adjusting print width of a set of measures
Having transposed the music down an octave, I am trying to print a few bars of edited music so that I can sellotape it over the original. I therefore need it to come out the same size. I present I have adjusted the page size and depth of the staves but the notes are more widely spaced than in the original. I can get closer by inserting empty bars at the ends of lines, and using adjustment to measure stretch. However, I suspect that this is an abuse of the measure stretch facility [not what it was designed for?] as I end up, after adding less stretch repeatedly, with bar lines in the wrong place and rests overprinting the notes. Can you suggest a better way of "squeezing" up the music so that it uses less horizontal width?
Comments
This is a suitable use for "measure stretch" although if you go too far it will start doing strange things like you describe. Just add more stretch a few times until it looks right again. If you are still unable to get the width small enough you should consider scaling everything (Layout > Page Settings).
Score layout is a complex process and scores created on a computer tend to take up more space than traditional engraving. As an alternative option you might try exporting to LilyPond if your is score not too complex (doesn't contain multi-voicing, lyrics, etc.). LilyPond is a separate scorewriter that has been around for longer than MuseScore whose sole focus is to create beautiful scores. The scores that LilyPond creates take up less space on the page but are much harder to tweak or edit.