Finale Forum

Is there any way to do this without having to uncheck "Avoid [System] Margin Collision"?

I am tring to reproduce something like the attached image, where the staff names are T and D.
Any advice appreciated.
Thanks

Side-by-side systems is going to be the easiest. Why are you reluctant to do that?

Otherwise you'd have to cut away a measure with a staff style to make the gap, then create the bracket as an expression and force the clefs to appear. Doable, of course.

Why not a Coda system?

Hi motet and Mike,
Thanks for the feedback. I don't usually use side-by-side or Coda systems, since I am frequently messing with system heights and then invoking "Space Systems Evenly" to lay them out nicely on the page. When you do SSE with side-by-sides it doesn't keep the side-by-side systems in line (nor should you expect it to, I guess). I use SSE much more frequently than I would have need for the occasional side-by-side system display

I can add the hidden bar, the bracket, the left barline and move the clef easily and quickly to the right places. The one thing I can NOT do is to force the staff name to display to display to the left of the measure unless it begins a system. That's what I was specifically hoping to find out if it were possible.

If it ultimately ends up being impossible, I could make the staff names as expressions and position them automatically, but if I could just force the staff name to display not only at the start of a system, but within it, it would suit what I would like to do.

Thanks

You can make a Staff Style to show the staff names. In the style design box, everything should be unchecked except staff name in score. Type in the abbreviated staff name by clicking the appropriate button. You'll have to make one style for the D and one for the T.

The Create Coda System plugin takes care of this for you and I'd urge you to at least try it. In order to make layout easy, don't use the plugin until you have all page layout completed.

N.

Thank you, N Grossingink,

I did as you suggested, but unless I misunderstood something, setting up a Staff Style to show a staff name only works if the measure is at the very start (the left margin) of the system. I was curious in my original post whether it could be displayed within a regular system (not a Coda system), as in the image with my original post.

If you can see where I may have erred in setting up the style, please let me know. I will try out the Coda system plug in. Thanks for the help, nonetheless.