Measure layout

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

You can easily control the page layout of measures in SongWriter 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. Measures that have been “locked” into a measure group will display a lock icon, if Show Page Layout Icons is checked in the View Menu. See View Menu.

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. To remove measure groups from the piece, click on the Selection tool, choose Select All from the Edit Menu, choose Fit Measures from the Utilities Menu, and select Remove System Locks.

To move a measure to the previous (or next) system

Before you perform this or any significant page layout action, be sure to choose Update Layout (ctrl-U) from the Edit Menu. (If you’re in Page View, be sure to choose Update Layout while you’re viewing the first page, since Update Layout only affects the region from the current page to the end of the piece.)

1. If you’re not in Page View, choose View > Page View.
2. Click the Selection tool and click the measure to be moved. If you want to move more than one measure to the next system—the last two on a line, for example—click the first measure of the group to be moved. If you want to move more than one measure to the previous system, click the last measure of the group to be moved.
3. Choose Utilities > Move to Previous System or Move to Next System. Or press CTRL+UP ARROW key or CTRL+DOWN ARROW key. If you press UP ARROW, the selected measure (and any that precede it in the system) move to the previous system. If you press DOWN ARROW, the measure or measures move to the next system or are consolidated if you are editing the last 2 systems.

What you’ve just done is to create a measure group, SongWriter’s system of locking measures within a system. Be aware, however, that once a measure has been manipulated in this way, the measures in its new system are locked into this arrangement, and won’t be affected by future measure-rearranging commands. To remove measure groups from the piece highlight the systems with the Selection tool, choose Utilities > Fit Measures, and select Remove System Locks.

To force selected measures into one system

Where the up/down-arrow trick works well to push a single measure into a different system, sometimes it’s useful to say: “I want these three measures, and only these, in one system.”

1. If you’re not in Page View, choose View > Page View.
2. Click the Selection tool  , and select the measures you want to group. To select the first measure of the group, then shift-click the last measure of the group. You may also drag-enclose the measures you want; in any case, they should now be highlighted.
3. Choose Utilities > Fit Measures. The Fit Measures dialog box appears.
4. Click on Lock Selected Measures into One System and click OK. SongWriter places the selected measures into a system by themselves, then does an automatic Update Layout.

To specify a number of measures per system

See Measures per line.

To remove measure groups through the end of the piece

This process will undo the procedures above, restoring all measures to “floating” status—in other words, their system affiliation may change as the page layout changes.

1. Click the Selection tool  , and select the music you want to ungroup.
2. Choose Utilities > Fit Music.
3. Select Remove System Locks and click OK.

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