musescore
Allow user to squeeze more systems on a page
Your idea
The one thing that really annoys me with Musescore is the inability to squeeze systems(staffs) onto a page. Finale did not have that limitation. In Finale, if I moved a system to a page it moved. It may not look the prettiest but at least then I can attempt to clean it up manually. I do not have this option in Musescore. This is why figuring out how to reduce empty vertical is critical in Musescore. I've heard the rationale that it's the laws of physics that it is so but Musescore defies those laws when fitting measures on a system so why can't it defy those laws for fitting systems on a page?
Problem to be solved
Allow user to squeeze more systems unto a page similar to how it allows the user to squeeze more measures on a system.
Prior art
Finale did not have this limitation. If I moved a system to a page, it moved it and did its best to fit with the other systems on the page. This allows the user to manually clean it up. Musescore does not allow it so many times I feel there is space on a page for another system but Musescore refuses to allow it.
Additional context
No response
Checklist
- [x] This request follows the guidelines for reporting issues
- [x] I have verified that this feature request has not been logged before, by searching the issue tracker for similar requests
My philosophy is to give the user more control over how their document will look. The current option to fit more systems on a page is the user must try to figure out how to reduce empty vertical space between items by overriding default values or scaling down items making them harder to read. Example: I would like to have the top of the chord symbols literally touch the volta horizontal line to try and get another system on the page. I have not figured this out by any spacing settings or other methods.
Format>Style>Spacing
The default values are quite generous with white space.
For manual spacing in specific instances, there's "Staff spacer fixed down" in the Layout pallette. The smallest possible value is 0, i.e. the staff lines of two systems literally touch.
In principle there is no reason there couldn't be commands to force more systems onto a page, although the specifics of determining how the default values should be overridden would be complicated because there are so many factors at play- minimum staff distances, minimum system distances, positions of elements above the staves, minimum (vertical) distance between elements, staff size, etc.
But for the record, it's quite possible to do this manually currently. If you have a case where it's the minimum staff or system distance getting in the way, just reduce those score-wide, or fixed spacers to reduce them for a given staff / system. Or if you want chord symbols to touch a volta, simply move the volta, or reduce its minimum distance property to 0, etc. If you have a specific score where you're having toruble figuring out how to get it laid out the way you want, I encourage you to ask for help on the official Support forum and attach the score there and say which system(s) you'd want moved and what you'd be willing to sacrifice to make it happen.
This is something that we already have in mind will certainly come quite soon. Yes, at the moment one can work around the problem in all the various ways described in the comments. However:
a) In professional engraving, one must be able to lock down which exact systems fit in one page, for the same reason that one must be able to lock measures in a system. All the workarounds described still leave the page in a state where a micro-change can cause a system to reflow in the next page and that's not acceptable in professional work. We introduced system locks, so the next logical step is page locks.
b) You can't know what the best way is to save vertical space until you see it, which means it's still important to be able to force the additional system in the page before going ahead and doing the necessary corrections.
Coming soon.
Good observations by mike-spa. We need page locks similar to system locks.
The attached photo shows how Finale will allow a chord symbol to be overlaid on a volta. This may not follow engraving rules but it gives the user more options to squeeze staves onto a page. I have not found a way to do this with musescore.
Either of the methods I describe would work to produce that result - manually moving the volta, or reducing the volta's min distance (to a negative value if you want them to actually overlap instead of just touch as you propsoed earlier). Or for that specific case - basically having the volta ignore the chord symbol entirely - you could simply disable autoplace on the volta.
Again, if you have questions about how to format your scvore, please ask on the official support forum at musescore.org and attach the score there and describe what exactly you are trying to do. Then we can help you achieve your desired result.