The File menu

New. Save current music. Saves the contents of the current edit window in the "Songworks" format used by Ars Nova products.

Save current music as... Save the current music under a different name (creates a new file under the new name).

Page setup... Needed before any print or print preview.

Print current music... Prints the contents of the current edit window. You should first use the page preview command to see what the layout will be, and then adjust the music as necessary. In particular you might want to use the Score Height Control to adjust spacing of staff systems.

Page preview... See what your music will look like in printed form. You can leave a preview window open while making changes in the edit window.

Set page margins.For the printed page.

Check for updates via the internet. If you have an internet connection this will check with Ars Nova to see if a program update is available. Most of these are free; occasionally there may be a notice for a major paid upgrade. If an update is available you can choose to download it right away or wait for another time.

Instructor options.These options are accessible in the Standard and Site Editions but only if you are signed in as the instructor.

Create or Edit an activity You can create new learning activities or alter almost anything about an existing one.

View individual student reports This displays a progress report window for the selected student - the same type of report window the student sees when viewing a progress report. You'll be asked to choose which student files to view.

Print individual student reports. Prints the same reports you see with the above command.

Prepare class report. This kind of report includes the work of every student in a chosen student folder, and goes into more detail. Each group report covers specifically one chosen level of one chosen activity, and for each student reports the scores, times, and error counts for each of the six "sublevels" in the activity. If an activity is set up so that each sublevel contains different types of material, you can see from this which material is giving the most trouble.

An option in the Class Report window allows you to export report data to a spreadsheet or a database program such as FileMaker. You can see the format of that data here.

Clear student passwords. Because students will sometimes forget them. This clears the password of selected files.

Set server location. This is useful if you have the program installed on multiple workstations and want to keep just the student files on a central fileserver. It also can be used on campus-wide networks if students have personal "Student Edition CDs" and you'd like to direct the program to keep their student files on a central networked server. For more details please see Organizing student files.

Create new student files. You'll be asked to enter an authorization number (or nothing if you only need the 4 files provided with the Standard Edition) and then you'll be asked to open any file in the destination folder. The usual file dialog will appear, and you should navigate to the desired Practica Musica Students folder, whereever it happens to be, select any file it contains, and press the Open button. This of course requires that you initially have a file already present in the student folder - typically this will be the instructor file, or the visitor file if this is a site license, or any other student file that's already present. The program will then know to place the newly created files in the same place as the one you chose. More information is here.

Enter or change WebStudents account. If you have a WebStudents account you can enter one in this window and then use the "Save settings for all students" command to automatically enter that account in all the student files using this copy of Practica Musica.

Display "paused" alert after period of inactivity. In a school lab it may happen that a student will leave a computer with the program still running and his or her student file still "signed in." This option will help to warn the next student that a previous one is still signed in, so that the new student will know to sign in under the correct name. The "paused" alert displays a button with the name of the signed-in student and another that one can use to change to a new student. If you are using the program in a private setting this option is not needed.

Save current option and account settings for all students. This saves the current settings to the Practica Musica Preferences file in the Practica Musica Folder, and also instructs the program to override the personal preferences of every student using this copy of the program. The next time a student launches this copy of Practica Musica that student's personal file will adopt the settings you have chosen, including the WebStudents account name if any. Thereafter the student can again modify personal preferences as desired, but this is a good way to get everyone on the same page.

Quit. Does just what you think.

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