How do I select and delete invisible things that are causing bar-length issues?

• Jan 6, 2023 - 22:43

I'm trying out the pdf import, and some bars have really obvious, should-be-easy-to-correct issues. But I can't work out how to make Musescore 4 just delete extraneous stuff without question.
For example, look at the silly bar I've tried to attach (should be 4/4). It has added an invisible dotted minim rest to each hand for no reason, but OK, we can surely just delete them. Except if I change the bar length from 13/8 to 8/8, it deletes notes rather than rests (not logical in my mind - keep the content, no?). And if I make-visible and control-delete either or both rests, it deletes the opposite notes as well.
Now, I know that there are issues with pdf import, it's experimental etc. but I am trying to practice my editing skills on this. What should be a click and press task is totally defeating me.
If instead I could select all the invisible-flagged bits in the score and delete them all, that would clean up 95% of the problems too - but I don't see a way of doing this in the manual either.
Please, if you know the trick to make length correction ignore what I'm doing while I help it do its job AND/OR how to select all invisible elements, would you tell me? Thanks!

Attachment Size
Silly bar.png 13.95 KB

Comments

PDF import is often slower than manually retyping everything. I've used tools like ScanScore as well and found them just as frustrating.

Rests and notes makes up a measure's count, so there is no way of just deleting all the rests. All the behaviours you are seeing are to be expected.

In reply to by memeweaver

The measure will only be internally consistent if the invisible rests that make it 13/8 are deleted. I am trying to restore the internal consistency! If I'm allowed to delete a dotted minim invisible rest, the bar length will be 4/4, matching nominal. That's what annoys me: the software normally ensures 4/4 (or whatever your bar length is). Here, it is making it 13/8 (fine, pdf conversion is bad, agreed) but then stopping me from restoring it to 4/4 (this is the part I do not understand). It has the function to change the "actual" 13/8 in measure properties to match the "nominal" 4/4, but it does not apply that function in a sensible way (which would be "let's remove the invisible rests first, and see whether that solves the measure length - it does! Let's do that before deleting content, then!").

In reply to by Sopdet

You are misunderstanding the way this works by calling rests "invisible things". They are time-valued objects just like notes.
The conversion software has - characteristically - misaligned objects.

You are going to have work measure by measure through the score chopping up oversize ones into 4/4 + excess. That is usually slower than manual note entry of the score. Talking from lots of experience, and using more sophisticated conversion software than what Musescore offers.

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