If I type q = ca 80 in the popup then q remains q rather than a note symbol. I have to use the bottom properties to implement “approximately”. This seems more work than necessary and a switch to the mouse.
What am I doing wrong?
I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong; I think the only (existing) solution is to use the properties panel.
Well it’s such a common type of tempo indication it would be nice if the popup handled it. However there is probably a input parsing reason. I will soldier on.
I’d speculate that the input parsing reason is something to do with the fact that the same popover is used for textual tempo markings.