The Staves and measures tool (shortcut M), allows you to select a staff, open the Staff display options, and select a tablature instrument to use as a display for a staff.

By clicking on Apply changes the tablature will be applied to the current staff and any notes present will be transcribed using fret numbers on the strings represented by the lines of the staff. Notice that this operation does not change the original instrument selection and will respect any transposition.

Note entry on a tablature staff is similar to a normal staff, with the following differences.

• Notes can only be added on a line; spaces are not used and there are no ledger lines.
• The note head is displayed as the fret number needed to play the note.
• When a note is entered, it has a fret number 0, which means an open string. Use the number bar to enter the needed fret. 
• In the Note properties panel, there is a drop-down menu to edit the fret number.
• When you move a note up or down, Compose will try to keep the same note pitch by adjusting the fret number as you move the note.  However, if going too low, the pitch is corrected to the lowest possible note on the instrument and the fret number is never negative.

When a note (fret number) is selected, you can use the following shortcuts to modify it.

• + or  -  will respectively increase and decrease the fret number
• Typing a number will replace the fret number.  Type two numbers quickly to make it a single number (e.g. type ‘1’ and without delay type ‘0’ to get  ‘10’).
• ↑+ CTRL(Command on Mac): moves the note a semitone up.
• ↓+ CTRL(Command on Mac: moves the note a semitone down.
• ↑+ SHIFT: moves the note/rest an octave up.
• ↓+ SHIFT: moves the note/rest an octave down.

In the Display options of the Score menu, there is a section entitled Tablature options that can be used to adjust the display of the tablature. Here you will find the options to do the following:

• Specify the font type and size for fret numbers.
• Specify how stems are displayed.
  • Display note stems normally
  • All note stems up
  • All note stems down
  • Hide note stems
• Hide time signatures– hides all time signatures for tablature staves
• Use flat beams– forces all beams 
• Center stems– centers the stems with the fret number

Capo Chords

The capo chord feature is part of the Text tool. To open this, choose the Text tool, click the drop-down menu furthest to the right (typically displaying pizz. By default), and locate the capo option at the bottom. The text can be entered in the score the same as other text expressions but the default Type of playback set is set to Transposition (-24 to +24 semitones) with a Playback value of 2 (indicating a plus 2 semitones up). This only affects the playback of the staff or tablature it is applied to.