Bring back "Show line" property for text lines

[schult]

Your idea

MuseScore 3 allowed hiding the line for "text line" elements. MuseScore 4 allows this for some line types, but not text lines, although it does respect the setting in scores created using 3. I want this option back.

Problem to be solved

Text lines are the mechanism previously used for implementing concertina tablature in MuseScore 3. This is no longer possible in MuseScore 4, and the workaround of mixing staff text and text lines has proven more difficult and less predictable.

Prior art

No response

Additional context

• Concertina tablature description
• Sample tablature produced using MuseScore 3
• Support forum discussion

[bkunda]

To be clear, is the ultimate goal of this request to support a kind of tablature system whereby a number is attached to a note, and has the option of having a line extend outwards from it (nor not)?

If so, then a "text line" such as stave text or system text probably isn't the best way to do this in the first place.

I'd be reluctant to add a "show line" property for these kinds of objects just to support concertina tablature if there's a better way to do it. FWIW, I also agree with @MarcSabatella's comment in the forum discussion:

For ordinary text lines there would be no point in adding a line then hiding it - it would be the same as just adding the text"

It strikes me that a system similar to entering lyrics text would be preferable for concertina tablature, with a proper line element that can be vertically offset as desired (but for which there'd be a sensible default).

[schult]

That is the ultimate goal, and I can imagine a much better experience than what I've done with text lines, but I'd really like to have something that works now, while I wait for the better solution that might come someday.

Just to make sure we're on the same page, when I use the term "text line" I'm not referring to staff or system text. I mean a line element with (beginning) text set. That is, the "Line" element found in the "Lines" palette.

Further experimentation since that forum discussion has led me back to the conclusion that staff text and text lines can't be used together to produce this tablature. An important example - text lines appear below chord symbols (where I need them), while staff and system text appear above chord symbols. They're definitely not the same, and trying to mix them has consistently resulted in frustration.

I agree that lyrics style entry would be great. It's a lot faster than my current method, and it's actually how some people produce this tablature in other notation software. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to produce publication-quality results with lyrics in MuseScore, despite a lot of effort. I've also run into a lot of quirks when moving lyrics above the staff, skipping notes in a "verse", using a second voice for held harmony notes, and so on. I don't see a particular need for tab and lyrics at the same time (that would be a mess to read anyway), so maybe the lyrics system itself could be fixed up to support what I'm looking for, but I expect that would be quite involved.

[Dima-S-Jr]

@bkunda, the need to apply this property may be due to the need to duplicate the desired text on subsequent systems. At the same time, it is necessary that only the text is visible, and not the line as well.

It can be more than just a "div." (as shown in the picture above), but also any other text necessary to remind you of certain instructions. At the moment, I still see the best way to achieve this by being able to hide the line. There is another option: manually write the necessary text on each system, but this method is extremely inconvenient, because in the process of writing the score, the layout is constantly changing: some systems are breaking, some are expanding, and it is almost impossible to determine in which specific place the instructions need to be duplicated.