Tip #24 - Quick Ways to Access and Start MusEdit

When you install MusEdit an icon is installed on your Start menu under the "Programs" category. This is the normal procedure for newly installed software, but it's not particularly convenient. Windows provides some great alternatives for accessing MusEdit (or any other program) however.

1) Put a shortcut to MusEdit on your desktop

To do this, first open your MusEdit folder (eg. with Explorer) by going to your C: drive, then open the "Program Files" folder, then open the "MusEdit" folder. Find the icon for MusEdit, which will be called either "MusEdit" or "MusEdit.exe". Choose the one which looks like a sheet of music, NOT the one which looks like a little book (the book is the MusEdit help file).

Now, to put a shortcut to MusEdit on your desktop drag the correct MusEdit icon (the sheet of music) onto your desktop with the LEFT mouse button. (In Windows, when you drag a program icon with the LEFT button it is automatically assumed that you want to create a shortcut). A icon very similar to the original should appear on your desktop, but with a small arrow in the bottom left corner which indicates this is a Shortcut to MusEdit, not the actual program itself. But this shortcut behaves just like the real thing, so double clicking on it will start MusEdit.

The icon will probably be called "Shortcut to MusEdit.exe". You may want to change this to "MusEdit" by making sure the icon is selected (highlighted) -click on the icon ONCE if it's not selected- then hit the F2 key (top of your keyboard) then type the simpler name.

2) Put a shortcut to MusEdit on your main Start menu.

Having a shortcut on your desktop is sometimes a problem because when you have many windows open the shortcut can be covered and hard to get to. You can easily put the shortcut on your Start menu however, by simply dragging the shortcut you created in (1) with the LEFT mouse button and float it directly over the word "Start" on the Start menu, then let go of the mouse button.

Now when you click on Start you'll see the MusEdit icon right on the main Start menu - you no longer have to go into "Programs" to find the MusEdit icon.

3) Assign a Hot Key combination to start MusEdit

This is a more "advanced" tip, but try it if you like...

Find the shortcut to MusEdit which you created in step (1) and click on it ONCE with the RIGHT mouse button, and select "Properties" (bottom item on menu of choices). When the Properties dialog opens, select the "Shortcut" tab.

Notice the field called "Shortcut Key". Click in this field and then hold down the Ctrl, Shift, or Alt key and you'll see the "None" change to "Ctrl + Alt + ". Windows is waiting for you to type a key which will be the Shortcut to activate MusEdit. For example, if you type "M" then in future whenever you hit the key combination "Ctrl+Alt+M" MusEdit will start - BUT "M" MAY NOT BE A GOOD CHOICE!

Why? Many Ctrl+Alt+__ key combinations are already used by MusEdit for shortcuts to various MusEdit actions! If you use "M", for example, then when you want to set MIDI instruments by hitting Ctrl+Alt+M Windows will override the hotkey and start another instance of MusEdit! For this reason it would be better to use an obscure key -even something like [ ] ; / etc. I will be adding more features to MusEdit, and using up more hot key combinations, but I'm pretty sure I won't be using any of these punctuation marks. Of course if you don't plan to use Ctrl+Alt+M to access MIDI instruments in MusEdit feel free to go ahead and use that combination.

By the way, if you've chosen option (2) you will no longer need to have the shortcut on your desktop, and you can select it and hit "Delete" to remove it if you wish. Don't worry - when you do this you are not deleting the MusEdit program, just the shortcut to the program!

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