Deleting unused staves from a system

There's no specific control that says 'Don't hide this system' because systems aren't fixed elements. They change all the time as the program recalculates the page layout after every addition or edit to the score. But there is a workaround to force a system to show even if there's nothing in it.

First, turn 'Hide empty staves' back off so you can see everything. Now go through the score carefully and make sure you're finished editing and are happy with the system breaks (forget the page breaks for now; those will change radically when you hide the empty staves again).

Take note of any systems wherein a staff contains nothing but rests; if you want that staff to show once you turn on 'Hide' again, you can force it to appear by putting a whole-note in Voice 2 somewhere on that staff in that system. (I suggest you put these 'dummy' notes in measures near the middle of each line so that if any future work causes the line breaks to change, you'll have a better chance of them staying on the lines you want.)

Finally, select the dummy note and turn on the Inspector (F8). Uncheck the 'Play' and 'Visible' boxes while that note is selected. Voice 1 will remain visible so the whole-measure rest will show normally, but the 'dummy' note which causes the staff to print will not show nor will it generate any sound on playback.

Now turn 'Hide Empty Staves' back on, and you're done.

If, on the other hand, you have an entire staff (not an individual system) that you want to be shown at all times, that can be controlled by checking the 'Never Hide' box in the Staff Properties dialogue (right-click on the staff in question).

Hi! I realize this is a little late (since it's been over a year since this thread has started) but I think I've figured it out. For the empty staves over the rest of the score, select those staves, hit Staff Properties, and check the "Never Hide" box. Then when you hit the "Hide Empty Staves" button, the certain staves you want won't be hidden.