"SOLVED" New bars inserted before bar 1 are empty and very narrow after XML import

cellicello · February 17, 2026, 1:40am

I use Dorico 15.1.81.2225 (Jan 16 2025) MacOs Tahoe 26.2
I used Sheet Music Scanner to convert PDF to XLM.
In Write mode, I used the right‑hand panel: Insert Bars → Insert Bars → Start of Flow to add some bars before the original first bar
The bars are created, but they don’t look normal:

The inserted bars show only the staff lines, with no whole‑bar rests.
These bars are very narrow compared to the following bars that contain music.
Layout Options → Players → “Show bar rests in empty bars” is turned on, but the rests still don’t appear.
There was also a “Bracket and Barline Change” signpost on the first bar; deleting that signpost did not fix the issue.
Resetting note spacing and other layout options hasn’t helped so far.

So I end up with several blank, squeezed bars at the start of the flow, while the rest of the system looks normal.
Adding bars after the thick first “bar” works.

Has anyone seen this behaviour when adding “Insert Bars → Start of Flow” to a MusicXML import?

Thanks in advance!

Vl.xml (152.3 KB)

Vl.dorico (837.0 KB)

cellicello · February 17, 2026, 2:02am

A workaround was to select everything except the first bar and paste it into a new project.

Christian_R · February 17, 2026, 4:21am

Hi @cellicello, opening your first xml file it is immediately clear what is happening: the first rest has the Start voice property activated (because for some reason your other app created an XML with that property): it means all rests before it (even bar rests when you add bars at the beginning of the flow) will be removed (deleted) and will have no space:

You can just select the rest and deactivate that property.

Or (better) you uncheck the preference for rest visibility for XML import, then reimport your XML (doing so no Start/End voice property will be activated=all the rests will be visible):

Removing rests is a functionality that is very handy for polyphonic music, or in other situation where you use more than one voice.

Here some information from the Manual:

cellicello · February 18, 2026, 12:13am

Hi @Christian_R, thank you so much for your help.
You saved my day.