Condensing rest bars

[oceanave]

Is there a way to condense multiple rest bars (like for instance 4 bars where the instrument does not play) and not show those empty bars but instead show one bar with a '4' above it?

[Peter Thomsen]

Since you are talking about multimeasure rests, it is my guess that you are editing a linked part - right?

While viewing/editing the part:
Selection Tool.
Select All.
Edit menu > Multimeasure Rests > Create

If that does not work, let us know.
There are multiple culprits that might break/prevent a multimeasure rest.

By The Way:
Finale has some options for “automatical multimeasure rests”.

[oceanave]

Thank you, that worked like a charm. BUT - it did create some blank space on the next page (where the piece ends). Which brings up another question - how do you get rid of blank space at the bottom of the page? I've fooled around with margins/staff heights/etc and usually it's a matter of trial and error which sometimes has a positive result and sometimes no result.

[miker]

That’s it. Play with the staff spacing, and measures per system, until you're happy with it.