Instruments and system markings
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The Layout panel (formerly called Instruments) gives you control over your instruments, the position of system markings, and some basic staff properties without having to leave the score view. All of the instruments in your score will appear in this panel.
Open the panel by clicking on the Layout tab:
If the tab is not visible, show it by selecting View -> Layout, or by pressing F7.
Open the Instruments dialog:
Click the Add button at the top of the panel
Choose Add instrument from the popup.
You can also open this dialog by pressing I.
Select an instrument and click the trash can icon at the top of the panel, or press Del. This removes the instrument entirely, along with all the music it contains.
Select an instrument and click the up/down buttons at the top of the panel to change its position in the score. Alternatively, drag the instrument up or down using the mouse.
To control where the long and short names are used (or to hide instrument labels entirely), use the settings in Format -> Style -> Score -> Instrument labels, rather than blanking out the names here.
To replace an instrument in the Layout panel:
Click the cog icon to the right of the instrument
In the popup that appears, click Replace instrument
Select your desired replacement instrument in the dialog that appears
Click OK.
The Layout panel can also be used to add staves to an existing instrument and configure some of their basic properties.
Initially, the panel only shows an entry for each instrument. To show the individual staves of an instrument, expand the instrument by clicking the small black triangle to the left of the instrument name. Staves are usually labelled according their default clef (for example, a piano will have a 'Treble clef' and 'Bass clef')
If necessary, expand the instrument to reveal its staves
Click Add staff.
The new staff is part of the same instrument but its notation is completely independent of its other staves. To create a staff which stays in sync with the notation of an existing staff, add a linked staff instead.
Staves which are linked together will keep their notation synchronized, so a change on one staff will be reflected on the other. However, the staves can have different staff styles, which makes this useful for creating staff notation alongside tablature notation for guitar, banjo, ukulele, etc.
To create a linked staff:
If necessary, expand the instrument to reveal its staves
Click the cog icon to the right of the stave
Click Create a linked staff
If necessary, expand the instrument to reveal its staves
Select the staff you wish to delete
Click the trash can icon at the top of the panel, or press Del.
This will only work when an instrument has more than one stave. To delete the last staff, select and delete the instrument itself.
To change the order of staves within an instrument, select a staff and click the up/down buttons at the top of the panel to move it, or drag it up or down using the mouse. Staves cannot be moved between instruments.
You can configure some properties of individual staves by clicking the cog icon to the right of the staff name:
Staff type allows you to choose between a Standard staff and a variety of predefined tablature types
Small staff makes the staff small ('cue-size'); the size for small staves can be configured in Style -> Sizes
System markings are items like tempo marks, rehearsal marks, voltas and jumps, which apply to all instruments in the score. By default they are shown at the top of the system, but in larger scores are often duplicated at least once further down. In orchestral scores, for example, it is common to duplicate them above the strings.
You can control where these markings appear via the Layout panel. Every score has one 'instance' of system markings at the top, which cannot be moved or deleted, but you can add extra instances and position them freely.
In a blank score, the instances are listed simply as 'System markings' in the panel, but as you add markings to the score they will update to list which types of markings are shown there. You can configure which types of item you want to show at each position.
Open the Layout panel
Select the instrument above which you want the markings to appear
Click the Add button
Choose System markings from the popup.
If you do not select an instrument first, the new instance will appear at the first available space from the top of the score.
Select a system markings instance and click the trash can icon at the top of the panel, or press Del.
Select a system markings instance and drag it up or down to a new position, or use the up/down buttons at the top of the panel.
If you move one instance on top of another, the one being moved will replace the other, since two cannot exist at the same position.
To choose which types of markings to show at a given position:
Click the cog icon to the right of the instance in the list
In the popup, click the eye icons to toggle visibility for each item type.
By default, all types are shown everywhere.
The available item types are: tempo, gradual tempo change, rehearsal mark, system text, system text line, volta, jump, and time signature (if you are using large time signatures).
System markings cannot be configured in parts. There is only a single instance, shown at the top, with all types of marking visible. You can still make individual markings invisible in parts in the usual way.
To hide or unhide an instrument, chick the eye icon to the left of the instrument label. This hides the instrument and all its staves completely.
To hide or unhide a specific staff:
If necessary, expand the instrument to reveal its staves
Click the eye icon to the left of the staff.
Hidden instruments and staves are not deleted, they are just hidden throughout the whole score and will not affect its layout. You can still create parts for hidden instruments.
A hidden instrument will not play back, but hidden staves will. If you wish to hide an instrument but still hear it, this can be achieved by hiding all of its staves individually, but not hiding the instrument itself.
See for information on using the dialog.
Click the cog icon to the right of an instrument to show instrument name settings. Name on main score is the long name, usually used at the beginning of a score, and Abbreviated name is the short one, often used after the first system of a section. These can also be edited via . Part name is used at the top of a part.
Click the cog icon on the newly-added staff to configure it, for example to change the Staff type, if required (see , below).
Hide any measures that do not contain notation (cutaway) will prevent the staff from being drawn for any measures which are empty; see for more details.
For more information about staff customization, see .
If your score uses big time signatures (above or across the staves), these will also be treated as system markings, and will appear wherever you create a system markings instance. See for information on how to choose these styles.
If you only wish to hide instruments or staves when there is no music for them on a given system, see .
