The Sibelius Forum

I'm working on Sibelius files that somebody else created for me, and most of the parts are showing up with proper multirests.

One part, however, is showing rows of blank measures, and I am having the worst time trying to find how to make them into multirests.

I'm using Version: 2019.9 build 1832, born on 2019-09-16, and my buddy insists that the multirest dialog box is right on the riibbon, but it is not on mine.

See screenshot below.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Try the following in the part [ctrl][shift]u followed by [ctrl][shift]m

Do your get your multirests back?

Make sure there are no bars marked with 'split multirest' markers.

Interestingly, the line that had eight empty measures (whole rest in each measure) turned into two lines with four empty measures. That happened when I highlighted them and typed ctrl + shift + u and then nothing seemed to change when I then typed ctrl + shift + m.

What might you suggest now? I love keyboard commands and would love to learn more of them, especially if there's one to turn eight empty bars into one eight-bar multirest.

Thanks, Mike!

In the absence of the actual sib file, I can only guess at what the issue is. Looking at your image, all the single bars appear to have a 'split multirest' marker, although it is difficult to tell because it is so small. These should have gone after [ctrl][shift]u. However, there are a multitude of other objects and layout tick boxes that could also affect the way the bars are handled.

Suggestion - turn off auto breaks altogether. (I never use it because it does stupid things.) It is only really useful if you are one of those obsessive people that wants a fixed 4-bars-per-line layout.

Does that make any difference?

As to keyboard shortcuts, there's a full list in the manual. Press F1 when sib is running and you have a score open. In my copy, the keyboard shortcuts start on page 839.

With the part open, doesn't Layout/Show Multirests toggle them on and off?

It certainly should. Make sure nothing is intercepting your shortcuts.
M should bring up the mixer
[ctrl][shift]m should toggle the display of multirests
If you are on a mac, substitute [cmd] for [ctrl], though your screenshots look like windows to me!
Try selecting the barline that splits the bars and pressing [delete]