Measure rests

Full measure rest

Full measure rest

A whole rest, centred within a measure (as shown above), is used to indicate that an entire measure (or a voice within a measure) is silent, regardless of time signature.

To create one or more full measure rests:

1 Select a measure, or range of measures.
2. Press Del.


  1. Select a measure, or range of measures.
  2. Press Ctrl+Shift+Del.

Multimeasure rest

Multimeasure rest

Multimeasure (multi-bar) rests indicate a long duration of silence for an instrument and are frequently used in ensemble sheet music. They are automatically interrupted at important points, such as double barlines, rehearsal marks, key- or time signatures, etc.

The number above the multimeasure rest indicates the number of measures that the rest lasts for.


Press M on your keyboard to turn multimeasure rests on or off.


  1. From the menu, choose StyleGeneral...
  3. Add a check mark next to "Create multimeasure rests"


The style option automatically combines empty measures into multimeasure rests throughout the score. Therefore, it is recommended that you enter all your notes first and then turn on multimeasure rests afterward.

Break multimeasure rest

See also: Measure operations: Break multimeasure rest

You may want to have a multimeasure rest divided into two multimeasure rests.

This option should be checked before turning on the "Create multimeasure rests" option in Style → General..., in the "Score" tab.
Select the first measure where you want the second multimeasure rest to start, and do a right-click Measure Properties → Break multimeasure rest.

Note that multimeasure rests are interrupted if there is a rehearsal mark (not a simple text), section break, key or time signature change, or double barline.
