Measure layout

Note. View the Changing the number of measures per system QuickStart Video for an overview.

For information regarding the relative widths of the measures in a particular system, see To adjust measure widths in a system.

You can easily control the page layout of measures in Finale through the use of measure groups. A measure group is a set of measures fastened to each other; even if the arrangement of other measures changes, those in a group will remain together in the same system.

Note. See Music spacing and measure layout for a step-by-step tutorial on changing the measure layout.

This kind of control over measure layout is especially useful when you’re fine-tuning a piece’s layout—avoiding an awkward page turn, forcing a key change to fall at the beginning of a system, and so on.

Note that the measures you rearrange in the following instructions become locked into the arrangement you specify; they won’t be affected by future measure-rearranging commands like Update Layout or even Begin a New Staff System (see To create a system break, below). To lock measures into place, select the systems you wish to affect and press+L. These locked measures will not be affected by updating the layout (unless Remove System Locks is selected in Preferences-Edit) or rearranging the measures in other systems.

To remove measure groups from the piece choose Update Layout from the Edit menu or highlight the systems or region with the Selection tool and press +U. If Maintain System Locks is selected in Program Options-Edit select Update Layout while pressing shift.

To specify a number of measures per system

See Measures per line.

To split a measure across a line break

See To split a measure across a system break.

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