Text as footnote

• Jun 9, 2020 - 17:28

I have followed the advice in previous posts about adding a footnote to a score by appending a frame to the last measure. This appears to work, and when I export the score as pdf or png, the text appears; however, when I export the file as .mxl, the text disappears. I am submitting this for publication and the publisher requires an xml file, so how do I get both the text and the xml?

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• Jun 9, 2020 - 18:46

I installed 3.5 Alpha and the text does appear, but it's jammed up tight against last staff, and offset to the right. I repositioned it so it's centered and lower on the page, but when I save it as .mxl, it moves it back to the original position. I noticed that .xml export does that with other items as well, such as chord symbols. I get them aligned horizontally, but one will be moved down and out of alignment. Is there no way to lock them or freeze them in place so it's aesthetically pleasing?
Thanks again for your help with this. Otherwise, I like MuseScore, which I have been using for a number of years, and which was recommended by the publisher, expressly for the .xml capability.

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• Jun 9, 2020 - 19:20

So, I tried this, to no avail. I opened Inspector, set specific numbers for spacing, horizontal and vertical, turned off Auto Placement, and it had zero effect. Same result as previously, as if it simply reset itself to the default settings. I don't see any Apply or OK buttons in Inspector, so I have no way of knowing if the revised settings are actually being internalized or set in place. And, in fact, in some instances -- but not all -- the text is moved up, between the last staff the one above it. Frustrating to say the least.

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• Jun 9, 2020 - 19:52

I finally got text to appear in the .xml file, using 3.5 Alpha. I don't know if this is a workaround or the way it's supposed to work, but I first appended a vertical frame, then I added text to that frame (appending a text box did not work). I guess that's progress. However, I cannot place the frame or text where I want it. Disabling Auto Placement has no effect on that.

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• Jun 9, 2020 - 20:25

Sorry, I guess I didn't make myself clear. It is not keeping the settings, even with Auto Placement disabled. It apparently reverts to the default settings when exported to .mxl. When I open the .mxl file, text has shifted back to where it was before I repositioned it, and Auto Placement is enabled again. See attached screen shots, and note the text at the bottom of the page, as well as the Em (shot) chord spec on the third staff.

Attachment Size
muse_score_auto_placment_disabled.jpg 380.75 KB
muse_score_mxl_auto_placment_enabled.jpg 425.09 KB

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• Jun 9, 2020 - 23:29

I think you are misunderstanding what MusicXML is. It isn't a perfect copy of a MuseScore score, it's a portable format that keeps as much information as possible so you can use import it into other programs, but it's to be expected that every program handles formatting differently, so much of the formatting is lost in the translation.

MusicXML among other things simply doesn't support anything like a MuseScore text frame, so there is no way to support that feature directly. Instead, text in frames just get converted to the equivalent of staff text. That's why it is so different upon being reimported.

I don't think there is a way to get anything like a footnote in MusicXML.

In any case, automatic placement has nothing to do with any of this.

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