A.3 Edit Menu

Like the Edit menus in almost every Mac program, this menu houses the commands that help you move and manage selected bits of information. In iTunes, it also lets you control how information is displayed.

A.3.1 Undo

The Mac's Undo feature reverses the last menu command or keyboard action you took. Keyboard shortcut: -Z (Mac), Ctrl+Z (Windows).

A.3.2 Cut, Copy, and Paste

These familiar text-editing functions come in quite handy for moving around misplaced album titles and artist names in the Song Information box and elsewhere in iTunes. Keyboard shortcuts: -X, -C, and -V on the Mac, Ctrl+X, +C, and +V in Windows.

A.3.3 Clear

Selecting a playlist in the Source list or certain songs on a playlist and then choosing Edit Clear removes the item from the iTunes windowwithout deleting it from your music library (Section 4.9.1). Keyboard shortcut: Delete. Or, to bypass the confirmation box, press -Delete (Mac) or Ctrl+Delete (Windows).

A.3.4 Select All

Select All does pretty much what it says it does. For example, if you want to select all the song titles in the window at once, click in the window and choose Edit Select All. Keyboard shortcut: -A (Mac), Ctrl+A (Windows).

A.3.5 Select None

Choose Edit Select None to release any song titles from selection. Keyboard short-cut: Shift- -A (Mac), Ctrl+Shift+A (Windows).

A.3.6 Show / Hide Browser (iTunes 4 and later)

The Browser, a secondary song-finding tool, is described on Section 4.7.3. This command lets you bring it to your screen or hide it again. Keyboard shortcut: -B (Mac), Ctrl+B (Windows).

A.3.7 Show / Hide Artwork (iTunes 4 and later)

The Artwork pane shows the CD album cover of whatever song is currently high lighted. When the Artwork pane is showing, the Source list can display only about half as many playlists, which is why iTunes offers you this command to reveal or hide the artwork at will. Keyboard shortcut: -G (Mac), Ctrl+G (Windows).

A.3.8 View Options

After you select View Options, a box pops up that lets you customize the columns and categories shown in the iTunes song window. If you decide that you don't want to see, say, the Bit Rate setting listed in the window, choose Edit View Options and turn off the Bit Rate checkbox. Turn on the boxes for the categories you do want to see in your iTunes Details window. Keyboard shortcut: -J (Mac), Ctrl+J (Windows).

NOTE

Contextual (shortcut) menus are a wonderful thing, once you remember they're there. They list useful options that are especially relevant to whatever you're clicking. For example, the contextual menu for a song offers choices like Get Info and Convert to MP3; for a playlist, you get choices like Export Song List and Burn Playlist to Disc.

To produce these menus, right-click onscreen items (if you have a two-button mouse) or Control-click them (if not).