extra measure at the end

If you place a crescendo that ends with a dynamic mark on the last note, Dorico assumes that it lasts until the first beat of the next measure and adds a measure to the end of the piece. The workaround is to cut the last note short with a short rest before the barline.

Yeah, I know, and I don’t like the automatic behavior. But there’s a much easier way. Click on the last dynamic mark and press Shift-Alt-Left arrow once. It’ll shorten it by one rhythmic grid unit. Set your rhythmic grid small and the difference won’t be noticeable, but it will drop the last extra bar.

Excellent

Sorry for digging up an old topic, but this advice (Shift-Alt-Left arrow) isn’t working for me. First off, I’m on a Mac, so I don’t have an Alt key, but I’ve tried shift with control, with option and with command and the left arrow and nothing happens with any of them. To do this little procedure, should I be in Write or Engrave mode? I assume Write mode, but it doesn’t matter what mode I’m using, this doesn’t work for me. I can’t get rid of the extra measure.

The thread is about two different things (in Write Mode):

  1. The shortcut ⇧⌥← (Alt is Option on the Mac) shortens the length of a selected item (a note, a hairpin etc.) by one grid unit. It does not delete bars.

  2. To delete one bar select it and then either select menu Edit > Delete Bars or press ⇧B and then in the popover enter -1. To delete multiple bars select all and then call the Delete Bars menu item, or select the first, press ⇧B and then in the popover enter a minus sign followed by the number of bars.

OR to delete all empty bars at the end of a flow, use shift-B trim. (In Write mode of course)

2 Likes

Thanks, Vadian and Janus.
The Shift-B -1 works to delete that measure (thanks!). The shift-B trim didn’t work for me (?). Anyway, I got rid of the extra measure, which is great! Unfortunately, though I had a fp<f dynamic, the last “f” got deleted when the last measure was removed. I’m guessing that I’ll just have to live with that. I can add an extra “f” to the last long note of the piece and drag it back to the end of the measure, but that would work better if I could elongate the measure (Dorico want’s to squeeze the last measure into a small horizontal space and it’s too cramped for the extra “f”.)

I’m sending screenshots of the original (with extra measure at the end) and the fudged version with an extra dynamic added and squeezed in (it would work so much better if I could lengthen that last measure in the second case.)

First select the hairpins and press ⇧⌥← to shorten the length then remove the bar.

If the 5 dynamics are linked it’s sufficient to select only one of them.

Never drag things if Dorico is able to do it on your behalf.

Trim only works if the bars are really empty. This and the other effects you saw show that the final f dynamic is actually attached in that final bar, which is why @Vadian’s advice is appropriate, to bring the attachment point back into the previous bar.

This thread includes a similar confusion from 3 weeks ago; might add some perspective.

Thank you, Mark Johnson, this is exactly what I need!

I have this same problem, There is a one beat measure after the end of the music. Is this the start of a new flow? I have tried Edit>delete; shift

trim and -1. It’s still there. I can delete it in the Pdf for the score because it is a separate page, But it is in the parts too.. I gave up on Dorico a while back because of this.

The easy way to check is to look at Setup. Is there an extra flow showing at the bottom?