System fullness indicators

System fullness indicators are highlighted regions that are shown to the right of systems in Engrave mode when either Graphic Editing , Staff Spacing , or Note Spacing is selected in the Engrave toolbox. They use colors and percentages to indicate the horizontal fullness of the corresponding system.

The following colors are used in the system fullness indicator:

  • Green: the system is comfortably full. Notes have enough horizontal space to be legible but are not too far apart. Systems that are 60-100% full are considered comfortably full.

  • Purple: the system is under-full, meaning notes might appear overly stretched. Systems that are less than 60% full are considered under-full.

  • Red: the system is over-full, meaning notes might appear squashed with not enough horizontal space between them. Systems that are more than 100% full are considered over-full.

The fullness of systems is also expressed using a percentage. The percentage indicated is calculated by dividing the number of spaces occupied in the system by the total number of available spaces in the system, which is measured from the start of the rhythmic space to the right of the initial clef/time signature/key signature up to the final barline in the system.

Both the color of the system fullness indicator and the fullness percentage are updated in real time as you adjust note spacing in the system.

System comfortably full

System under-full

System over-full