoScore.

Windows users
• An IBM compatible Pentium III (or equivalent AMD processor) or
higher PC with at least 192Mb RAM - 256Mb if using Windows
2000/XP or 512Mb if using Windows Vista. If your computer has
less than 192Mb RAM, contact your supplier for a memory upgrade.
• Windows 98SE/NT4SP6/Me/2000/XP/Vista
• Adobe Reader® 6.0 or later should be installed to view PhotoScore’s
PDF help.
• Your computer should also have a reasonable amount of free hard
disk space - at least 40Mb and preferably rather more.
• Sibelius users note: Although PhotoScore will work with Sibelius
version 3.0 and higher, it is recommended that you use Sibelius 5 or
higher as it has greatly improved PhotoScore importing capabilities.
• A scanner (probably connected to your computer via a USB, Printer
or SCSI port), and installed TWAIN or WIA driver software.

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Installing Neuratron PhotoScore
Macintosh users
• Insert the Neuratron PhotoScore CD into your computer’s CD-ROM
drive.
• If not opened automatically, display the CD’s contents by clicking its
icon on the Desktop. Double-click the PhotoScore installation file and
follow the installation instructions until the software is installed.
• While files are being copied to your hard disk, it is a good idea to
register your product on-line at
http://www.neuratron.com/register.htm. If you do not register,
you will not be entitled to technical support, nor be informed of future
software updates.
• Eject the CD.

Windows users
• Insert the Neuratron PhotoScore CD into your computer’s CD-ROM
drive.
• Setup should begin automatically after a few seconds. If it does not,
open My Computer on your desktop, double-click the CD-ROM icon
(e.g. Neuratron_photoscore (D:)) and then run the file setup.
• Follow the installation instructions until the software is installed.
• While files are being copied to your hard disk, it is a good idea to
register your product on-line at
http://www.neuratron.com/register.htm. If you do not register,
you will not be entitled to technical support, nor be informed of future
software updates.
• Eject the CD.

Please note that unless you hold a multi-user site license, you are only
permitted to use one copy of PhotoScore on one computer at a time. (All
copies are serial numbered; illegal copies can easily be traced back to
their original owner.)

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 INTRODUCTION
Neuratron PhotoScore is a printed and handwritten (Ultimate version
only) music recognition program - the musical equivalent of a text OCR
program.
Scanning text is difficult for computers to do, and has only achieved
reasonable accuracy in the last few years. Music scanning is much
harder because of the more complicated range of symbols involved,
because of the complex two-dimensional ‘grammar’ of music, and
because some markings such as hairpins and phrase-marks are of a
variable shape and size.
The difficulty with scanning music or text is that by scanning a page, a
computer does not ‘understand’ it. As far as the computer is concerned,
scanning a page merely presents it with a grid of millions of black and
white dots, which could be music, text, a photograph or anything else.
The process of actually reading or interpreting music, text or pictures
from this grid of dots is extremely complex. A large part of the human
brain, containing many millions of connections, is devoted solely to
solving this ‘pattern recognition’ problem.
For this reason, only a handful of music scanning programs have ever
been developed, and past attempts have generally been very inaccurate,
or unable to recognize many standard musical markings.
Neuratron has always been pushing the boundaries of this technology
with PhotoScore and has now made it the world’s first and only dual
engine music scanning software. By combining the recognition results of
two independently developed recognition engines PhotoScore’s accuracy
is much greater than twice that of each engine alone!
PhotoScore is able to read virtually all markings on a page and is the only
product available capable of reading guitar tab and percussion staves.
As a reflection of Neuratron’s commitment and leadership in this field,
we have worked incredibly hard to make PhotoScore the world’s first and
only program designed and capable of recognizing scanned handwritten
music.
Suitable originals
PhotoScore is designed to read originals that satisfy the following criteria:

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 • fit on your scanner (i.e. the music itself is typically no larger than
Letter/A4 size, though the paper may be slightly larger)
• have a staff size of at least 1/8” (3mm)
• are reasonably clear - for example, staff-lines should be continuous
and not broken or blotchy, half-note (minim) and whole-note
(semibreve) noteheads and flats should have a continuous
circumference and not be broken or filled in, beams on sixteenth-
notes (semiquavers) and shorter notes should have a significant
white gap in between, and markings which are meant to be separate
(e.g. noteheads and their preceding accidentals) should not overlap
or be blotched together.
Music which does not match the above will probably work, but with
reduced accuracy.
Scanning from photocopies is not recommended unless the photocopier
is a particularly good one, as photocopying tends to degrade the quality
of an original significantly. You may be obliged to scan from a reduced
photocopy if your original is bigger than your scanner, but you should
expect lower accuracy.
Handwritten music (Ultimate version only)
PhotoScore Ultimate is the world’s first handwritten music scanning
program and is a breakthrough in the field of computer recognition. A
wide range of handwriting styles are supported – an innovative interface
allows you to describe to PhotoScore the style of handwriting you are
scanning.
It should be remembered that recognition of handwritten music is an
incredibly difficult thing for a computer to do, and as yet there is not even
a system available that can read cursive handwritten text from a scanned
image with any accuracy, so this is an important and remarkable
technological breakthrough.
Important: Please read the chapter Reading Handwritten Music to make
the most out of this exciting new technology.
Copyright music
You should be aware that by scanning music without permission you
could infringe copyright. The following are rough guidelines to when
copyright infringement might occur, but are not a full statement of the
law:
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 • Music that was composed by someone who is alive, or who died
less than 70 years ago, is in copyright.
• An arrangement of a piece of out-of-copyright music is in copyright
until 70 years after the arranger’s death, though the original tune or
piece on which the arrangement was based remains out of copyright.
• Similarly, any editorial markings in music that is otherwise out of
copyright are in copyright until 70 years after the editor’s death.
Removing all such editorial markings avoids copyright infringement.
• The same applies for lyrics of a song until 70 years after the lyricist’s
death. Again, copyright is not infringed if you do not scan the lyrics.
• The ‘typographical arrangement’ (i.e. graphical appearance ) of
otherwise out-of-copyright music is itself in copyright for some years
after publication, though re-typesetting the music - which is what
PhotoScore effectively does - probably avoids infringing copyright,
and reformatting the music in a program such as Sibelius certainly
avoids it.
• In most countries (but not the USA), music is automatically in
copyright from when it is composed, arranged or edited; there is no
registration procedure, and the music does not have to include a
statement that it is copyright, or the © symbol.
Lite version users - Important information
Lite version users
If using PhotoScore Lite you will find that a number of menu items,
toolbar buttons and check boxes are permanently grayed-out. This is not
a bug – these are simply features unavailable in the Lite version. If you
find you regularly need to use the grayed-out options, we recommend
upgrading to PhotoScore Ultimate.

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 GETTING STARTED
Run PhotoScore using your preferred method (e.g. from the Finder or
Explorer, or from Sibelius).
Unless it has been turned off (only possible on the Macintosh version),
you should see the following toolbar below PhotoScore’s menu bar:

Clicking these buttons is equivalent to selecting the menu items

File>Scan Pages… (for scanning pages of music), File>Open
PDFs… (for converting PDFs to music files), and File>Open (for
opening saved scanned images and PhotoScore files), respectively. The
three buttons to the right correspond to the menu items
File>Preferences… (for changing PhotoScore’s preferences)
Help>Neuratron PhotoScore Help… (for PDF help), and
Help>Neuratron Web Site… (for the Neuratron web site).
Screen resolution and colors
We recommend that you use PhotoScore on a display with a high screen
resolution, such as 1024 x 768 or 1280 x 1024. A display with at least
16-bit color quality is also recommended.
The three stages
There are three main stages when using PhotoScore – Scanning, Reading
and Editing:
1. Scanning a page simply makes PhotoScore take a ‘photograph’ of
your original. It is also possible to open PDF files containing sheet
music.
2. Reading is the clever bit - this is where PhotoScore ‘reads’ the
scanned pages to work out what the notes and other markings are.
3. Editing is where you correct any mistakes that PhotoScore has
made. Editing within PhotoScore works in much the same way as
editing music in the music notation program Sibelius.
After doing the above, you will then be able to transpose, play-back, re-
format, extract parts, print, save your music for use in other music
programs and even burn your music to CD (not all features available in
PhotoScore Lite).
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 1. SCANNING
Macintosh users
Important: You need a Mac OS X TWAIN driver for your scanner model to
be installed on your computer if you wish to scan directly into PhotoScore
(a classic Mac OS TWAIN driver will not work); otherwise it will not
recognize your scanner. If you intend to use the Automatic or
PhotoScore scanning interfaces (explained below), the driver
additionally needs to support Mac OS X Image Capture (ICA). It is highly
recommended that you check your scanner manufacturer’s website for
the latest driver and install this before attempting scanning with
PhotoScore. If a Mac OS X TWAIN driver is not available, you will need
to scan and save TIFF files from the software that came with your
scanner, and then import these into PhotoScore using File>Open….
The three scanning interfaces
Depending on how much control you need over scanner settings,
PhotoScore offers up to three different interfaces for scanning, depending
on the version of Mac OS X/Windows you are using and your scanner
software’s capabilities. Ensure your scanner software is installed and that
your scanner is powered on and connected to your computer and then
click Scanner Setup… from PhotoScore’s File menu to see the
interfaces available. The window should look something like this:

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Automatic scanning (not Lite version)
If available (see requirements below), PhotoScore automatically selects
suitable settings for you and performs the scan immediately,
automatically cropping the image afterwards.
If your scanner takes a very long time to scan each page and you are not
scanning handwritten music, tick the Scan more quickly check box and
PhotoScore will scan at a lower resolution (usually 200dpi instead of
300dpi).
PhotoScore interface
If available (see requirements below), PhotoScore’s interface allows you
to select the minimum height of the staves on the page(s) you are
scanning so that it can select the most appropriate resolution. If scanning
with a flatbed scanner (as opposed to a scanner with an automatic sheet
feeder) it also allows you to select the area of the scanner glass to be
scanned. This is useful, for example, when scanning A5 books, where
more than one page may end up on the scanner glass, since PhotoScore
can only read one page per scan.
TWAIN interface
This is the ‘standard’ interface that you will often see when scanning with
other software. It generally allows more advanced scanner settings to be
adjusted, for example the pixel type, brightness and contrast. This
interface is usually most useful when scanning very heavily or lightly
printed music so that the brightness setting can be adjusted accordingly.
Please note that PhotoScore only accepts scans made with a resolution
between 200 and 600 dpi, and with black & white (also known as b/w
document or 1-bit) or the recommended, more accurate, 256 grayscale
(also known as b/w photo or 8-bit grayscale) pixel types. Do not choose
color, 12-bit, 16-bit, 24-bit or 32-bit pixel types. Also ensure that any
scaling option is set to 100% or 1:1 to avoid resizing of the image before
PhotoScore sees it. Here are recommended resolutions depending on the
minimum height of staves and types of music you are scanning
(handwritten music should always be scanned at 300 dpi for the best
results):

15
 Staff-height/type Resolution
1/4” (6mm) or more 200dpi
3/16” – 1/4” (4-6mm) 300dpi
1/8” – 3/16” (3-4mm) 400dpi

Handwritten Music 300dpi

Requirements for the Automatic and PhotoScore interfaces:

Mac OS X: requires 10.3 or higher; Mac OS X TWAIN drivers supporting
Mac OS X Image Capture (ICA) and compatible with your scanner model
must be installed.
Windows: generally requires Windows Me/XP/Vista with installed WIA
drivers compatible with your scanner model; if using earlier versions of
Windows some TWAIN drivers will also allow this feature. However if a
message pops up saying your scanner is not fully TWAIN compliant or
other problems occur, you should choose the TWAIN interface instead.
Once you have selected your preferred scanner interface, ensure your
scanner is the one selected in the drop-down menu or TWAIN scanner
selection dialog (whether you are able to choose from a drop-down menu
or the TWAIN scanner selection dialog depends on the scanner driver
being used by PhotoScore).
The remaining options on the Scanner Setup dialog (which is also the
first pane in the PhotoScore preferences) are explained in the PhotoScore
preferences section of Advanced features.
Scanning a page of music
For your first scan, try a page or two of simple keyboard music or
something similar. Please note, some of these instructions only apply
when using a flat bed scanner without an automatic sheet feeder – if
using an automatic sheet feeder (it is likely you will know if you have
one), follow the instructions supplied with your scanner for information on
page placement):
1 Put the page of music (the ‘original’) into your scanner, facedown and
with the top of the page pointing away from you.
Put one edge of the original flush against the raised edge of the
glass. You can put the page on its side if it fits better. PhotoScore
will automatically rotate the page by 90 degrees if necessary.

16
 However you should normally align the top of the page with the left
edge of the scanner to ensure it does not turn out upside-down.
Don’t worry though if it is scanned the wrong way up as it is easy to
correct later on.
If you are scanning in gray, then the page does not need to be
completely straight - PhotoScore will automatically make the page
level without loss of detail. It will not be rotated if scanning in black
& white, as this would result in loss of detail, thus giving less
accurate recognition results.
2 Click Scan Pages… from PhotoScore’s File menu or the toolbar.
3 What happens now depends on the interface selected in
File>Scanner Setup…:
Automatic scanning interface: (not Lite version):
Your scanner should start working almost immediately (although it
may take some time to warm up if it has not been used for a while).
PhotoScore interface:

Click Select region to scan (not available if using an automatic

sheet feeder) to make PhotoScore take a quick scan of the whole
scanner glass area. Once the scanned ‘preview’ of your page of
music appears, use the mouse to click and drag out the region you
wish to have PhotoScore read. To adjust an existing region, click and
drag its edges. Then, click Scan selected region in the toolbar to
return to the original dialog box, shown above. Your selected region
will be used for all future scans made using the PhotoScore
interface, until this region-selecting process is repeated.

17
 Finally, choose the minimum height of the staves you are scanning
and click Scan. Click Cancel if you have changed your mind and no
longer wish to scan.
TWAIN interface:
Select the appropriate region (there is usually a ‘preview’ button),
resolution, pixel type, brightness settings etc. for your scan (consult
the scanner’s user guide to find out how, since the interface varies
from scanner to scanner) and then click the button marked Scan (or
equivalent).
4 After a moment, the scanner will whir into life and transfer the page
to your computer. (If this doesn’t happen, see Possible problems.)
If you are scanning from a fairly thick book, gently press down the lid
(or the book if easier) during scanning to keep the page flat on the
glass.
5 Unless using the Automatic scanning interface, a dialog box will
appear for you to enter a name for the page, which will be something
like Score 1, Page 1 by default. You can change this to any name
you like - something like Piano p1 would do - then click OK.
Subsequent pages you scan will be automatically numbered e.g.
Piano p2, and a dialog box will not appear.
6 Wait a few seconds while PhotoScore makes the page level, adjusts
the brightness, and locates the staves.
7 PhotoScore will now be ready to scan the next page, possibly after a
prompt to wait for the scanner to stop whirring, so put the second
page of music in the scanner, click on the Scan (or equivalent)
button and proceed as for the first page. If the scanning interface
does not reappear, click Scan Pages… from PhotoScore’s File
menu or toolbar again.
8 Continue until you have scanned all the pages that you want to scan.
Scanning summarized
Once you’ve scanned a few pages you’ll rapidly get into the routine of it.
The procedure can be summarized as follows:
1 Place page in scanner
2 Click Scan Pages… from PhotoScore’s File menu or toolbar

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 3 If not using the Automatic scanning interface, choose the staff-
height or resolution, and if using the TWAIN interface, whether to
scan in shades of gray b/w photo (recommended), or black and
white b/w document
4 If not using the Automatic scanning interface, click Scan or the
equivalent
5 If not using the Automatic scanning interface, enter page name (or
leave the default name)
6 Go on to next page
Scanned page catalog
It’s important for you to understand that whenever you scan a page,
PhotoScore adds it to a ‘catalog’ of scanned pages to be read later.
You do not need to save scanned pages or the catalog – they are
stored on your hard disk automatically.
This means that whenever you start PhotoScore, it still remembers
any pages you scanned previously. You can and should delete pages
that you no longer need to keep; we’ll tell you more about this
catalog later.
The catalog can be viewed in the pages pane (described at the start
of the next chapter).
Scanning hints
• If you want to read a page of music smaller than the size of your
scanner, you should make sure that only that portion is scanned.
If you are using the TWAIN interface, then you will need to read the
supplied TWAIN driver documentation on how to scan only part of a
page. This usually involves use of a ‘preview’ feature if available.
• Ensure that all of the music on the page you are scanning is on the
glass of the scanner, and that no music from the facing page is
scanned. It doesn’t matter if your original is larger than Letter/A4, so
long as the music itself will fit onto Letter/A4.
• If you are scanning a page that is smaller than Letter/A4 size, it
doesn’t matter where on the glass you position the original.
However, it helps if you put the edge of the page flush against the
edge of the glass, to ensure that it’s straight.

19
 • If the first page you are scanning has page number 3 (say) printed on
it rather than 1, it will be least confusing if you name the page (say)
Piano p3 rather than Piano p1.
• If you are scanning a small music book then you may be able to fit a
double-page spread (two facing pages side-by-side) on the scanner
glass, but don’t try this - PhotoScore can only read one page at a
time. Scan each page separately.
• For simplicity, we recommend that you scan all the pages in a piece
of music before reading them all. You are allowed to scan a page,
then read it, then scan another and so on (see Advanced features),
but we don’t suggest you try anything like this until you are proficient
with PhotoScore.
Longer scores
If you want to scan a score of more than a few pages, scan and read a
sample page first to verify that the scanner and other settings are
correct.
If you use the first page as a sample page and it reads correctly, there
will be no need to re-scan it. Continue scanning from the second page;
you will find that when you have scanned and read all the pages, they will
have been added in the correct order after the first page.
PhotoScore can scan scores of up to 400 pages (Lite version – 20
pages), though for scores of 40 pages or more you are strongly advised
to split them into separate pieces, songs, movements or other
convenient sections, and scan, read and edit each section separately.
Opening .bmp & TIFF files
PhotoScore can open TIFF and .bmp (Windows only) files. This is useful if
your scanner is on a separate computer from PhotoScore as you can scan
and save files and transport them to the PhotoScore computer for
opening. Open these files from File>Open… ensuring that the
appropriate file type is selected in the Files of type drop-down menu.
The files must be scanned at a suitable resolution and be black & white (2
color) or 256 shades of gray. Multiple files may be selected and opened
at the same time. TIFF files containing multiple images may be opened.
Opening PDF files
It is possible for PhotoScore to open and read PDF files. You should
ensure that Ghostscript v8.15 or higher is installed on your computer first
20
as this is required to do much of the hard work. This is automatically
installed with the Mac OS X version, and is optional for the Windows
version. Read about Ghostscript at www.ghostscript.com.
Open PDF files from File>Open PDFs…. PhotoScore will ask you what
resolution you want to open the file at (the default of 300 dpi is usually
sufficient) and then proceed to open all pages in the PDF file. If the file is
protected, PhotoScore will also prompt for you to enter a suitable
password. Hold down Escape if you want to stop PhotoScore opening
the file. Multiple files may be selected and opened at the same time.
Afterwards, the pages can then be PhotoScored just as if they had been
scanned in.

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 2. READING
As mentioned earlier, just scanning a page simply presents the computer
with a grid of millions of black and white dots, which as far as it is
concerned could be anything from text to a photograph.
‘Reading’ the music is the clever bit, where PhotoScore works out from
the scan where and what the notes and other markings on the page are.
Reading and the Pages Pane
You should see the pages pane (below) at the left of the screen. If not,
you can view it by selecting View>Toggle Pages Pane. Alternatively,
resize it by double-clicking or clicking and dragging its right edge.
Note: If you used PhotoScore 4 or earlier,
this replaces the Scanned pages dialog
box that was available from the View
Pages toolbar button and
View>Scanned pages… menu item.
The pages pane is split into two main parts,
Pending Pages and Read Pages:
Pending Pages
At the very top of this area you can choose
whether the next page to be read should
be read as printed or handwritten music
(not Lite version). It is highly important that
you choose the correct option before
opening/scanning/reading pages otherwise
the recognition accuracy will be very poor.
Below this is the list of pages of music that
have been scanned in or opened from PDF, TIFF and BMP files and which
have not yet been read by PhotoScore. If you move the mouse over each
item you will see a thumbnail of the page. Clicking on the thumbnail or
double-clicking on the page name displays the original page in a window
to the right. This is useful for checking whether the page has been
scanned properly.
Whilst hovering over an item, the Read check box at the right will
expand. If the checkbox is marked green this means it is waiting to be

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read. PhotoScore will go through reading all pages with a green checkbox
in order from top to bottom.
If Read pages after scanning/opening is selected in the preferences
(see the chapter Advanced Features) each page scanned in or opened
from a file will have this checkbox set and be read automatically.
It is possible to click and drag a pending page up or down in the list to
change the order it appears in the output score.
While a page is being read, the progress will be shown by a green bar
filling the listed item from left to right. Also, holding the mouse over it will
show Cancel instead of Read and clicking this will cancel reading of
that page. It takes a moment to cancel and during this time Cancelling
will be displayed and the checkbox will be marked red.
Clicking over the name of the page selects it and colors it blue. Further
pages can be selected by holding down X or Ctrl (to add individual
pages) or Shift (to add a series of pages) whilst clicking. Clicking Read
or Cancel on a selected page causes the same action to be performed
on all other selected pages. Therefore, it is possible to select several
pages and, with one click, choose whether or not they should all be read.
Clicking where it says Remove on a selected page allows all selected
pages to be removed.
As each page is read the recognized music is added to the output score
to the right of the pages pane. You can edit the output whilst PhotoScore
is reading the remaining pages. The page listing is also moved from the
Pending Pages area to the Read Pages area, described next.
Read Pages (grouped into scores)
As each pending page is read, it is moved into this area. The pages are
grouped into scores to make them easier to manage. The pages
belonging to a score can be shown or hidden by clicking on the small +
or – at the left of the score name (with blue background). Double-clicking
on the score name opens the PhotoScore file associated with the score
as well as showing the pages that make it up. When a score is open,
clicking Remove to the right of the score name removes all pages
belonging to it from the Read Pages area without deleting the output
score.
If you wish to read a set of pages into a new score, you first need to save
the current output score on the right-hand side and close it by choosing

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 File>Close Score or clicking the small cross at the top right. Newly
read pages will then appear under a new blue score heading.
Moving the mouse over read pages will display the original scanned page
thumbnail on the left and also a representation of the output page on the
right.
Clicking on the left thumbnail displays the original page in a window to
the right and is useful for checking that PhotoScore has correctly located
the staves if the output looks strange. All staves should be boldly
highlighted in blue, with the correct number of stave lines shown, and all
staves within systems should be joined with a red line. For further
information, see the sections Adjusting detected staves/systems and
Scan window options in the chapter Advanced Features.
Clicking on the right thumbnail displays the output page in a window to
the right, loading the relevant PhotoScore file if necessary. It will ask
whether you would like to save the current PhotoScore file if it hasn’t
already been, since it is only possible to have one PhotoScore file open at
a time.
Pages that have been read but not edited are shown with a * to the left
of the page name to remind you that any mistakes may not have been
corrected yet.
If a page name is drawn bold it means that that page is being displayed
on the right.
Clicking Remove on a selected page in the Pending Pages area
deletes that page from your hard disk. If you do the same in the Read
Pages area, PhotoScore keeps the page for a week before permanently
deleting it. The page is listed only when the output score it is attached to
is open. In this case, Keep is displayed instead of Remove and can be
clicked to prevent deletion. This can be useful if you remove one or more
pages but then discover or decide that more work is required on the
score.
What PhotoScore reads (printed music)
PhotoScore reads most musical markings, including:
• Notes & chords (including stem direction, beams & flags), rests.
Ultimate version also reads grace and cross-staff notes.
• Accidentals. Ultimate version also reads articulation marks
• Clefs, key signatures, time signatures
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 • Systems, 5-line staves (normal and small), 6-line guitar tablature
staves, standard barlines. Ultimate version also reads 4- and, 1-,2-,
3- and 5-line percussion staves, double and repeat barlines
• The format of the page, including the page size, staff size, margins,
and where systems end
• Ties. Ultimate version also reads slurs and hairpins. To switch on/off
slur, tie and hairpin reading, see Advanced features
• Tuplets (Lite version – simple triplets only). For PhotoScore to read
tuplets, Tuplets (includes advanced rhythm detection) must be
switched on (see Advanced features)
Ultimate version only:
• Text including lyrics, dynamics, tempo, instrument names, title &
composer, guitar chords, and note fingering. More details on text
reading are in Advanced features
• Guitar chord diagrams. To switch on/off guitar chord diagram
reading, see Advanced features
• Various other markings such as codas, segnos, ornaments, pedal
markings and repeat endings, see Advanced features
PhotoScore will ignore less common markings, including some lines such
as 8va, special noteheads and tremolos.
All of these markings can be added back to the score in music programs
such as Sibelius.
What PhotoScore reads (handwritten music)
PhotoScore can read the following handwritten markings:
• Notes & chords (including stem direction, beams & flags,
augmentation dots), rests
• Accidentals
• Key signatures
• Time signatures are calculated from the music (not specifically read)
• Systems, 5-line staves, barlines
• Ties and slurs. To switch on/off tie and slur reading, see Advanced
features
• The format of the page, including the page size, staff size, margins,
and where systems end
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3. EDITING
As each page is read in the pages pane, PhotoScore’s interpretation of it
is added to a window called the output window on the right. Here you
can edit any mistakes that have been made.
Quick Editing Guide
• To select an object click on it so that it turns a different color. To
change the selected note within a chord hold down Alt whilst using
the up/down cursor keys. To select a whole chord double-click in the
centre of one of its notes.
• Notes can be dragged up and down with the mouse or up/down
cursor keys.
• To add a note click a note-value on the ‘keypad’ at the bottom right
of the window, then click on a staff to input the note at the pitch
where you click. The keypad button stays pressed down so you can
click more notes onto the staff. Input several notes, one above the
other, to make a chord. To stop creating notes, press Esc to
deselect all the keypad buttons. A note can quickly be added to an
existing chord by selecting the chord and double-clicking in the
desired position.
• To edit notes: You can select a note and edit its stem-direction,
articulations, accidental, etc. just by choosing the relevant keypad
button. To edit a note’s length, choose a note-value on the keypad. A
flag or beam can also be chosen in this way. Type the left/right
arrows to move between notes.
• To add/edit rests: To add rests, do the same as for adding a note, but
also click on the bottom left rest button in the keypad to convert the
note to a rest. Rests can be edited in the same way as notes.
• To see more exotic sets of symbols click the five buttons at the
top of the keypad.
• To change the voice of a note or rest, click one of the buttons
marked 1 2 3 4 at the bottom of the keypad (only voices 1 and 2 in
Lite version). Individual notes within a chord may be split into
different voices, and chords in different voices may be joined into
single chords in this way.

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• The keypad on the screen corresponds to the numeric keypad at
the right of your computer keyboard. Type these keys in preference
to using the mouse, as it’s much quicker. You can choose several
keys together (but type the note-value first), e.g. type 4 . – / to get a
dotted quarter-note (crotchet) with a tenuto and accent.
• To copy and paste you can use XC or Ctrl+C and XV or
Ctrl+V respectively (clicking where you want to paste), but it’s
quicker to duplicate an object in a single action by selecting it,
pointing somewhere else and clicking with the z or Alt key held
down. Try this with a note or some text.
• To delete selected objects type Delete.
• To edit guitar tablature notes: The fret number of a note can be
entered using the number keys.
• To edit other objects: Most objects such as clefs, time signatures
and barlines can be changed by double- or right-clicking over them to
bring up an appropriate dialog box or menu.
• To create other objects: You can create other objects (e.g. clefs,
time signatures) from the Create menu, which you can also get by
Ctrl- (Mac) or right- (Windows) clicking. Choose an object from the
menu, and then click on the score to create it.
• To reposition/resize objects: Most objects can be moved around
the page by clicking and dragging. Some objects such as slurs and
hairpins can be resized in a similar manner by clicking and dragging
their left or right edges.
The top part of the window (with a slightly yellowish background) shows
you the original scanned page.
The large bottom part of the window (with a light-gray background)
shows PhotoScore’s interpretation of the scan - that is, what PhotoScore
thinks the original reads. The accuracy of PhotoScore's interpretation
depends on several factors such as the quality of the original print, the
scanner's resolution, etc. Hence this part of the window is where
PhotoScore’s mistakes can occur.
If you cannot see the top part of the window, this means PhotoScore
cannot locate the original scanned page (for example if it has been
deleted); the whole output window will have a white background instead.

27
 At the top left of the window it says, for example, Page 1 of 7, and by
clicking on the arrows you can move through all of the pages that have
been read. It makes sense to edit the first page completely, then advance
to the second page and so on until the whole output score has been
edited. The magnifying glass icon zooms the page to fit the window; 100
scales to 100%; 200 scales to 200%.
To the bottom right of the window is the keypad. This can be
repositioned using its title bar. It has two alternative layouts (one similar
to Sibelius’s, the other easier-to-use for most beginners) that can be
toggled by clicking the small double-arrow icon at its bottom right.
At the top right of the output window is a ‘full-detail’ view of the original
scan that shows the region the mouse pointer is currently over. This can
be moved and resized like a normal window. Both this and the keypad
can be removed by un-checking the appropriate options in the View
menu.
There is a Create menu in the menu bar, which is similar to Sibelius’s
Create menu. Editing features not appropriate for PhotoScore have been
omitted.
What to correct
The minimum amount of correction recommended before transferring the
output score to another music program is to correct rhythmic and key
signature mistakes. Other mistakes such as pitch can usually be
corrected later. We recommend you work this way initially.
Once you are more proficient with PhotoScore, you can correct the music
completely in PhotoScore before sending it to another program. The
advantage of this is that you can spot errors by looking at the scanned
original on the screen instead of having to refer to it on paper.
Checking for mistakes
Check for mistakes by comparing the bottom part of the window with the
original scan at the top. The original scan display is continually updated to
show the region of the page the mouse is pointing at.
Avoid the temptation to compare the output page with the original music
on paper - it is almost always quicker to compare with the scan on the
screen.
Mouse and keys
Broadly speaking, you can:
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 • select and move markings using the (left) mouse button
• copy markings using z-click, Alt-click or clicking with the middle
mouse button.
• create markings using the Create menu
• delete markings with Delete
• edit notes and rests using the keypad.
Selecting
To select a marking:
• Point at the marking so that it is highlighted with a purple box
• Click with the (left) mouse button - the marking goes blue if in voice
1, green if voice 2, orange if voice 3 or purple if voice 4.
It is also possible to move left and right to select different markings by
using the left and right arrow keys. Hold down Ctrl at the same time to
jump to the start of the current or next bar.
The purple box makes it easier to compare the top and bottom parts of
the output window, and also helps you select the intended marking when
the music is cramped.
Note that, in the bottom part of the window, only the staff where the
mouse cursor is currently located is highlighted in white. This staff
corresponds to the part of the scanned image displayed at the top of the
window.
Multiple selections
Note that you can select several markings at once by holding down X or
Shift, or by holding down the (left) mouse button and dragging a box
around the markings to be selected. You can then edit or delete all the
markings at once. This can save a lot of time. Alternatively you can
select further individual notes by holding down X or Ctrl, or a series of
notes by holding down Shift, and clicking.
It is also possible to select additional markings to the left and right by
holding down Shift whilst using the left and right arrow keys. Similarly
use xX or Ctrl+Shift to select up to the start or end of a bar.
Position of markings
PhotoScore positions markings wherever it sees (or thinks it sees) them
on the page. It does not attempt to re-layout the music. Hence
29
 PhotoScore is quite happy for markings to overlap, or not to align. You
can click and drag most objects left and right if they do overlap.
Note that it is possible to tell PhotoScore to reformat the entire score
(not Lite version) – see Reformatting and extracting parts in the chapter
AFTER PHOTOSCORING.
Re-reading a page
If you want to re-read a page, perhaps because you have adjusted the
recognition setting, double-click on the yellowish top part of the output
window to view the scan, then click on Read this page. You can also
choose where the resulting page is to end up in the output score by
clicking the small arrow immediately to the right of Read this page and
then choosing one of the options available.
Re-scanning a page
If you want to re-scan a page after reading it - perhaps if inadequate
scanner settings were used - double-click on the yellowish top part of the
output window to obtain the scan, then click on Re-scan. After
scanning, click Read this page at the top of the window to re-read it.
Deleting a page
Selecting Edit>Delete page from the menu removes the currently
displayed page from the output score, which is useful if you accidentally
scanned the same page twice.
Don’t use this if you want to re-scan the page, as PhotoScore adds newly
scanned pages to the end of the output score rather than inserting them
in the middle. Instead, see Re-scanning a page (above).

EDITING RHYTHM & KEY SIGNATURES

Rhythm is the main source of errors because rhythms are harder to read
than pitch.
Sibelius users
Unlike Sibelius, PhotoScore does not ‘pad out’ bars with rests to make
sure they always add up because it is not always obvious from which
part of a bar the rhythm is missing.
Note that when you insert musical objects into a staff no extra space
appears for them, so the spacing may get a bit cramped – Don’t worry
about this, as the music is re-spaced when it is sent to Sibelius.
30
 If the View>Bad Timing menu item is ticked, any bar that apparently
has too few or too many notes in any voice is drawn with horizontal red
dashed lines above and below it and PhotoScore writes, in a color
appropriate to the voice, how much rhythm is missing or in excess. For
instance, if a bar appears to have an extra quarter-note (crotchet) plus a
sixteenth-note (semiquaver), PhotoScore will write a ‘+’ followed by a
picture of a quarter-note (crotchet) and a sixteenth-note (semiquaver).
Conversely, if the bar is apparently a half-note (minim) short, it will write
a ‘-’ followed by a picture of a half-note (minim). A notehead with a small
3 or 4 above it denotes a 1/32nd-note (demisemiquaver) or 1/64th-note.
A vertical red dashed line is drawn at the end of a staff if the end barline
is missing (whether intentionally or not). Unless a bar is split over staves,
barlines must be added to mark the end of the bar. If a bar is split over
staves, any rhythm warnings are only displayed on the latter staff.
The procedure to use when correcting rhythm is to first check that the
correct time signature is set. Then look at each bar highlighted with
horizontal red dashed lines, and correct the rhythm in each bar until the
red lines disappear. Once there are no horizontal red dashed lines left on
a page, you can be confident that it is rhythmically correct.
The bad timing navigator (not Lite version)
To help you locate and navigate to bars with bad timing within a score,
PhotoScore Ultimate provides a navigator that lists them. By default, the
bad timing navigator is located in the bottom-left of the PhotoScore
window and is displayed whenever a score is open. It can be
repositioned by clicking and dragging its title bar. If you cannot see the
navigator, click View>Bad Timing Navigator.
Clicking on each entry listed in the navigator will take you straight to that
bar in the score. When an entry is selected in the navigator, it is
highlighted in red and the red dashed lines above and below the bar in
the score become solid. If there are no bars in the score with bad timing,
the message No bad timing found is displayed.
Initial time signature
If there is no time signature at the start of the first output page
PhotoScore will assume a time signature of 4/4. So, if this is incorrect,
the first thing you should do is input an initial time signature.

31
 To do this, point over the output page and Ctrl-click (Mac) or right-click
(Windows) (this displays the same menu as clicking on Create) and
choose a time signature from the dialog box opened by clicking on Time
signature. Common time signatures can be chosen, or you can create
your own.
Insert the time signature at the start of the score by carefully positioning
the blue pointer after the initial clef. If you get a purple box instead of a
dark blue line, the pointer is over a marking and you will not be able to
insert the time signature.
The same principle applies when placing any other marking - you can only
position markings where the dark blue vertical line appears. If you get a
purple box, the highlighted marking will be replaced with the new one
(unless there are two different types of marking involved, in which case
nothing will happen).
If Tuplets (includes advanced rhythm detection) (see Advanced
Features) is switched on, you may find a red time signature placed at
the start of the page. This is nothing to be alarmed about as it only
shows that PhotoScore could not find one on the page during reading,
and so guessed it. This can be edited or deleted just like any other time
signature.
Pick-up (upbeat) / irregular bars
Scores often start with a short bar, known as a ‘pick-up bar’ (‘upbeat
bar’) or ‘anacrusis’. Such irregular bars which do not add up to the time
signature need special consideration. It is necessary to insert two hidden
time signatures (there is a Hide check box in the Time signature
dialog). The first should be inserted at the beginning of the irregular bar
and should be of a value which matches the length of that bar. The
second should be the same value as the original time signature and
should be placed at the beginning of the following bar, so that timing
returns to normal.
Key signatures / transposing instruments
Make key signatures from the Create menu. The normal behavior is for
PhotoScore to create individual key signatures for each staff. If you wish
to create key signatures for all staves in a system (for example if there
are no transposing instruments), hold down X or Ctrl when placing
them. Likewise, deleting in the usual way will remove individual key
signatures from a staff, whereas holding down X or Ctrl when deleting
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 will remove all key signatures from a system. You should always make
sure that there is a key signature on every staff in a system (or none on
any ) when adding or changing multiple key signatures at the same time -
otherwise other key signatures may be affected or duplicated.
Sibelius users
Beware that if a key signature has the correct number of sharps/flats on
one system but the wrong number on the next one, and you do not
correct it, the start of the latter system will be regarded as a key change
when the music is sent to Sibelius.
Sibelius v2 or higher users: When transferring a transposing score to
Sibelius, ensure that This is a transposing score is checked in
Sibelius’s Open PhotoScore file dialog.
Altering note-values
To alter a note-value, simply select the note or rest in question, and then
use the keypad.
If several notes have the wrong note-value, bear in mind that you can
drag a selection box around them to select them all, and then correct
them all with a single key-stroke.
Inserting notes/rests
To insert a note somewhere, use the keypad. Alternatively, select
another note or rest of the same value and copy it where you want it to
go with z-click or Alt-click.
If PhotoScore has overlooked a note/rest when reading the music, it will
just leave a gap. You can correct this by simply copying a note/rest into
this gap.
If you wish to quickly add a note to an existing chord, select the chord
and then double-click where you would like the new note to be added.
Deleting notes/rests
PhotoScore may sometimes mistake some other marking for a note or
rest, leaving you with an extra note or rest in a bar. To remove the
note/rest, simply select it and press Delete. You can select several
notes/rests for deletion by dragging a selection box around them first.
Because PhotoScore does not attempt to pad out bars with rests,
deleting a note simply removes it rather than turning it into a rest. You
can explicitly turn a note into a rest by using the keypad if you like.
33
 Sibelius users
Unlike Sibelius, deleting a rest will not leave an invisible rest in its place,
so you needn’t worry about leaving invisible rests lying about.
Attachment
In the same way that the current staff is highlighted in white, when
creating or copying a marking, the staff that the marking will be attached
to is highlighted in white.
So when placing a note or other marking in between two staves, first
move the mouse up or down until the intended staff is highlighted, then
click.
Inserting barlines
Sometimes a bar will not ‘add up’ because PhotoScore has overlooked a
barline, thus producing a double-length bar. To correct this, simply select
a barline from elsewhere on the page, and copy it into the gap where the
barline should be with z-click or Alt-click. Alternatively you can
Control-click (Mac) or right-click and select a barline from the menu
that appears.
Two or more voices
When music is in two or more voices, PhotoScore marks each
note/chord/rest with an appropriate color (blue, green, orange or purple
for voices 1 through 4). In the example below, the top notes are colored
blue (voice 1) and the bottom ones are green (voice 2).

To change the voicing of a selected note/chord/rest, press z1 or Alt+1

to put it into the first voice, z2 or Alt+2 to put it into the second
voice, z3 or Alt+3 for the third voice or z4 or Alt+4 for the fourth
voice. Alternatively you can use the keypad.
PhotoScore shows rhythmic mistakes for each voice independently in an
appropriate color for the voice at the end of the bar. Take care, when
correcting any rhythmic mistakes, that all voices end up with the correct
number of beats in a bar.
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 A common source of rhythmic errors is simply that one or more notes are
in the wrong voice. PhotoScore may assume that a bar with stems both
up and down is in two voices, when in fact it is only in one. You can
correct this by dragging a selection box over all the notes so they are
highlighted, then typing z1 or Alt-1 to put the notes into a single voice.
Grace-notes and cue notes
PhotoScore will often correctly recognize grace notes; however, it
assumes that they are cue notes and will therefore include them in the
rhythm of the bar.
Because of this, you are recommended to delete any grace-notes and re-
input them in a separate music program; otherwise bars with grace-
notes in will end up with the wrong number of beats.
Cue-notes, however, do contribute to the rhythm in a bar, so you can
leave these in.
Editing hints
If you make a mistake (e.g. by deleting the wrong marking) you can
‘undo’ this action by pressing XZ or Ctrl+Z. You can reverse an undo
(called ‘redo’) by pressing XY or Ctrl+Y. PhotoScore remembers, and
thus you can undo, up to the last hundred editing actions performed.
When you are proficient with editing rhythms, you can save time by not
bothering to fill in any rests that may be missing from the ends of bars.
This is because when a MIDI file is saved, or a score is sent to Sibelius,
any bars that are too short (according to the prevailing time signature)
will be automatically padded out with rests for you.
If you are PhotoScoring a long score, it is recommended for safety
reasons that you save your score to disk after editing each page.

EDITING OTHER MARKINGS

As mentioned earlier; you may want to edit other markings in another
music program rather than PhotoScore, particularly while you are still
learning to use PhotoScore. Therefore, if you like, you can skip this
section for the time being.
Copying markings
To copy a marking, simply select it, point elsewhere and click with z or
Alt held down. You can copy almost any type of marking.
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Deleting markings
To delete any marking, simply select it and press Delete. Hold down X
or Ctrl when deleting key signatures to remove all of them from a
system.
Accidentals and articulation marks
These can be applied to the selected note using the keypad.
Barlines
You can correct an incorrectly recognized barline by double- or right-
clicking over it and selecting the correct one from the menu that appears.
You can create special barlines from the Create menu.
Beams
You can alter the beaming of notes using the keypad.
Clefs
In general it is not assumed that an instrument retains the same clef
throughout a score, so the clef at the start of a staff can be wrong even if
it was correct on the previous staff. Should this occur, it is easily
corrected simply by double- or right-clicking over the faulty clef and
selecting the correct one from the dialog box that appears. Correcting a
clef to a percussion clef will correct every clef on the currently displayed
page for that instrument. The Clef dialog box can also be accessed from
the Create menu.
To insert a clef change in the middle of a staff, you can select and copy
the desired clef and paste it where you want the clef change.
PhotoScore will automatically draw it at the smaller size.
If you are rewriting music for an instrument that uses a different clef,
check Rewrite notes in the Clef dialog box to change all clefs for that
instrument and adjust the positions of all notes on its staves accordingly.
Codas and Segnos (not Lite version)
You can create codas and segnos from the Create>Symbol submenu.
If a note or rest is not already selected, you must now click on a note or
rest to place it. A dialog box then appears, and you should type any text
to be associated with the coda or segno and click OK. Leave the text
blank to create the sign alone.

36
 To edit the text of an existing coda or segno, double- or right-click over it
so that the same dialog box as used when creating a coda or segno
appears. Enter the text and click OK.
When a coda or segno is selected (and Attachment is ticked in the
View menu), a dotted line is drawn between the coda or segno and the
note it is attached to. PhotoScore automatically reattaches codas and
segnos to the nearest note when they are added, dragged or when a
note is deleted.
It is possible to create a gap in a system (to mark a separate coda
section) by adding a coda barline from Create>Barline. The gap will be
from the previous barline.
Cross-staff notes (not Lite version)
To move a note to the staff above or below whilst keeping it as part of
the timing of its current staff, select it and choose one of the options
from the Notes>Cross-Staff Notes submenu.
Because the staff it is moved to does not contain the timing of that note
(it remains as part of the original staff) you may need to add invisible
rests to make the bar’s timing add up (invisible rests pad out a bar’s
timing but are not printed). To do this, insert a rest at the appropriate
position. Then select it and choose Notes>Hide or Show Rests so
that it turns grey to show it is invisible.
Fingering (not Lite version)
You can create note fingering from the Create>Text submenu.
A dialog appears allowing you to enter up to five fingering values from
dropdown boxes.
Click OK to place the marking in the score. If a note is not already
selected, you must click on a note to place it. This marking can be
repositioned by clicking it and dragging with the mouse, and can be
edited by double- or right-clicking over it.
Guitar Chord Diagrams & Symbols (not Lite version)
You can create guitar chord diagrams and symbols from the Create
menu and the Create>Text submenu.
A dialog appears allowing you to add/edit the chord symbol text in the
top half and the diagram in the bottom half. Please note that PhotoScore

37
 does not synchronize the symbol and the diagram, so it is possible to
create a diagram and symbol combination that does not make sense.
If Show chord symbol is checked, then you can choose the chord, type
and bass components of the symbol from the drop-down menus.
If Show chord diagram is checked, it is possible to click on the
appropriate strings and frets in the diagram to add finger position
markings. Click at the top of a string to alternate between open string
and silent. Click the arrows to the right of the diagram to adjust the
starting fret.
Click OK to place the marking in the score. If a note or rest is not already
selected, you must now click on a note or rest to place it. This marking
can be repositioned by clicking it and dragging with the mouse, and can
be edited by double- or right-clicking over it.
Instrument names
If the instrument names of the staves in each system are not written or
have not been read correctly, you can and should edit them to the names
of the actual instruments used in the score:
1 Locate the area to the left of any stave, where the instrument name
should be written, and double-click to open a dialog box.
2 Go through each instrument in the list, selecting it, clicking
Rename… and choosing the new name from the list of standard
instruments, or entering it manually.
If some systems in the original have staves missing, or if new
instruments or staves are introduced after the first system (e.g. where
strings divide), see Advanced features.
Multirests
You can create multirests from the Create>Bar Rest submenu. Choose
the number of bars you want the multirest to last for and click OK to
place the marking. Drag it horizontally to adjust its size.
Ornaments (not Lite version)
You can create ornaments (trills, mordents and turns) from the
Create>Symbol submenu. If a note or rest is not already selected, you
must now click on a note or rest to place it. This marking can be
repositioned by clicking it and dragging with the mouse, and can be
edited by double- or right-clicking over it.

38
Pedal markings (not Lite version)
You can create pedal on and off markings from the Create>Symbol
submenu. If a note or rest is not already selected, you must now click on
a note or rest to place it. This marking can be repositioned by clicking it
and dragging with the mouse, and can be edited by double- or right-
clicking over it.
Pitch
You can correct pitches by dragging notes up and down, or by typing the
up/down arrow keys. We recommend using the arrow keys where
possible, as the mouse can be more difficult to accurately position notes
with.
If a chord has a notehead missing, select the chord and double-click
where you want to add it. Alternatively select another notehead in the
same chord and copy it with z-click or Alt-click to where you want to
add it.
Note that you can’t alter the vertical position of rests, but this is a fairly
rare requirement anyway. You can always adjust their position later on in
another music program if necessary.
Repeat endings (not Lite version)
You can create repeat endings using the Create>Line>Repeat
Ending menu item. If a note or rest is not already selected, you must
now click on a note or rest to place it. A dialog box then appears, and
you should type the repeat ending number and click OK.
To edit the repeat ending number, double- or right-click over it so that the
same dialog box as used when creating a repeat ending appears. Enter
the number and click OK.
Click and drag at the left-hand side of a repeat ending marking to move it
to a different bar. To edit the number of bars it covers move the cursor
just to the right of its left-hand side so that the cursor becomes a
horizontal line with arrows at each end and then click and drag left or
right.
Slurs / hairpins (not Lite version) / ties
Make slurs using the Line submenu found in the Create menu. After
selecting the position of the slur, if a note is not already selected, you
must click on a note to place it. Selecting multiple notes in a passage
before creating a slur causes a slur to be created for the length of the
39
 selection. The start and end position of a slur can be adjusted by clicking
near the ends of the slur and dragging with the mouse. The curvature can
be adjusted by clicking and dragging near the centre of the slur.
Make hairpins using the Line submenu found in the Create menu. After
selecting the direction of the hairpin, if a note is not already selected, you
must click on a note to place it. The start and end position of a hairpin
can be adjusted by clicking near the ends of the hairpin and dragging with
the mouse.
When a hairpin is selected (and Attachment is ticked in the View
menu), a dotted line is drawn between the hairpin and the note it is
attached to. PhotoScore automatically reattaches hairpins to the closest
notes when they are added, dragged or when a note is deleted.
Add/remove ties by selecting the appropriate start note and using the
keypad. The curvature can be adjusted by clicking and dragging near the
centre of the tie.
Text (Lite version – tempo text only)
You can create text from the Create menu. The top half of the Text
submenu contains text types that can be attached to notes or rests (staff
text). The bottom half contains types that can be attached directly to the
page (page text). Select the text type to be placed. If you are adding
staff text and a note or rest is not already selected, you must now click
on a note or rest to place it. A dialog box then appears into which you
can type the text.
To edit existing text, double- or right-click over it so that a dialog box
appears. The top part of it allows you to change the style of the text
(between say, Lyrics and Expression). The middle part allows you to edit
the text itself, and the bottom part shows you what effect this text will
have on saved MIDI files and playback. If you would like the text to
contain a note symbol (e.g. for a metronome mark), click one of the
buttons next to Symbols:. It is also possible to choose whether the text
should be bold, italic, underlined, or hidden (hidden text is displayed in
grey and does not appear in printouts). Then click OK.
If you wish to edit many occurrences of the same text, you can choose
Edit>Find and Replace… or type XF or Ctrl+F (not Lite version).
Under Find what in the dialog box that appears, type the text that
PhotoScore should search for and, if necessary, choose a specific style
(e.g. lyrics) from the drop-down menu. If you would like PhotoScore to
40
 only search for text written in the same case or for whole words only,
check Match case or Find whole words only. Under Replace with,
type the replacement text and select the replacement style or choose
Keep existing. Then click Find next to find each occurrence of the
mistake, Replace to correct the currently selected one, or Replace all
to replace every occurrence in one go.
When text that is attached to notes or rests is selected (and
Attachment is ticked in the View menu), a dotted line is drawn
between the text and the note it is attached to. PhotoScore
automatically reattaches text to the nearest note when it is added,
dragged or when a note is deleted.
More details on text reading can be found in Advanced features.
Triplets and tuplets (Lite version – triplets only)
Before creating a tuplet, the duration of the first note to be included
needs to be set equal to the unit length of the tuplet. For example, the
unit length of a triplet lasting the duration of a half-note (minim) is one
quarter-note (crotchet) and the unit length of a duplet lasting a dotted
quarter-note is one eighth-note (quaver). If you wish the duration of the
first note to be different from the unit length, you must change its length
after the tuplet has been created. To create the tuplet, either
1) Click on the first note to be in the tuplet and type Xn or Ctrl+n
where n is the number displayed over the notes, or
2) Choose Tuplet from the Create menu. You can then either enter a
single number, or a ratio in the form n:p, where n notes are played in the
time of p. You can also choose whether a bracket should be displayed,
plus adjust the brackets on all tuplets in a score and in future scores. In
the output window, if the tuplet ratio is not 'standard', the ratio will be
written instead of a solitary number.
It is also possible to click and drag tuplets to alter their vertical position.

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 READING HANDWRITTEN MUSIC
(Ultimate version only)
PhotoScore Ultimate is the world’s first handwritten music scanning
program and is a breakthrough in the field of computer recognition. A
wide range of handwriting styles are supported. In part, this is due to an
innovative interface through which the handwriting style can be
described to PhotoScore (see Describing the handwriting style below).
Once you have finished editing the output score, quickly and easily
reformat it for publishing by using PhotoScore’s Rescore feature (see
Reformatting and extracting parts in the chapter AFTER
PHOTOSCORING).
It should be remembered that recognition of handwritten music is an
incredibly difficult thing for a computer to do, and as yet there is not even
a system available that can read cursive handwritten text from a scanned
image with any accuracy, so this is an important and remarkable
technological breakthrough.
Important: Ensure Read as Handwritten Music is selected in the
pages pane (see chapter 2. READING) or PhotoScore preferences (see
chapter ADVANCED FEATURES) and ensure that a suitable style is
selected before attempting to read handwritten music.
Capabilities
Currently PhotoScore is capable of reading the following handwritten
musical symbols:
• Notes & chords (including stem direction, beams & flags)
• Rests, augmentation dots (single and double)
• Sharps, flats, and naturals
• Key signatures
• Slurs and ties
• Barlines, 5-line staves, systems of staves
• The format of the page, including the page size, staff size, margins,
and where systems end
Clefs and time signatures are not read but calculated from the music and
automatically added by PhotoScore. Systems of staves can be read so
long as the linking barline at the beginning of each line of music has been

42
 drawn. Tuplets/triplets are not read but are calculated from the music
and automatically added by PhotoScore. They can also be manually
added after the score has been read (see chapter 3. EDITING).
Scanning
Best results are obtained from a clear, well-contrasted, 8-bit grayscale
scan. If you find that a page, once scanned into PhotoScore, appears
overly black or smudgy, or that the lines are thin and broken you can try
scanning in 1-bit black & white and adjusting your scanner’s brightness,
contrast and black-to-white threshold settings manually. We recommend
that you scan at a resolution of 300dpi. Once you have gained experience
with PhotoScore, you may find better results at other resolutions but for
most music 300dpi is ideal.
Describing the handwriting style
Before scanning handwritten music it is important to tell PhotoScore the
style in which it is written.
When Read as Handwritten Music is selected in the pages pane, the
name of the handwriting style that PhotoScore is currently set to read is
shown beneath it. Click on the style name to change the selected style.
A dialog box opens containing an example of music written in the
currently selected style. Choose a different style by clicking on the drop-
down menu next to Style: and selecting it from the menu. The example
will update automatically. Click OK to use that style, Edit… to change
any of its features (such as the stem length, notehead type, or spacing),
or New… to create a new style from it. To delete the currently
displayed style, click Remove. The styles in angle brackets (such as
<Basic>) cannot be edited or removed and are included with
PhotoScore to provide a starting point for creating new styles.
Clicking Edit… or New… will open a second dialog box in which the
name and features of the style can be adjusted. It should look something
like this:

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The name of the style can be edited next to Description:. Beneath is a
visual representation of the style and below that is a drop-down menu
containing groups of handwriting style ‘features’ that can be adjusted.
Further below are the features themselves.
To change a feature (e.g. Size), click to select one of the options in
rectangular boxes to the right of it (e.g. Small, Medium, or Large).
Selected options are highlighted in blue. The example image will update
accordingly for most features.
To view a different group of features, click on the drop-down menu and
choose another one.
The first group of handwriting features is called the Presets and is
different from the rest since each option presets a number of features in
the other groups (Noteheads, Accidentals, etc). These features
represent broad characteristics of a handwriting style such as its size,
spacing, slant, and smartness. When creating a new style, we
recommend adjusting the Presets before making more detailed changes
in other groups.
Note that if a Presets option is highlighted in a darker shade of blue, one
or more of the features it presets has been adjusted.
44
For a table describing the handwriting style features and some of the
various options available, see the reference chapter HANDWRITING
STYLE FEATURES at the back of this guide.
Once the style matches the handwriting style of the scores you wish to
PhotoScore, click Apply to keep the changes. Alternatively, click Cancel
to lose any changes. Finally, click OK in the Select handwritten music
style dialog box and scan/open the handwritten music as normal.

45
 AFTER PHOTOSCORING
Once you have scanned the score in, and the pages have been read and
edited, you can reformat it, extract parts, transpose, print, playback
and/or save the music for use in other music programs. In addition you
can send the music directly to Sibelius and even create files suitable for
burning to an audio CD.
Reformatting and extracting parts (not Lite version)
Important: All bad timing errors must be corrected before using either of
these features (for instructions on how to do this, see Editing rhythm and
key signatures in chapter 3. EDITING). We also recommend correcting
any other errors first as these features create a new score that is not
attached to the pages it was originally scanned from.
When creating the output score, PhotoScore automatically keeps to the
format of the scanned pages. If the original score was poorly laid out
(e.g. with notes or staves squashed together) or was written by hand,
you can quickly improve the formatting by choosing Notes>Rescore…
and clicking OK to the Rescore dialog box that appears. You will then
be given the opportunity to save the score with its original formatting (if
necessary) before the newly-formatted copy is created.
If you wish to reformat the score for a different page size or change it
from portrait to landscape or vice-versa, choose from the options under
Page size before clicking OK.
The Rescore dialog box can also be used to remove instrumental or
vocal parts from the score. This is useful when you need to create solo
parts from a full score. Alternatively, you may wish PhotoScore to
provide an accompaniment (see Playing below) while you practice your
own part.
To remove one or more staves from the score, click on their names in the
list of Staves and voices to include so that they are no longer
selected and highlighted in blue. Click on a staff name again to include it
once more. After clicking OK you are given the opportunity to save the
full score (if necessary). PhotoScore then creates a new score,
automatically reformatted to remove any gaps left by the removed
staves.

46
 It is also possible to remove voices from one or more staves. To do this,
click on the number of each voice next to the name of the staff it is on.
Click in the same place again to add one back in.
If you would like to change the vertical position of a staff in the score
(e.g. if you’ve changed the instrument it is to be performed by), use the
Up and Down arrow keys to change which staff in the list is highlighted
by the dotted outline. Then use the arrow buttons running down the left
hand side of the dialog box to move that staff up or down. Alternatively,
click on the staff name to highlight it with the dotted outline, reposition
the staff with the arrow buttons and then click on its name again to
select it.
Transposing
To transpose the score or an individual instrument, for example to bring it
within an easier-to-play/sing range, choose Notes>Transpose….
First select Whole Score or the instrument you want to transpose from
the top box. Then set the interval by which you want to transpose by
clicking Up or Down, and then choose the main interval from the right-
hand box.
In the left-hand box, Major/Perfect leaves the main interval unaltered,
Augmented adds a half-step (semitone), Minor/Diminished subtracts
a half-step.
Select Transpose key signatures if you wish the key signatures to be
transposed. This usually has the effect of reducing the number of
accidentals added to notes.
Printing (not Lite version)
You can print one or more pages of the output by choosing
File>Print…. You will be presented with a standard Windows or Mac
OS X print dialog which you should use in the normal way.
Playing
You can have the PhotoScored music played back to you. Your computer
will need a MIDI device (a component of most modern sound cards) and
relevant drivers installed to make use of this feature.
Display the page where you would like playback to commence. To play
from the beginning of the page, ensure that nothing is selected by
clicking on an area of the page with no notation, or by pressing Escape.
Then click the green triangular play button in the top-left corner of the
47
output score or choose Play/Pause from the Play menu or type Space.
Do the same again to pause playback (the play button will have become
a pause button) and once more to continue. Click on the blue stop
button next to the play button or choose Play>Stop or type Escape to
stop the music altogether.
While the music is playing, the currently played bar will be highlighted in
dark gray. PhotoScore will display consecutive pages as it plays through
them. When playback is paused, the bar that PhotoScore has reached
will remain highlighted.
To play from a particular position on a page, select a note or rest in the
bar that you would like playback to start from. PhotoScore will then
commence from the start of that bar. To play back one or more
instruments without the others, uncheck Always play whole system
in PhotoScore’s Advanced preferences (see PhotoScore Preferences in
the chapter ADVANCED FEATURES) and select notation in each staff
belonging to those instruments. Play back will begin from the start of the
first bar containing a selection.
Within the same preferences, check Ignore repeats if you would like
PhotoScore to ignore all repeat signs during playback.
Depending on the Espressivo, Swing and Reverb settings under the
Play menu, the playback will vary slightly (not Lite version). Refer to their
descriptions in Saving MIDI files later in this chapter.
To give a staff a different instrument sound, change its name by double-
clicking to the left of it and choosing Rename… from the dialog box.
To alter the tempo or dynamics add Tempo or Expression text from
the Create menu to the note on the score where you would like the
effect to begin (see Text in chapter 3. EDITING). If PhotoScore couldn’t
find a tempo marking during reading, it will have automatically added one
in red to the beginning of the score. Double- or right-click on it to change
it to the desired tempo.
Note: If you have more than one MIDI device the default will be used, but
this can be changed from the System Preferences (Mac) or Control
Panel (Windows). PhotoScore for Windows offers a shortcut Computer
audio properties… button in the General pane of the preferences
dialog.

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Saving
You can save your score to disk by clicking the Save button at the top of
the output window to open a standard save dialog box. You will be
asked what name to store the score as, and where to store it.
You can also choose what file type/format to save the score in, by
selecting a choice from the pop-up menu/combo box at the bottom of the
dialog box. Note that some formats store less information about the
scanned score than others (e.g. MIDI does not store specific slur,
articulation-mark, note-stem or beam-direction information). Also note
that not all music programs are able to open all the file formats listed.
Once saved, you can run your favorite music program, load the
PhotoScored music and use it like any other.
Note that if a score is closed without saving, the scanned pages within it
will be placed back into the Pending Pages section of the pages pane.

Sibelius users
To send your score to Sibelius, simply click the Send to Sibelius button
next to Save at the top of the output window to launch Sibelius. Within
Sibelius, a dialog will open asking you to choose instruments (Sibelius v3
and higher only) and the page size. After a second or two, the music will
pop up in another window as a Sibelius document.
Once the music is in Sibelius you can do anything you like to it, just as if
you had inputted it yourself.
Note: Versions of Sibelius earlier than v5 cannot import all of the musical
information from PhotoScore 6 files. Here is a table to summarize (details
listed in successive versions are not repeated):
• v1 and v2 cannot read files produced by PhotoScore 6 – you should
use an earlier version of PhotoScore.
• v3.0 to v3.x will not read percussion staves or scores containing more
than 2 voices. Later versions import files more accurately.
• v4.0 to v4.x will not read codas, segnos, ornaments, pedal markings,
repeat endings, fermatas on rests or cross-staff notes.
Saving PhotoScore (.opt) files
PhotoScore’s native file format (designed to store all scanned notation
information) has the .opt Windows file extension.

49
 Currently only PhotoScore and Sibelius can read this format. It is
recommended that you save longer works regularly in this format in the
unlikely event of a software or power failure.
You can open a PhotoScore file in PhotoScore by using the Open dialog
box.
Sibelius users
Scanned music files can be imported into Sibelius by opening them from
the standard Open dialog box.
If you have Sibelius version 3 or 4 installed (versions 1 and 2 will not work
with PhotoScore 6) you may find that it refuses to open files made from
PhotoScore 6. In this case you should find an additional file type in the
type/format drop-down box which allows PhotoScore files to be saved in
an older format that these versions of Sibelius can open.
Saving MusicXML & NIFF files
Save MusicXML and NIFF files if you want to open PhotoScore’s output in
a notation product other than Sibelius, for example Finale. Finale 2006
can open MusicXML files from the File menu. In Finale 2003 to 2005 use
the ‘Dolet Light’ plug-in to open MusicXML files.
Please check www.neuratron.com/fileformats.htm for the latest
information including which programs open these file formats.
Saving MIDI files
MIDI files were developed to store musical playback information, as
opposed to printed notation, and as a result have a few limitations when
it comes to storing scanned music. However, they are still very useful
since virtually every music-editing product can read this type of file.
Two options are available when saving a MIDI file: When Optimize for
playback is checked in the save dialog, the file is saved with repeats
and expression, swing, or reverb if selected for playback (not Lite
version). Check Create a track for each voice if you need to separate
voices into different MIDI tracks (not Lite version).
Please observe the following when saving MIDI files:
• If the MIDI file is to be imported into a music notation program,
Optimize for playback should be turned off to improve accuracy.
Otherwise it should be left on, as it improves the realism of playback.

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• Note-stem and beam-direction, end-of-stave & page positioning, staff
size, and multiple-voice-per-staff separation cannot be stored. If a
file is to end up in a separate music program, then the final results
are dependent on how that program interprets the music.
• Musical features such as slurs, clef changes, rests, articulation
marks, dotted notes, tuplets, dynamics, expression markings and ties
also cannot be stored as objects in a MIDI file. However, if they are
present PhotoScore will emulate them for playback. To clarify: If the
MIDI file is played back from a MIDI editing/playback program, the
features should be heard, but the features will not necessarily be
present if opened and displayed in a music notation program.
• Although features such as time signatures, key signatures, and text
(like lyrics and title, but not dynamics as these are used to emulate
changes in playback volume) are saved in a MIDI file, not all music
programs will necessarily use or display them. You may find there is
an option in your music program to ignore or make use of such
information.
• Instruments allocated to each staff are stored according to the
General MIDI standard. To give a staff a different instrument sound,
change its name by double-clicking to the left of it and choosing
Rename… from the dialog box. PhotoScore intelligently chooses
the correct MIDI instrument.
• (not Lite version) The file will be saved with expression for more
‘human’ playback, dependant on the current selection from the
Espressivo menu (under the Play menu). There are five different
degrees of expression for different styles of music:
Meccanico ('mechanical') plays the score absolutely literally, with
no dynamics or articulations except where marked.
Senza espress. ('without expression') adds only tiny fluctuations of
volume and slight accents at the start of bars and note-groups, with
no overall dynamic changes.
Poco espress. ('slight expression') has slight dynamics following
the contour of the music. Suitable for a fast, fairly mechanical style
(such as Baroque music).
Espressivo is the default option, with more dynamics added.

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 Molto espress. ('lots of expression') produces lots of expression,
which can be over the top for some kinds of music. It works well for
large groups of instruments, where it helps to separate the different
lines.
These effects may only be noticeable when the file is played back
from a MIDI editing/playback package.
• (not Lite version) If selected from the Play menu, the file will be
saved with ‘swing’ – a jazz convention in which two notated eighths
(quavers) are performed approximately as a triplet quarter-note plus
eighth-note (triplet crotchet plus quaver). The various swing options
are:
None – i.e. no swing.
Light / Standard / Heavy – for a small amount to almost triplets.
Notes Inégales – triplet quarter-note plus eighth-note (crotchet
plus quaver), used in some early music.
Dotted Eighths (quavers) – rarely used.
• (not Lite version) If selected from the Play menu, reverb (similar
effect to the echo you hear in a room) is added to playback. This can
be set to various presets between Dead and Cathedral, or a
percentage can be entered. Note that this feature will only work on
devices that respond to and recognize standard general MIDI reverb
messages.
• (not Lite version) PhotoScore also plays back appoggiaturas, or
grace notes. As these do not fit the regular timing of a bar, they are
played for around half the duration indicated, and the timing is taken
from the following note. If you hear strange effects or notes hanging
on, try shortening the notes to a quaver or less. If they are played
back with a normal note’s duration they are probably cue notes; you
can easily change them to appoggiaturas using the keypad – see
chapter 3. EDITING.
Saving Wave & AIFF files (not Lite version)
Windows users
• This feature requires Windows 98 or later and a full-duplex
soundcard – most modern soundcards are adequate. DirectX 8.1 or
later must also be installed – the latest version should be available
from Microsoft’s web site.
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 Save AIFF (Mac) or Wave (Windows) files if you want to burn your music
to audio CD or convert it to MP3 format (e.g. for playback on a portable
digital music player). Wave and AIFF files (with the file extensions .wav
and .aif) store music in a similar way to CDs and as such retain no
information regarding musical structure. The advantage gained is that
these files sound the same (allowing for speaker differences etc) no
matter what software or hardware they are played back from. The quality
of the output depends on the quality of your MIDI device - PhotoScore
effectively plays back your scanned music as MIDI and records it at the
same time (although you cannot hear the music). Saving a Wave or AIFF
file typically takes about the same amount of time as playing back the
entire score from PhotoScore.
Burning to audio CD (not Lite version)
Macintosh users
• It is possible to burn audio CDs using iTunes, available from Apple.
The following instructions should work if using version 4:
• Click File>New Playlist and type a suitable name for your CD.
Ensure the name you typed is highlighted on the left side of the
iTunes window by clicking on it if necessary.
• Click and drag your saved AIFF files from Finder onto the right-hand
side of the window.
• Insert a blank CD-R or CD-RW in your recordable CD drive.
• Click Burn Disc and wait while your CD is created.

Windows users
• It is possible to burn audio CDs using Windows Media Player,
available from Microsoft. The following instructions should work if
using version 10:
• Click File>CDs and Devices>Burn Audio CD…. (The menu bar
may not be displayed, in which case click the down pointing arrow
icon at the right of the title bar to display the menu).
• Click and drag your saved Wave files from Explorer onto the Burn
List on the left-hand side of the window.
• Insert a blank CD-R or CD-RW in your recordable CD drive.
• Click Start Burn and wait while your CD is created.

53
Converting to MP3 (not Lite version)
Macintosh users
• It is possible to convert AIFF files to MP3 format using iTunes,
available from Apple. The following instructions should work if using
version 4:
• Click File>New Playlist and enter a name for the collection of files
you want to convert. Ensure the name you typed is highlighted on the
left side of the iTunes window by clicking on it if necessary.
• Click and drag your saved AIFF files from Finder onto the right-hand
side of the window.
• Select the files you wish to convert and then click
Advanced>Convert Selection to MP3.
• Select one of the songs you have converted and click File>Show
Song File to display it in the Finder. From here you should be able to
copy and use the file as you need.

Windows users
• Unless you already own third party software for encoding MP3 files,
we recommend the use of LAME, a free open source MP3 encoder
from www.mp3-tech.org. Please note that Neuratron Ltd accepts no
responsibility for the use of this software or for any consequences
that may arise from the use of it.
Saving files containing rhythmic mistakes
If you save a file containing bars that don’t ‘add up’, bars that are too
short will be lengthened, and those that are too long will be shortened.
To do this, the lengths of the bars are compared with the prevailing time
signature. If a bar is too short, rests are simply inserted at the end. If a
bar is too long, it is shortened by omitting one or more notes/rests at the
end of the bar.
Although the lengths of the bars are adjusted like this, you are strongly
advised to correct faulty rhythms in PhotoScore in the first place rather
than trying to fix them in another music program afterwards, as it will
save you extra work.

54
Saving page and system format
Sibelius users
Sibelius uses Make Into System and Make Into Page
(Layout>Format submenu) to ensure that the format of the music is
the same as the original. However, if the notes seem uncomfortably
close together or far apart in the end result, try changing the staff size in
the Layout>Document Setup… dialog box. Alternatively, if you don’t
need the format of the music to match the original, select the whole
score (XA or Ctrl+A) and unlock the format (xXU or
Ctrl+Shift+U).
Saving multi-staff instruments
Sibelius users
PhotoScore treats all staves as separate instruments. This means that
multi-staff instruments such as keyboards will be sent to Sibelius as two
separately-named staves without a brace.
For many purposes you don’t need names to appear anyway, so you may
just want to alter the House Style setting of the score to switch them
off.
Alternatively, if you want to brace two keyboard staves together and give
them a single name, the easiest way to do it is to create another
keyboard in Sibelius (e.g. Piano), copy the music from the un-braced
keyboard onto the new braced one (using two staff passages), then
delete the un-braced keyboard.
The same procedure applies for multi-staff instruments such as Flutes
1+2, if you want them to be written as two sub-bracketed staves with a
single name.
If your original contains instruments that have a different number of
staves on different systems - e.g. strings that are sometimes divisi - then
see Advanced features.
Saving Bitmap (.bmp) and TIFF files
You may wish to save your original scanned page from PhotoScore, for
example to print copies, or to email to another person for proof reading
alongside the PhotoScored output:
• If the pages pane is not currently visible, select View>Toggle
Pages Pane.

55
 • Move the mouse over the page name in the pages pane that you
wish to save so that you see a thumbnail of the page.
• Click on the thumbnail or double-click on the page name to display
the original page in a window to the right.
• Click File>Save As… and enter the filename and path you wish to
save to and also choose whether to save as a TIFF or Windows
bitmap (Windows only) file from the Files of type drop-down menu.
The file saved will be 2 color black & white and be identical to the image
you see on screen, minus stave markings and at 100% zoom. Please note
that if you attempt to reopen this file in PhotoScore, it may complain
about it only being in two colors – do not worry about this as PhotoScore
has already processed the file to make it more suitable for reading music
from.

56
CLEANING UP
Sibelius users
Once you’ve finished PhotoScoring a piece of music and have sent it to
Sibelius, you end up with a Sibelius file, which you should save in the
normal way.
After you have edited and saved the output score it can be closed so that
you are able to start working on a new score.
Note that it is only possible to have one score open at a time in
PhotoScore.
Closing the output score
To close the output score, close the output window in the standard way
using File>Close score or by clicking the small cross button at the top
right.
If you forget to delete the output score before scanning the next piece of
music, the new pages you scan and read will be appended to the end of
the previous output score. However, you can delete the old pages
individually from the output score by selecting Edit>Delete Page from
the menu for each one.
Deleting unwanted scans
PhotoScore automatically saves each page you scan. This occupies a not
insignificant amount of hard disk space, so you should regularly delete
scans that have been read. You do not, however, have to delete the
scans before scanning the next piece of music.
To delete unwanted scans:
• If the pages pane is not currently visible, select View>Toggle
Pages Pane.
• Select the pages you wish to delete by clicking on the first and then
select further ones by holding down X or Ctrl (to add individual
pages) or Shift (to add a series of pages) whilst clicking.
• Click Remove on one of the selected pages. PhotoScore will then
ask you to confirm that you want to remove the pages before going
ahead. If the page is in the Read Pages area, for one week it will
still appear when the output score it is attached to is open. To

57
 remove all pages belonging to an entire score, click Remove to the
right of the score name in the Read Pages area.

58
 POSSIBLE PROBLEMS
Scanning takes a long time or won’t work
• If there are no signs of scanning happening - I.e. if after clicking on
the Scan or Preview button the scanner remains silent with no
lights moving or flashing - communication between the computer
and the scanner has probably been interrupted.
Check that the scanner is switched on and that the cable between it
and the computer is firmly connected at both ends. If this doesn’t
help, try reinstalling your TWAIN or WIA scanner driver software.
Windows users should note that some scanners need to be
switched on before the computer is turned on, otherwise they are
not detected.
• If PhotoScore crashes when trying to scan, or the scanned page
doesn’t look right - Try getting the latest version of the scanner driver
software from your dealer. Alternatively, select the TWAIN
scanning interface from the File>Scanner Setup… dialog box, and
try again.
Not all staves/systems are detected
If after scanning a page you find that not all staves are boldly highlighted
in blue, the incorrect number of stave lines is shown, or the staves are
not correctly joined into systems by a thick red vertical line, this may be
because:
• The original was not flat on the scanner glass: Always close the lid
when scanning, unless scanning a thick book. It may also help if you
press down gently on the scanner lid during scanning.
• The page was scanned at too low or too high a resolution (i.e. the
staves are smaller than you think): Check the staff size, alter the
scanner setting accordingly, and re-scan.
• You tried scanning a double-page spread: PhotoScore cannot read
both pages of a double-page spread (e.g. from a miniature score) at
once. Re-scan each of the pages separately. Ensure that the music
on the facing page is completely off the glass, or adjust the scanned
region so that it is not scanned - if any of it impinges on the scan,
PhotoScore may not read the music correctly.

59
 • The staves are not clear enough in the original to be detected: In this
case, you can tell PhotoScore where any missing staves are located
on the page - see the Advanced features section. Alternatively,
you can go ahead and read the page, but music on any undetected
staves will be ignored.
Reading takes a long time
• If you have text reading switched on, reading will take longer. It may
sometimes be faster to read the music without detecting text, and to
re-input it in a separate music program. Interrupt reading if
necessary (see below), switch the text reading option off, and then
read again.
• If the page was scanned without being flat on the glass or with the
lid open, you will get a black border around the page that may spread
across and obliterate some of the music. This can occasionally make
PhotoScore take an extremely long time to read the page. If this
happens, interrupt reading (see below), and then re-scan the page.
• If not all staves were detected after scanning (i.e. some were not
boldly highlighted in blue), this can slow reading down. See Not all
staves are detected.
Music reads inaccurately
If you find music seems to be reading very inaccurately, this may be
because:
• the original is printed and Read as Handwritten music is checked
in the pages pane.
• the original is handwritten and Read as Printed music is checked
in the pages pane.
• the original is of poor quality, e.g. a photocopy or an old edition;
• the music was scanned in black & white and was not straight
enough: It is recommended that you scan in shades of gray, unless
this causes the scan to end up looking too blocky or disjointed;
• the music was scanned at too low (less than 200dpi) or too high a
resolution (more than 400dpi). Try increasing or decreasing the
resolution the page is scanned at;
• the scanned page is too dark or light (when viewed at 100% many
symbols are blocky and joined to others, or note stems and staff lines

60
 are disjointed). Try scanning using the TWAIN interface (select from
File>Scanner Setup…) and manually adjusting the brightness;
• the original was not straight enough when scanned and Make
scans level was not selected in the PhotoScore Preferences
dialog box;
• the music symbol designs used in the original are of a non-standard
shape or size.
If PhotoScore repeatedly fails to read one page from a sequence of
pages, omit the page and insert the bars into the score manually using a
separate music program.
Handwriting recognition problems
If you are finding that PhotoScore fails altogether, or almost completely,
even on very simple clear handwritten music, check the following for
basic problems:
• Handwriting style: Check that the handwriting style you have told
PhotoScore to read matches the style of the handwritten music you
are scanning.
• Scanning resolution: Is your scanner set to scan at 300dpi? This
resolution is recommended for handwritten music. By all means
experiment with other resolutions to improve results that are already
good, but 300dpi is usually best.
• Image type: Make sure that your scanner is set to produce a
grayscale image. This is the type that PhotoScore prefers.
• Image quality: Check that your scan is a good, clean image with
everything clear and crisp and without any blotches. Also check that
there aren’t any variations in the tone or any areas of the image that
are missing.
Warning messages
Most of PhotoScore’s messages are self-explanatory: for instance, it will
warn you if you scan at an unsuitable resolution, or if your hard disk has
run out of space, and it will normally tell you what to do next.
If all else fails...
Please read the Frequently Asked Questions and technical support sheets
included with PhotoScore.
If you cannot find them, please contact your PhotoScore supplier.
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 ADVANCED FEATURES
PhotoScore has many features and options for more advanced use.
You are strongly recommended to familiarize yourself with this whole
section before embarking on any intensive scanning, such as
orchestral/band scores or scores with many pages.
Choosing between scanners
In the event that you have more than one scanner connected to your
computer, you can choose between multiple scanner drivers in Scanner
Setup… from PhotoScore’s File menu.
Scanning only one page
If you only need to scan one page into PhotoScore, click Scan One
Page… from PhotoScore’s File menu. This will perform the scanning
operation as usual, with the exception that PhotoScore will not prompt
for a new page at the end of the scan.
Adjusting detected staves/systems
When you scan a page, PhotoScore highlights staves it detects with bold
blue lines (thin blue lines if it is uncertain about the exact number of lines
or position), and joins them into systems with bold vertical red lines.
However, if the original is of poor quality some of the staves/systems
may not be detected and you should tell PhotoScore where they are,
otherwise the music will not be read correctly.
The easiest method of telling PhotoScore the position of a staff
which it has missed, is to select the nearest similar blue staff (by
clicking on it) and then to copy it by z–clicking or Alt-clicking over the
center line of the missing staff (the horizontal position is not important).
Alternatively, you can create a blue staff from scratch by clicking and
dragging it out with the (left) mouse button.
PhotoScore attempts to automatically ‘clip’ the staff in place as you drag,
by adjusting the position and size of it. It also recalculates the number of
stave lines present, unless X or Ctrl is held down. The text Aligned
will appear in green under the staff and the lines will embolden when
PhotoScore is confident about its position.
To tell PhotoScore that a staff contains a different number of
lines, select it and key the correct number between 1 and 6.
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If a highlighted staff is badly positioned, or it is not long enough,
the text May Require Manual Adjustment may be displayed beneath
it and you should use the following guidelines to aid PhotoScore:
• You can drag any staff up and down with the (left) mouse button.
• You can drag the ends of staves around, and even put them at an
angle.
• You can alter the height of any staff - pull the bottom rectangular
handle in the middle of the staff up or down. PhotoScore can read
pages that have a mixture of staff sizes, and each staff can have a
different size.
• The top circular handle allows you to change the curvature of the
staff. This is useful when scanning pages from thick books, where it
is not possible to prevent the page from being curved at the edges.
PhotoScore may not allow you to do this if it is already very confident
about the position of the staff.
It is important that staves are joined into systems properly, as this cannot
be corrected after reading. If staves are not joined into systems correctly
use these guidelines:
• To join two adjacent staves together into the same system,
click on one staff so it becomes selected, then z-click or Alt-click
the other staff. They will be joined near the left-hand end by a thick
vertical (or near-vertical) red line.
• To separate two joined staves into two separate systems, do exactly
the same as for joining two staves.
PhotoScore automatically guesses whether staves should be joined
together or not when new ones are created, or existing ones are
repositioned.
Also check that the stave is marked with the correct number of stave
lines. PhotoScore reads 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 line staves (5 and 6 line staves
only in Lite version), and automatically recognizes the type of staves
present (e.g. normal, guitar TAB or percussion). However, very
occasionally it will detect the wrong number of lines and you should try
dragging the staff around slightly until PhotoScore recognizes correctly.
If any scanned staff is left with no blue staff on top of it, the scanned
staff and any music on it will be ignored when the page is read. This can
slow reading down but is otherwise harmless.
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 If you’ve messed up editing the staves you can ‘undo’ an action by
pressing XZ or Ctrl+Z. You can reverse an undo (called ‘redo’) by
pressing XY or Ctrl+Y. If you want to start again, X-double-click or
Ctrl+double-click the scan, and PhotoScore will reset the blue
highlighted staves to their original positions.
Scan window options
There are various further options and buttons available on the scan
window:
• Clicking the Read this page button reads just the displayed scan.
Clicking the arrowed part of the button opens a menu that lets you
choose where in the output score to insert this page once it has
been read. The page is moved to the top of the pending pages list in
the pages pane whilst reading, to ensure it is the next page to be
read. This also temporarily cancels any other reading taking place.
• The Arrow buttons display the previous or next page in the list of
scanned pages.
• The magnifying glass icon zooms the page to fit the window; 50
zooms to 50%; 100 zooms to 100%. See the View menu for other
ways to zoom.
• Upside-down quickly rotates the page by 180 degrees, in case it
was scanned the wrong way up.
• On side quickly rotates the page by 90 degrees anti-clockwise, in
case it was scanned on its side.
• Re-scan allows the page to be re-scanned.
Omitted staves
In scores for many instruments, particularly orchestral scores, unused
staves are often omitted.
• If you need to correct the recognized instrument names at the start
of the score, on subsequent systems PhotoScore will allocate
instruments to staves in order from the top down. Hence, if a page
omits an instrument from one system, then in the output window
some of the staves may have the wrong names.
In this situation, first ensure you have already correctly named all the
instruments used anywhere in the score so they are easily
identifiable: Double-click on the area to the left of any staff and then

64
 go through the list of instruments in the dialog box that appears,
renaming any if necessary by selecting it and clicking Rename….
Then go through each incorrectly allocated staff in the output
window (from top to bottom), right-clicking over the existing
instrument name to the left of the staff in question and choosing the
correct instrument from the menu that appears. If you are unable to
select a particular instrument, it is probably because the ordering of
the instruments is not correct, and should be changed by following
the instructions in Instruments/staves introduced after the start
(below).
On any system that has staves omitted you will probably have to correct
several instrument names like this. Do it with care otherwise confusion
may arise.
Multi-staff instruments
For multi-staff instruments such as keyboards and divided wind and
strings, PhotoScore treats each staff as a separately named instrument.
Wherever any of the instrument’s staves are omitted, follow Omitted
staves (above).
N.B. If the number of staves for the instrument increases (say from 1 to
2) during the score, and the second staff has not occurred before, treat it
by following Instruments/staves introduced after the start (below).
Instruments/staves introduced after the start
Some scores include instruments or staves that are not shown on the
first system.
When this happens you should do the following:
• First, ensure PhotoScore knows about the existence of all staves for
all instruments (PhotoScore treats staves for multi-staff instruments
separately):
Double-click over the area to the left of any staff so that a dialog box
appears. Then ensure the name of each instrument is correct – if it
needs changing select it and click Rename…. If there are not
enough instruments listed, click New... to add new ones. Ensure
they are listed in the order they would appear if they were all written
in one system: To reorder one, select it and use the yellow up and
down arrows to the left of the list (these work in the same way as
those in the Scanned pages dialog box – see above). It is
65
 possible to remove from the list any instruments that have not been
allocated by clicking Delete. Click Close when you have finished.
• Then go through each staff in the output window (from top to
bottom), right-clicking to the left of it and choosing the appropriate
instrument name from the menu. If you are unable to select a
particular instrument, it is probably because the ordering of the
instruments is not correct, and should be changed by following the
instructions in the previous paragraph.
You must do this with care otherwise a lot of confusion can arise.
Reading slurs / hairpins (not Lite version) / ties
To toggle slur/tie/hairpin reading, open PhotoScore’s preferences dialog
box and click on Reading. Click Ties, Slurs and Hairpins to
select/deselect it and then click OK. If Display these options before
reading is selected in the preferences, you will be given the opportunity
to update the reading preferences at the start of each read.
Reading appoggiaturas and cue notes (not Lite version)
Appoggiatura (also known as grace note) and cue note recognition can
be switched on/off from the PhotoScore Preferences dialog box, as
for slurs / hairpins / ties – see above.
If you find PhotoScore has recognized a cue note as an appoggiatura (or
vice versa), you can correct this from the keypad – see chapter 3.
EDITING. You can normally check for these mistakes by looking for bars
containing rhythmic errors (marked with horizontal red dashed lines
above and below).
Reminder: An appoggiatura’s duration is not included in the rhythm of a
bar, whereas a cue note’s duration is. Both look similar, written as
smaller sized notes, but you can tell the difference from the keypad.
Reading text (not Lite version)
Text reading can be switched on/off from the PhotoScore Preferences
dialog box, as for the above options.
In addition, the Advanced… button lets you choose which text types
PhotoScore will attempt to read, and also which language is to be read.
The language selected alters the way PhotoScore reads text in the
following ways:

66
 • Instrument names are expected to be in that language, and will be
recognized more accurately if they are.
• Extra language-dependant characters are more likely to be recognized
(such as ä, é, ò etc.)
• PhotoScore looks for language-specific features of words, to improve
accuracy.
More languages are available for download from the Internet by clicking
More online….
300dpi is the optimum resolution for text recognition.
Sibelius users
When reading text, PhotoScore automatically guesses its type (e.g. title,
lyrics, technique). When the music is sent to Sibelius each text object is
set to the default font and size for its type.
Performance mode
Performance mode can be selected from the output window’s toolbar,
the View>Performance Mode menu item, or by typing XM or
Ctrl+M.
In performance mode the output score is displayed full screen and
formatted so that it is easily read from a small distance. Pages are split in
sensible positions where necessary and using the cursor keys allows you
to turn to different pages or sections of pages. You can alternatively use
foot controlled page turning devices like the Bili Footime Page Turner.
This allows you to perform from your computer’s monitor and quickly and
easily change page using your foot whilst you are playing.
Performance mode can be switched off by clicking with the mouse or
keying Escape or XM or Ctrl+M.
PhotoScore preferences
The PhotoScore Preferences dialog box can be opened from the
toolbar or the application (Mac) or File (Windows) menu. The
preferences are divided into four categories – Scanning, Reading,
Editing and Advanced. You can select a different category by clicking
the appropriate title at the left (Mac) or top (Windows) of the dialog box.
Scanning – Interface
See chapter 1. Scanning for an explanation of the three scanning
interfaces.
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Scanning – Automation
• Make scans level: With this switched on, PhotoScore will work out
the angle of a scan, and then rotate it so that the staves are level. It
is recommended that this is left selected.
• Read pages after scanning/opening: With this switched on,
PhotoScore will automatically begin reading pages after they are
scanned in or opened from files.
Reading – Handwritten / Printed
• Read as handwritten music: When selected, PhotoScore is able
to read handwritten music. It is highly important that this is switched
on when scanning handwritten music (Ultimate version only) and off
when scanning printed music otherwise accuracy will suffer
considerably. Click Style… to change the handwriting style that
PhotoScore is set to read.
Reading – What to read
• Ties, Slurs (and Hairpins if printed music): See Reading
slurs/hairpins/ties (above).
• Articulation marks (not Lite version, printed music only) : This does
not slow reading down much, so we suggest you leave this on.
• Appoggiaturas and cue notes (not Lite version, printed music
only) : Unless these smaller sized notes are often picked up
incorrectly, or you wish PhotoScore to read slightly more quickly, we
suggest you leave this on. Also see Reading appoggiaturas and cue
notes (above).
• Guitar chord diagrams (not Lite version, printed music only) : This
does not slow reading down much, so we suggest you leave this on.
• Text (dynamics, lyrics etc.) (not Lite version, printed music only) :
See Reading text (above).
• Tuplets (includes advanced rhythm detection): With this option
switched on, tuplets/triplets are recognized/calculated (Lite version –
simple triplets only). This option also makes PhotoScore attempt to
correct any musical errors after reading (not Lite version): If a time
signature is missing, it tries to guess what it is. If successful, it
inserts one at the start of the page; it will be colored red as a
warning for you to check it. Furthermore, PhotoScore analyzes the
music it has read, and attempts to correct any rhythmic mistakes
68
 using general musical rules. Although this will generally increase
accuracy, if you are scanning scores with unusual timing it may be
best left off.
• Transposing scores (not Lite version) : With this option switched
on, PhotoScore is able to read transposing instruments with different
key signatures for each staff, otherwise they are all set to be equal.
Editing - Formatting
• Automatic page margins: This ensures that a sensible margin is
always present around each page of the score, so that it looks
attractive when printed out.
Editing – Output window
• Attach scanned staff panel to current staff: In the output
window, this puts the original scanned staff panel just above the
highlighted staff instead of at the top of the window. This means you
have to move your eyes less when comparing the output with the
original, but the effect can be confusing. We recommend you leave
this option off until you are used to editing music in PhotoScore.
• Drag paper by: This can either be set to Dragging or Holding
Command/Shift and Dragging. If the former is selected, then
dragging music around the screen is done with only the mouse, and
selecting an area of music is done by dragging with the mouse but
with the X (Command) or Shift key held down. If the latter option
is selected then these operations are reversed.
• Keypad layout: Choose either the standard Sibelius keypad layout,
or PhotoScore’s ‘flat’ version offering all buttons at once.
Advanced – Playback
• You can select the MIDI playback device PhotoScore uses for playing
back from the drop down box (not Mac version).
• System playback properties… (not Mac version) : Clicking here
opens your computer’s audio properties dialog box so that you can
change playback settings etc.
• Ignore repeats: When this is checked, PhotoScore will ignore all
repeat signs in the score during playback.
• Always play whole system: Uncheck this option if you would like
PhotoScore to only play back those instruments whose staves

69
 contain notation you have selected. Playback will start from the
beginning of the first bar that contains a selection.
Advanced – Miscellaneous
• Display splash screen at startup: When switched on, the
PhotoScore splash screen is displayed at program startup.
• Autosave backup file: Here it is possible to specify the time
interval at which PhotoScore saves your current score to a special
‘backup’ file. In the unlikely event that your computer crashes,
PhotoScore will offer you the possibility of opening this file the next
time it is opened, so as to limit any loss of work.
If you change any of these options and click OK, they will remain in the
new settings until you change them again. Clicking Cancel returns them
to their original settings when the dialog box was opened.

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HANDWRITING STYLE FEATURES
The following table lists all the handwriting style features that can be
adjusted to describe to PhotoScore the style of handwritten music it is to
read. (The options available for each feature are listed only where the
description of them is not obvious.)
Feature Options Description
Presets Notehead
type
Quarter rest Zee The most common style of
type quarter rest
Tailed Drawn as a backwards
eighth rest
Tailed A more elaborate form of
(elaborate) tailed quarter rest
Pen type
Size
Spacing
Slant
Smartness
Noteheads Bulb heads Whether bulb noteheads are
used
Oblique Whether oblique noteheads
heads are used
Italic heads Whether italic noteheads are
used
Head Attached All noteheads are attached to
attachment only their stems
And Some noteheads are
detached detached from their stems
And very Some noteheads are very
detached detached from their stems
Detached Size of noteheads that are
head size detached from their stems
Offside bulb Whether bulb noteheads are
heads not always drawn on the
conventional side of the stem
Bulb head The width of bulb noteheads
prominence compared to the width of the
stems they are attached to

71
 Bulb head How well bulb noteheads are
attachment attached to their stems
Bulb head Whether bulb noteheads are
slant slanted and, if so, by how
much
Half note Size of holes within half note
hole size noteheads
Half note Size of half note noteheads
size
Allow head Whether there are noteheads
outliers not on leger lines that are a
small distance above or
below the staff
Attached Whether solid noteheads
solid heads (quarter note or shorter) are
particularly wide
Leger solid How wide solid noteheads
head width are compared to the leger
lines they are on
Accidentals Overlap Whether any accidentals
stems overlap note stems
Size
Vertical Accuracy of vertical
positioning positioning of accidentals
relative to their noteheads
Horizontal How close accidentals are
positioning drawn to their noteheads
Rests Block rest Width of half rests and whole
width rests
Block rest Height of half rests and
height whole rests
Quarter rest See descriptions under
style Presets above
Tailed rest Size of rests with a duration
size of an eighth note or less
Tailed rest Slant of rests with a duration
slant of an eighth note or less
Unbeamed Features of notes that are
notes not beamed to any other
notes
Stem length
Stem slant

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 Tail length
Beamed Features of notes that are
notes beamed to other notes
Bowed Whether beams are slightly
beams curved
Beam
thickness
Messy beam Whether there are parts of
groups some beamed groups of
notes that are unclear
Messy stem Whether the ends of stems
ends nearest to their detached
noteheads are messy (e.g.
are a blob of ink)
Stem slant
Beam gap Distance between beams
Fractional Distance of fractional beam
beam size from the beam directly above
it and its length
Stem length
Inside stem Length of stem between the
length notehead and beam that are
closest to each other on a
note/chord
Beam fit How much stems and beams
under- or over-run each other
Leger lines Clear ends Whether the left and right
ends of ledger lines are clear
of other markings
Vertical Vertical distance between
spread leger lines
Straightness
Width
Thickness
General Density How closely written all
notes, rests, and other
musical symbols are
Detail Determines how short a line
PhotoScore will consider as
belonging to a musical
symbol
Stroke type Thickness of pen stroke
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 Overlapping Helps PhotoScore to cope
with overlapping notes,
rests, and other musical
symbols
Rigour Sets how meticulous
PhotoScore is in its
recognition
Fragmentati How much musical symbols
on are broken up
Stroke Sharp Sharp sensitivity to pen
sensitivity strokes
Soft Soft sensitivity to pen strokes
Note-less Tells PhotoScore whether to
left margin skip the beginning of each
staff and by how much –
useful in preventing
PhotoScore from being
confused by clefs and key
signatures which it cannot
read
Notation Heads per The maximum number of
stem noteheads per stem that
PhotoScore should look for
Voices per The predominant number of
staff voices per staff
Bidirectional Whether there are beams
beams with stems that point in
opposite directions
Minimum The shortest length of
note unbeamed note that
PhotoScore should look for
Minimum The shortest length of
beamed beamed note that
note PhotoScore should look for
Minimum The shortest length of rest
rest that PhotoScore should look
for

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 KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
XA or Ctrl+A Select all objects
XC or Ctrl+C Copy object to clipboard
XF or Ctrl+F Find and replace
XX or Ctrl+X Cut object to clipboard
XV or Ctrl+V Paste object from clipboard
XZ or Ctrl+Z Undo last editing action
XY or Ctrl+Y Redo last undone editing action
F7 Display Common notes Keypad layout
F8 Display More notes Keypad layout
F9 Display Beams Keypad layout
F10 Display Articulation Keypad layout
F12 Display Accidentals Keypad layout
Tab Select next object
Shift+Tab Select previous object
Cursor left/right Select previous/next object
Xor Ctrl+cursor left/right Select first object in previous/next bar
Shift+cursor left/right Extend selection to previous/next object
Xor Ctrl+Shift+cursor left/right Extend selection to previous/next barline
Delete or Backspace Delete selected object(s)
Xkeypad+ or Ctrl+keypad+ Zoom in to display
Xkeypad- or Ctrl+keypad- Zoom out of display
Q (Windows) Display clef menu
K (Windows) Display key signature menu
L (Windows) Display line menu
T (Windows) Display time signature dialog box
Alt+B (Windows) Display multi-rest dialog box
H (Windows) Create crescendo
Shift+H (Windows) Create diminuendo
S (Windows) Create slur (above staff)
Shift+S (Windows) Create slur (below staff)
Ctrl+Alt+T (Windows) Create tempo text
XL or Ctrl+L Create lyrics text
XB or Ctrl+B Create bar rest
Shift+K (Windows) Create chord diagram
XK or Ctrl+K Create chord symbol
X2to 9 or Ctrl+2to 9 Create tuplet of typed number
2 to 9 Normal staff: Higher interval to add to note
Shift+2to 9 Normal staff: Lower interval to add to note

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0 to 9 Tablature staff: Fret number of selected note
X Flip selected note’s stem
Cursor up/down Normal staff: Move note up/down
Tablature staff: Select note above/below in chord
Alt+cursor up/down Select note above/below in chord
P (Windows) Play/pause score

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 GLOSSARY
Bitmap (.bmp)
TIFF (.tif) file formats saved by PhotoScore Ultimate and other scanning
programs that contain basic scanned image information. These files do
not contain any musical information as such, only the grid of black and
white dots that make up the image.
dpi dots per inch - the unit of scanning resolution. The more dpi you scan
at, the higher the resolution is, and the more detailed the resulting scan.
200dpi to 400dpi is a normal range of resolutions for scanning music;
higher resolutions such as 600dpi are often used for scanning photos and
graphics.
grayscale shades of gray.
MIDI a standard specifically designed for the communication and storage of
the data that a music sequencer records and plays. Also a file format
(.mid) saved by PhotoScore that can be opened by most music programs.
MusicXML (.xml)
NIFF (.nif) file formats saved by PhotoScore Ultimate which can be opened
by various notation programs. See www.neuratron.com/fileformats.htm.
Scanned music (SCMS/.opt) the special music file format designed by
Neuratron to store PhotoScored music pages, and to make it easier to
transfer such music to music notation programs such as Sibelius.
OCR optical character recognition; usually applied to scanning text, but also
to music.
original the page or score you are scanning from.
output music which has been read from scans.
read to work out what all the notes and other symbols in the scan are.
resolution the level of detail at which a page is scanned; measured in dpi.
scan the image produced when a page has been scanned. In PhotoScore,
scans are always displayed with a buff background.
scanner driver the program which tells the computer what type of scanner
you have; analogous to a printer driver. They generally conform to one of
two standards – TWAIN or WIA (Windows only).

77
SCSI (pronounced ’scuzzy’) a standard for connecting scanners, hard disk
drives and other devices to computers. Requires a SCSI card and SCSI
cable (which are analogous to a MIDI card and MIDI cable).
TWAIN a ‘translator’ between scanners and scanning software.
USB a standard for connecting scanners, mice, web-cams and other
devices to computers. Requires a USB port and USB cable (which are
analogous to a MIDI card and MIDI cable).
Wave (.wav)
AIFF (.aif) file formats saved by PhotoScore Ultimate which can be opened
by various audio programs and which can easily be converted to MP3 or
burned to audio CD.
WIA a Windows-only ‘translator’ between scanners and scanning software.

78
LICENSE AGREEMENT
This license states the terms and conditions upon which the Software is licensed to
you. By using or attempting to use the Software‘s installation CD or by
returning the registration card or registering the Software with The
Developer by any other means, you are agreeing to become bound by the
terms of this License. If you do not agree to these terms, return the entire
contents of the software package intact and unused to your supplier.
1. Definitions
The ‘Developer’ means Neuratron Limited. The ‘Software’ means Neuratron
PhotoScore Ultimate or Neuratron PhotoScore Lite, whichever product this license
was included with. The ‘Documentation’ means the Neuratron PhotoScore Ultimate
or Neuratron PhotoScore Lite user guide.
2. License
The Developer grants you a personal non-transferable non-exclusive license, as
follows:
(a) You may install and use a single copy of the Software on one stand-alone
computer system, and will ensure that the Software is not installed or used on
more than one stand-alone computer system at a time.
(b) You will not copy or attempt to copy the Software‘s installation CD in
whole or in part. You will be deemed personally responsible for any illegal copies
of the Software, or files created by it, which bear your Software‘s product id number
or are otherwise traceable to your copy of the Software.
(c) You may install a single copy of the Software on another stand-alone computer
system if and only if you first delete the Software from the computer on which it was
previously installed.
(d) You will not decompile or otherwise attempt to reveal the source code or
operation of the Software.
(e) You will not modify, adapt, rent, lease, loan, resell, distribute or create derivative
works based on the Software or any part thereof unless expressly permitted above
or in the Documentation.
(f) You will not copy the Documentation in whole or in part or store it in a retrieval
system in any form, photocopying, recording, electronic or otherwise.
3. Term
This License is effective until you terminate it:
(a) by destroying your copy of the Software and Documentation, or
(b) by failing to comply with the conditions of this License.
4. Limited Warranty and Disclaimer
(a) The Developer warrants that the CD on which the Software is supplied is free
from physical defects in materials and workmanship. The Developer will replace a
defective CD if returned. You must fill in, sign and return the enclosed
registration form or register the Software with the Developer by some
other means in order to be eligible for this warranty.
(b) The Software is supplied ‘as is‘ without warranty as to its specification except
that it is of merchandisable quality.
(c) The Developer will not be liable for any damage, loss of profits, goodwill or for
any indirect or consequential loss arising from any use or misuse of the Software,
even if the Developer has been advised of the possibility of such loss.
These conditions supersede any prior agreement between you and the Developer
relating to the Software.
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