# Apple Pencil and keyboard

Write on the score with Apple Pencil without entering annotation mode, have handwritten fingerings recognized, and remap the reader's keyboard shortcuts.

> Type: How-to · Status: Beta · Platforms: iPadOS 17+ · Last reviewed: 2026-07-18

## Apple Pencil on the score

With a score open, touching the page with the Pencil draws immediately — no annotation mode to enter first. Your finger keeps its normal role: pan, zoom, and turn pages. The Pencil writes; the hand navigates.

Two switches in Page Turner's Settings screen, under the **Accessibility** section, control this. Both are on by default:

- `Draw with Apple Pencil anytime` — the behavior above. Switch it off and the Pencil only draws inside annotation mode, like a finger.
- `Recognize handwritten fingerings` — turns handwriting into score data as you write (details below). Switch it off and the Pencil is pure ink: the score never reacts to your strokes.

> **Limit** — Both toggles assume an Apple Pencil already paired to a compatible iPad. Page Turner has no Pencil pairing of its own; if the Pencil doesn't work in other apps, pair it in the iPad's settings first.

### What handwriting recognition does

With `Recognize handwritten fingerings` on:

- **Write a digit 1–5 on or near a note** — it becomes a typeset fingering on that note, replacing your handwriting.
- **Scribble over an existing fingering** — it's erased.
- **Scribble over a Roman-numeral harmony label** (from the Analysis feature) — the label at that spot is changed or deleted.

Anything else you write — circles, breath marks, reminders in the margin — stays as ink, untouched.

## Turn pages from any keyboard

The reader listens to fixed page-turn keys from any connected hardware keyboard — including a Bluetooth page pedal, which is a keyboard as far as the iPad is concerned (see [Hands-free control](hands-free.md) for pedal pairing):

- **Right arrow**, **Page Down**, or **Space** — next page.
- **Left arrow** or **Page Up** — previous page.

These five keys are fixed; the `Shortcuts` list below remaps other reader actions, not page turns. They keep working while a panel or popover is open over the score — you don't have to close anything to keep turning.

> **Limit** — While you're typing in a text field (a search bar, a piece name), every reader key types instead of acting — Space inserts a space, it doesn't turn the page. Dismiss the field or the on-screen keyboard and the keys take over again.

## Reader keyboard shortcuts

Every main reader action has a hardware-keyboard shortcut. The map lives in the reader: open the `Toolbox`, scroll to its **Accessibility** section, and expand `Shortcuts`. (It is not in the app's Settings screen — only in the Toolbox.)

The factory defaults:

| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Library | ⌘L |
| Metronome | ⌘M |
| Focus Mode | ⌥F |
| Auto-fingering | ⌘F |
| Analysis | ⌘I |
| Live tracker | ⌘T |
| Search | / |
| Piano | ⌘P |
| Print | ⌘⇧P |
| Share | ⌘S |
| Piece properties | ⌘, |
| Ask the Score | ⌘⇧/ |

On iPad, holding **⌘** on the connected keyboard shows the system shortcut overlay with these actions listed (`Open Library`, `Open Metronome`, … — Search appears as `Search library`).

### Remap a shortcut

1. In the `Toolbox`, expand `Shortcuts` and tap the action you want to change. Its current combination shows as a badge on the row.
2. In the editor below the list, toggle the modifier keys — `⌘` `⌥` `⌃` `⇧` — and type the key in the text field (a plain letter like `P`, or a full combination like `⌘P`).
3. Tap `Save`.

Two more buttons in the editor:

- `Off` — disables the shortcut for that action entirely.
- `Reset` — restores that action's factory default from the table above.

### No duplicates

Two actions can never share a combination. If you save a shortcut another action already uses, it moves to the action you're editing and the other action's shortcut is switched to `Off`. The editor warns you before you save — for example `Saving ⌘P moves it from Piano.` — so nothing changes silently.

> **Note** — Like the page-turn keys, shortcuts pause whenever a text field is being edited or the on-screen keyboard is visible, so typing a piece name never fires reader actions.