Help with odd appearance in two bars

[Paul_Williams]

Try as I might, and I’ve been through all the menu items I can find, and Help, I cannot get these two bars to displa

y properly. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[charles_piano]

It will be easier if you provide a screenshot of the whole system (including the fullness indicator after the last bar) in Engrave Mode, Note Spacing Submode.

[Paul_Williams]

This? I can see it going wrong, but I don’t know what to do about it.

[charles_piano]

Thank you, I forgot to ask for the signposts as well!

There is no manual note spacing, which is good. But the system is overfull (141%, the previous one is overfull as well), so Dorico cannot manage the horizontal spacing.

Turn on signposts: there must be system breaks in this area — if so, delete them.

[Paul_Williams]

They seems to be all through the piece. Should I delete all?

[Rikard]

Yes. Do that, and see what happens.

[charles_piano]

Should I delete all?

Yes, it’s generally better to let Dorico manage the spacing! Then you can change several settings (like note spacing) if you want.

To delete all of them at once: in Engrave Mode, in the left column, click “Reset Layout”

[Paul_Williams]

Thank you. That has resolved it. It was a piece I started in Finale and I exported/imported through musicxml. I suspect that’s how it happened. I’ll know what to look out for now

[charles_piano]

@Paul_Williams

It was a piece I started in Finale and I exported/imported through musicxml. I suspect that’s how it happened.

I see! It’s generally recommended to set XML importing with (almost) everything unticked, especially “Import systems and frame breaks”

It’s in Preferences > MusicXML

[Paul_Williams]

Thank you. I’ve unticked that one. Which ones would you leave? I daresay there’s an article …

[charles_piano]

I don’t use XML imports very often, so other users who are more familiar with them may be able to give you better advice. I see that I had only kept “Rest visibility” and “other technical playing techniques”. All the other ones are unticked.

[jesele]

I only have text items ticked, everything else off.

Jesper

And

[Paul_Williams]

Thank you all. Most helpful.