The Breaks & Spacers palette in the Advanced workspace contains the following non-printing symbols:
A break can be applied to either a measure or a frame. A spacer (up or down) is applied to a measure only.
Use one of the following options:
A break is inserted after the marked measure or frame. Blue break symbols are visible on the screen, but do not appear on printouts.
Notes: (1) To add (or remove) line breaks over all or part of the score, see Add/Remove line breaks. (2) To split a measure, see Measure operations: Split and join.
To reposition a break:
Use either of the following options:
Blue spacer symbols are visible on the screen, but do not appear on printouts.
Note: Spacers are designed for local adjustments only. If you wish to adjust the space between staves across the whole score, use the settings in Style → General... → Page instead.
To adjust the height of a spacer, chose one of these options:
To delete a break or spacer:
See also: Add / Remove line breaks.
A section break, as the name suggests, is used to create separate sections within a score. Like a line break, it forces the next measure or frame to begin a new system, and can also be used in association with a page break if required.
A section break could be used, for example, to divide a piece into separate movements.
Each section can have its own measure numbering independent of the rest of the score. By default, the first measure of a section is numbered "1" (see image below), though like the first measure of the score itelf, the number is not displayed unless configured in the measure properties dialog. The same dialog can be used to change the numbering according to your preference.
If you change Time signature or Key signature at the beginning of the new section, there will be no courtesy signature at the end of the previous section. See example below:
When you play back the score, the program adds a short pause between each section. In addition, the first end repeat barline in a section always sends the playback cursor to the beginning of the section, so a start repeat barline is optional.
Right click a section break and select Section Break Properties... to specify: