Problems with default page size

• Jul 17, 2021 - 02:51

I cannot get MuseScore to consistently use US Letter as the default page size. The instructions given in https://musescore.org/en/node/305834 DO NOT help. For one thing, the problem isn't only when importing. See details below.

Specifically, I specified US for my locale. I created a letter.mss style file by setting US Letter in page settings and then saving the score as a style. In Preferences I specified that score as the default style. For good measure I also specified it as the default style for imports.

Now if I start up MuseScore it opens with an empty score whose page size is US Letter. Good! BUT — if I use File >> New... to create a score, its page size is still A4.

If in the OS I open the printer utility, it shows US Letter as the default page size for my printer. HOWEVER, if I use File >> Print... in MuseScore and click Properties there, it shows A4 as the default page size! I don't see this behavior in any other application, but then again, the print dialog in MuseScore seems not to be the standard one, I can't find any other applications that use a print dialog like the one in MuseScore. In the dialog the other applications do use, the default page size is shown as US Letter.

Versions:
OS: Linux Mint 20.2, Arch.: x86_64, MuseScore version (64-bit): 3.6.0.487916429, revision: 1977cb3 [AppImage]

Comments

• Jul 17, 2021 - 18:36

"locale" is a Linux concept that is not portable across systems, so it's not what MuseScore uses. Instead it uses the default paper size for your default printer. But for reasons I don't think anyone understands, this check seems to fail on some/most Linux systems. The printer dialog, BTW, comes the Qt libraries we rely on for UI stuff like thus. If you go to Edit / Preferences / Advanced, you can try toggling the "use native dialogs" option and see if it produces something more like you are used to.

The approach you mention of creating an MSS file and specifying that as your default should work to correct this. I think there was a bug involving application of default styles in 3.6.0, and definitely there were other critical bugs in that release, so try again after downloading the current version (3.6.2).

I've attached my own MSS file, which sets page size only, so it still works with other templates that specify other defaults (like the jazz templates that set set the font to MuseJazz, etc).

Attachment Size
letter-score.mss 544 bytes

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