How do I control the number of measures in a line?

[David D.]

Help me. I'm banging my head against a wall with this.

I am writing a piece with 3 staffs (treble/treble/bass). I am filling in the lines by copy/paste from two separate files - one file (voice and lyrics) is treble only, the other file is a piano accompaniment and has two staffs (treble/bass). I am now in the copy/paste mode, and I am trying to merge the voice line with the accompaniment lines. Each of these lines comes from files that have been created previously using 4 measures to the line. So, here's the dilemma: When I copy the 4 measure line from the other file and paste it into the new file, I can only get 3 measures into the line. Yes, I've gone into the layout function from the drop-down box to expand the maximum number of measures per line to 4. However, the number of measures - 3 - now pasted into the line will NOT increase to 4! I just want to set up this piece with 4 measures to the line and print it. The software will not expand the number of measures to the line.

Why is this happening? This should be a 20 minute task and it is taking hours! I am now at a standstill. Can anyone help me???

Thank you!!!

p.s. THERE SHOULD BE A DEAFAULT SETTING: for example, for me, I would set the default at 4 measures to the line so that what I am now experiencing does not happen. Instead, I'm tearing my hair out!!!! I want to set a MINIMUM number of measures to the line, not necessarily the maximum.