Group screen controls in MainStage

You can group screen controls together, creating a grouped control, and then move and resize the grouped control as a single unit. Grouping screen controls has no effect on how they work in performance, but makes it easier to quickly create a layout. You can group screen controls using the Group button, using the shortcut menu, or using a background screen control.

You can quickly add one or more screen controls to a group and move or resize individual controls in a group without ungrouping them.

You can add a panel or an image to the background of a grouped control to re-create the look of a hardware panel and visually distinguish the grouped control in the workspace.

Group a set of screen controls

In MainStage, select the screen controls you want to group together.
Do one of the following:
- From the Layout Action pop-up menu , choose Group.
- Control-click the selected controls, then choose Group from the shortcut menu.
The screen controls are grouped into a single, grouped control. If there is no background around the screen controls, one is added to encompass them. Selecting any member of the group selects the entire group so you can move and resize them together.
When you group screen controls, the edges of the background appear “dotted” to indicate that the controls are grouped.

If you’re using a Mac with a Touch Bar, you can press the Group button on the Touch Bar to group screen controls.

Group screen controls using a background screen control

In MainStage, drag a background screen control to the workspace.
Size and position the background screen control.
Drag the screen controls you want to include in the grouped control so they are within the borders of the background screen control.

Ungroup screen controls

In MainStage, select the grouped control.
Do one of the following:
- From the Layout Action pop-up menu, choose Ungroup.
- Control-click the selected controls, then choose Ungroup from the shortcut menu.

If you’re using a Mac with a Touch Bar, you can press the Ungroup button on the Touch Bar to ungroup screen controls.

Add a screen control to a group

In MainStage, drag the screen control into the group.

Move or resize a screen control in a group

In MainStage, select the individual screen control you want to move or resize.
The handles of the screen control appear so you can move or resize it independently from the group.
Hold down the Command key as you move or resize the screen control.

Change the look of the background

In MainStage, select the background.
The Screen Control Inspector appears to the left of the workspace.
In the Appearance section of the Screen Control Inspector, do one of the following:
- To add a panel: Click the Panel well, and choose a panel from the menu.
  If the background currently uses an image, select the Panel button before choosing a panel.
- To add an image or PDF: Select the Image button, then do one of the following:
  - Drag an image or PDF to the Image well.
  - Click the Select button, browse to the location of the image or PDF, then select it.
  Note: If you add a multi-page PDF to your layout, you can map screen controls to turn the pages. See Use screen controls to display PDF document pages in MainStage.

Add a grouped control to the Screen Controls palette

In MainStage, do one of the following:

Control-click the grouped control, then choose Add to Palette from the shortcut menu.
Select the grouped control, then choose Add to Palette from the Layout Action pop-up menu .

After you add the first grouped control to the Screen Controls palette, the My Grouped Controls tab appears. Select this tab (or the All tab) to see the custom grouped controls you have added to the Screen Controls palette.

Download the guides:

MainStage User Guide: PDF

MainStage Instruments: PDF

MainStage Effects: PDF

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