Can anyone help with this project? It began in Finale and was imported as an XML. Apparently during the import several staves had their time signatures converted to independent signatures. I’ve fixed all of these, but now I see that the barlines are broken in all kinds of odd places and I cannot figure out how to mend them. See m. 9 for example. Attached is a cutdown version, but the full version has tons of these things. Thanks.
Lost in Space - large copy.dorico (2.9 MB)
What’s wrong with m9?
There are still many (hidden) independent time signatures. Try selecting all, filter time signatures, delete. Some of the hidden ones will be displayed, repeat the procedure (select all, filter time signatures, delete) until only the open time signatures (X) are left, you cannot delete these ones until you enter your 4/4 time signature at the beginning of the project. After entering the time signature at the beginning of the project and deleting the open time signatures the problem should be gone (at least in the project you uploaded).
Within the group of winds, the first three have a double-barline that extends only through the tenor 1 part; the tenor 2 and baritone have a single, separated barline. I don’t know why.
When I do that, I get this:
I already went through the project and removed any independent time signatures I could find. Now, when I select ANY time signature in the project, all signatures on all staves light up orange, which I believe means that they are not independent, yes?
When I do delete all the time signatures, I still have all of these oddly separated barlines within instrument families, some with double barlines, some without. I don’t understand this. Are there other independent time signatures hidden somewhere in the project that I can’t see? What are all of these signposts doing? When I try to remove them, more of them appear later. And when I remove the signposts by deleting them, like this:
The families still show separate barlines.
Thanks for looking into it.
Like i said, repeat the procedure of selecting all, filtering time signatures, deleting, until the only time signature signpost is the open one (x). then enter the time signature you want at the beggining of the project and delete the independent open time signature.
Edit:
See this, is this not what you want to achieve?
Ah, I see now, thank you! Unfortunately, there are a LOT of these to fix. And then when I remove all the “X” signatures, I still have to go back and fix the broken barlines on that staff. But at least it’s done. This is one of those little things that probably doesn’t come up often, but when it does, it sure would be nice to have a quick fix. I had to select-all and filter-time-signatures about 50 times to clear it up! —oh, and then figure out where to put back in all the time signature changes that were there originally.
Would it be easier to fix in Finale before exporting (if you have the opportunity)?
I wish it were possible, but… I’ve made a ton of changes to the music since I imported it, and anyway the issue isn’t with Finale as much as it is with how files are exported and/or imported via XML. The Finale version had no independent time signatures, but according to several other threads on this forum it seems to be a recurring problem. I had been using rehearsal letters instead of measure numbers and didn’t notice the problem until I switched that setting in Engraving Options.
Bizarre, no? 
I was able to get rid of almost all of them by repeating these steps several times:
- Select All
- Filter time signatures
- Delete
As you delete meters, subsequent explicit barlines are forced to show their meters. I had to delete one last double barline by hand, and then I added 4/4 back at the beginning to get all fresh barlines.
Of course if you have changing meters you’d have to recreate them.
I’ve often had to do this after XML import or when using an old Dorico project to start a new one. What I never understood is why it’s necessary to repeat the process several times. If I have all signposts set to show, then shouldn’t all time signatures then show, whether or not they’re explicit, implicit or even hidden? Why do ‘new’ ones appear after selecting all, filtering for time signatures and then pressing delete?
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Just a guess, but if Dorico is working left to right as it deletes a signpost, it has to recalculate everything subsequent, which may introduce new anomalous bars.
FWIW I usually work painstakingly from the end back to the start and usually manage to do it in one pass (but it is slow).
I felt somewhat lucky with this project that I only had to add in about a dozen meter changes that were deleted in the process. But it isn’t unusual for me to have a couple hundred meter changes in some pieces, and I hope not to have this situation under those circumstances. I estimate it took about 20 minutes to ||: select, filter, delete :|| (repeat till cue) all of the signposts, and with each cycle it takes about 5-6 seconds of processing time. That time also includes repairing remaining barlines and adding back in the meter changes.
What I don’t quite get, though, is what’s happening under the hood. At first, I selected each time signature and could see by the color (blue vs. orange) which ones were independent. I then removed the independent ones such that any selected time signature on any staff would light up orange across all staves. This should mean that all time signatures were now global, right? But clearly that’s not the case.
BTW, I wonder if this issue is connected with players that double. in this project, the remaining “X” signatures at the end were all on a part that doubled two instruments. Sometimes when I work from old XML files, I first create a new Dorico project and paste individual parts from the imported XML file into the new project. Fingers crossed, I have not seen this same issue when using that process.
I think the explanation is that an explicit barline that is not a change of meter doesn’t show even as a meter signpost, because it is visible as a special barline. But when you delete or change the previous meter, then Dorico must show the meter at the barline, as a signpost.
But there’s no way to select all barlines and delete any explicit barlines, correct? I didn’t find anything in the filters.