Negative margins for frames no longer respected

[mkpiano8]

Issue type

Other type of issue

Description with steps to reproduce

TEXT FRAMES - Issue with Overlapping Multiple Text Frames in Ver. 4.6

Overview:
To help with the professional formatting and engraving, I use Musescore Studio for the front matter on all my scores. With the use of multiple text frames that overlap each other, I can create extensive and detailed text boxes. To do this, I usually have to alter the "Gap to staff/frames" value in the property tab of each text frame. This has been the way I have been creating front matter for years now and as of version 4.6, this feature is subsequently gone. All of my scores with multiple overlapping text frames have broken and spread out to use one page EACH for every single text frame. What was a two page Preface is now a five-page long spread out mess of text. It is especially noticeable when looking at the first page of music for the score and you'll see how squished the staves look.

I have updated Musescore Studio multiple times and ensured my PC is up-to-date. I did not change any internal settings for the editor when the update dropped and have yet to change anything still. This directly an issue with how I manipulate Text Frames. (Even altering the other values to move the frame did little to alter the frame)

---

There are no steps to recreate, however, along with this submission are multiple musescore files of mine (using a zip folder) and a subsequent PDF to pair, which should show the CORRECT formatting for the same score. When opening the current Studio file, it should show the spread out text frames. A last note is that the values I have already used when formatting my music are still in place, however, the text frame does not budge in any direction.

Thank you for taking the time to read and explore this issue!

TextFrame_Bug.zip

Supporting files, videos and screenshots

As the issue deals with the properties of a frame, I recommend comparing the Musescore Studio file and the proper PDF of my compositions. When you do, you will see how skewed the musescore file is compared to the finished PDF. I have provided the materials linked into a zip file above.

In which versions of MuseScore Studio is this issue present?

MuseScore Studio version (64-bit): 4.6.1-252801513

Regression

Yes, this used to work in a previous version of MuseScore 4.x

Operating system

Windows 10 Pro 22H2

Checklist

• This report follows the guidelines for reporting bugs and issues
• I have verified that this issue has not been logged before, by searching the issue tracker for similar issues
• I have attached all requested files and information to this report
• I have attempted to identify the root problem as concisely as possible, and have used minimal reproducible examples where possible

[MarcSabatella]

I can confirm that negative gaps will no longer allows frames to overlap. But FWIW, I'm shocked that this technique ever worked - overlapping frames by using huge negative offsets was never intended to be supported. The correct way to create multiple columns is with a single vertical (not text) frame containing two separate text elements.

If it happens to be convenient to add back a way to allow frames to overlap, I'm not opposed to it of course, but - if you are going to brings your older scores forward, I'd encourage you to redo that front matter. Shouldn't take but a minute or so per score - you can copy the individual text elements from the old text frames to new vertical frames..

[mkpiano8]

For future reference, I personally think it is a simple way to add complex front matter; it helps keep everything separate. This said, you can still overlap text frames by using the "Bottom Padding" value in the property tab for each frame. When inputting a negative value, the text doesn't move, but the frames shrink or "invert" and you can have multiple frames on the same page and have the text in the same place on the paper.