Measure spacing

[jmsaperas]

Hi!!

I wonder if there is a way to keep every change I make regarding measure spacing especially in pickup measures. I don't know if it's me or the program, but in every pickup measure (also the fake ones in the middle of the document) the measure spaces are quite too big (f. example if I have a quarter note it leaves me the space two or three times as bigger as it should be)

Is there any way to fix this space? But what is more annoying is that after having moved every measure (one by one) to its correct point by moving their handles, after working again with minor changes in the document for some time, the measure spacing gets back to its original extended lenght again, unmaking all the work I've done!!!!! I also have the impression that when I close the file and open it again, the measure spacing work has disappeared...

Can anyone give me some light about it??
Thanks a lot!!

[michelp]

A good method to start with :
select the score and apply note spacing (Utilities->Music Spacing->Note spacing or kb shortcut : 4)
Apply Update Layout (Utilities menu).
This fixes most of the problems, and certainly the pickup spacing.
Also, in the Measure tool, if you double click on a measure, in the window that opens up, you can set a fixed measure width for a specific measure (change to...).

[Peter Thomsen]

...But what is more annoying is that after having moved every measure (one by one) to its correct point by moving their handles, after working again with minor changes in the document for some time, the measure spacing gets back to its original extended lenght again, unmaking all the work I've done!!!...

1) It sounds like you have selected "Automatic Music Spacing", and perhaps also "Automatic Update Layout".
Try de-selecting these two automatic functions, and see whether you like that better.

You can still apply Music Spacing and Update Layout manually.

...I also have the impression that when I close the file and open it again, the measure spacing work has disappeared...

2) The culprit could be another automatic function:
Document Options > Multimeasure Rests > Update Automatically
The function "Update Automatically" will break a multimeasure rest when you (e. g. via Scroll View) enter music in its empty measures.
At the same time all measure widths will be reset.
De-select "Update Automatically", and your customized measure widths should survive when you close the document and open it again.

You can still break multimeasure rests manually via
Edit menu > Multimeasure Rests > Break

[jmsaperas]

Thanks a lot to both!! I'll follow your advises!! You're both right!!