to be clear, playback will begin from wherever you have an item or note highlighted.
if your cursor is at measure 200 beat three and a note is highlighted there, playback WILL being from that point.
you can send the cursor wherever you want by pressing the Jump key [j], then either selecting with your mouse “go to” or pressing alt+g, then entering a measure number or a flow.
for example, entering F2 m100 will send it to flow 2, measure 100. (using b for bar will also work)
if nothing is selected in your score, playback will begin from the very beginning. this only works from a freshly opened file. once you have played anything, even with nothing selected, playback will resume from wherever it last stopped.
If an entire measure of one instrument is highlighted, then that instrument will begin to play from that point, but ONLY that instrument (a solo, if you will.)
If a single note is highlighted, then all instruments in your score will begin playback from that point.
And if you select entire measures from multiple instruments, then only those selected instruments will play (for example, highlighting only the strings, or a note in cellos and doublebasses, or flutes and oboes, etc…)
Be forewarned, if your score is condensed, you can NOT select any notes from instruments that are condensed (2 to a staff, or more, for example a single staff with two flute parts.)
To make playback in a condensed score easier, use Galley view instead.
if a bar contains a whole rest, you can safely click on the whole rest and playback for the entire ensemble will begin there.
If you click on a single note that happens to take up an entire measure, then all instruments will also playback, from that point.
only be careful if it you select multiple notes within one measure in one instrument. this will trigger “solo” playback for that staff.
I hope I didn’t forget anything.