Hi everyone!
The problem is fairly easy to recreate: Say, I have two staves (sopranos and altos, for example), and I have written a line for the upper staff first (say, two bars; i.e. b. 1-2) and then another line for the lower staff (another two bars, i.e. b. 3-4); finally, both staves have music (the following to bars, for example, for a total of six bars). This is the setting. Next, I write some lyrics on the lower staff first (b. 3-4), then I write some lyrics on the staff above (b. 1-2). Now, for the problem to happen, the last syllable of the lyrics on the upper staff needs to be a melisma. I now select the first two bars from the upper staff and copy them to the lower staff. Voilà! Although the music on bars 3-4 remain unaltered, the lyrics are erased.
I can see clearly why this is happening, but I don’t think it should behave this way.
I see what you mean. The difficulty is that the “this” lyric fundamentally has duration up to the start of bar 5, so when you copy and paste the first two bars onto the bottom staff, where there are already lyrics in verse 1, those lyrics get overwritten. As you spotted yourself of course.
If you try again, but put a note on the top staff at the start of bar 3 but don’t extend the lyrics popover beyond that note, you should find bar 3 on the bottom staff isn’t overridden - because the duration of “this” in bar 2 won’t overlap with the existing lyrics in bar 3 on the bottom staff.
Alternatively, put the lyrics on the bottom staff into a different lyric line before pasting, and work out the distribution later. (I’ve not double-checked that, but it should work in theory)
Thank you Lillie, for your kind answer and the tips. There are multiple ways of avoiding this (such as you just mentioned, and other ways too).
I think the issue I was trying to point was not the visible problem (the erased lyrics), but the need to close a melisma on the rhythmic position it really ends (not on the next available note). If I’m typing lyrics and want to stop (even if there’s more music afterwards), I just press enter and it closes the popover exactly at the rhythmic position I ended. Except in case of a melisma; if I press enter where I want to end, the melisma is not created. That’s the root problem, of course; and that’s why the lyric duration extends even through rests, which should not be so.