Editing Measure properties - not saving changes.
Hi, looking for help/advice please. I have several scores where I have edited the measure stretch so that I can fit on the one line. I get everything looking the way I would like and then save the changes. However, when I open the score from file explorer or from the File>Open options, the measures are not how I saved them and I have to re-edit the measure stretch. Is there something else, other than saving, that I should be doing?
Any advice welcome, thanks.
Comments
That should work. Which version do you use? Which Operating System?
Can you attach the score (*.mscz)?
In reply to That should work. Which… by Shoichi
Hi Shoichi , I am using version 3 (also happened with ver 2). I have attached the score - one is with the format I would like and the other is the same score when I re-open. As you can see if I have added note names on lyric lines and added vertical measure to enter title of tunes, so it isn't a simple score in terms of layout.
In reply to Hi Shoichi , I am using… by wonderto
I'm not quite sure how you manage to have a version that saved the change and another that didn't - it either saved or not, right? So I might be misunderstanding something. We could use precise step by instructions to reproduce the problem you are seeing. But meanwhile, some general comments:
Measure Properties does allow you to override stretch, but the more direct way is using the Format / Stretch or the shortcuts "{" and "}". These allow mutliple measures to be stretched at once
Measure Properties has controls to go to the next measure, but you need to hit "Apply" before using them if you want changes to stick
Nothing about this score shold have required messing with stretch in the first place. The much simpler, more direct, and more effective way to get the spacing you want is just to insert line breaks (eg click a measure, hit Enter). Things will automatically spread out, and most importantly, they'll do so evenly, which yours don't, because you have different stretches applied to different measures.
So really, the way to fix your score is to press Ctrl+A to select all, then Format / Stretch / Reset Layout Stretch to get back to the defaults, then just add the desired line breaks (e.g., to measures 6 & 12 in the first tune).
In reply to I'm not quite sure how you… by Marc Sabatella
Hi Marc, I did try method you suggested by pressing but it is not producing even measures. I know the example I have shown you does not exactly have even measure (they are all different measure widths) but under each tune in the vertical text box, I am providing a paragraph of text about the tune and as such, space is very limited for me to get everything on the page that I need. I am trying to provide for music students and trying to economise on space for printing purpose. I shall, however, try taking score back to default and edit as suggested. Many thanks for you very detailed reply - much appreciated!
In reply to Hi Marc, I did try method… by wonderto
It is correct that measures with different content should have different width - this is required by the usual rules of notation. Forcing measures with different content to have the same width is not advised as it results in unequal spacing, which is bad. The method I suggested results in exactly the same amount of room taken up on the page, it just makes sure the spacing with each system is consistent, whereas fiddling with individual stretch more or less guarantees the opposite.
Here is how it looks when using the method I describe. Note how much more even the spacing is within each line than either of the versions you posted:
You wrote:
Any advice welcome, thanks.
Here's another consideration...
Once you get everything looking the way you would like, try this:
Use menu item: Format -> Add/Remove System Breaks... and then tick 'Add system break at end of each system'. Then save the score.
(Those added system breaks will help to 'lock' the score in place.)