DocumentationViewing & Review

Viewing & Review

This guide covers score display, canvas navigation, and revision comparison.

View modes

Switch how the score flows from the view menu / status bar:

  • Page — paginated pages exactly as they'll print. Best for final proofreading and publishing.
  • Horizon — one continuous galley that scrolls horizontally. Best for fast note entry and reading long passages without page breaks getting in the way.
  • Spread — facing pages, for checking page turns.

The same score can look subtly different between view modes because each uses a layout strategy tuned to its job; page mode is the source of truth for print.

Input Action
Mouse wheel / trackpad Scroll vertically
Shift + wheel Scroll horizontally
Ctrl + wheel Zoom toward the pointer
Middle‑drag Pan the viewport
Pinch Zoom (trackpad / touch)

Keyboard zoom: Ctrl+= in, Ctrl+- out, Ctrl+0 to reset the viewport. Ctrl+\ toggles the side panels for a distraction‑free view.

Share a read-only preview

To share a score without starting a live editing session:

  1. Create a public or secret GitHub Gist containing exactly one .mnx file.
  2. In Viritura, choose File > Share.
  3. Paste the main Gist URL.
  4. Leave revision pinning off to follow future Gist edits, or enable it to keep the preview fixed at the current revision.
  5. Create and copy the Viritura preview link.

The preview provides score-view controls, playback, an MNX download, and a link to the source Gist. It cannot modify the author's document.

A secret Gist is unlisted, not private. Anyone with the link can open or forward it, and the Gist exposes its GitHub author and revision history. Use live collaboration for an editing session; do not use a Gist preview for material that requires identity-based access control.

Review version history

Review opens with a Before and After score. The Changes tab summarizes added, removed, and modified musical items and provides a semantic diff tree. Select a node in that tree to focus the affected measure in both scores.

Use the Versions tab to choose the comparison:

  • selecting a saved version compares it with its parent;
  • Working tree compares unsaved changes;
  • Change on either endpoint lets you choose an explicit Before or After revision;
  • versions are grouped into dated editing sessions, with older history loaded in batches.

A few things to know:

  • The two score panes share a synchronized viewport — scroll or zoom one and the other follows.
  • A concert/written‑pitch toggle re‑renders both panes without touching the document.
  • Click a changed measure to focus it in both panes.
  • Scores only keeps the visual comparison full-height. Scores and MNX source adds either changed snippets or the full file; full-file source can render side by side or inline.
  • When a GitHub remote is connected, the history footer can check for new versions, push local commits, and open the repository. Projects without a remote can create and connect one there after GitHub sign-in.

The semantic diff identifies musical changes such as a revised slur or dynamic.

For selection and notation navigation, see Notation & Editing. See Keyboard & Mouse for the complete reference.

For real-time sessions, see Collaboration. For proposed document changes from external clients, see MCP.