diff --git a/Compatibility b/Compatibility
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..941cba8b36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Compatibility
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+
+Compatibility with 1.2 scores
+
+- In 1.2 beams cannot span measures. "Begin Beam" markings are ignored.
+  In 2.0 the marking is honored.
+  Bug: the current implementation does not handle beams spanning pages.
+       The resulting layout is undefined.
+
+
diff --git a/libmscore/element.cpp b/libmscore/element.cpp
index 944a2da065..abd09a2110 100644
--- a/libmscore/element.cpp
+++ b/libmscore/element.cpp
@@ -691,9 +691,11 @@ bool Element::readProperties(const QDomElement& e)
             _readPos = QPointF();
             }
       else if (tag == "pos") {
-            qreal _spatium = spatium();
-            setUserOff(QPointF());
-            _readPos = readPoint(e) * _spatium;
+            if (type() != TEXT) {   // hack for 1.2
+                  qreal _spatium = spatium();
+                  setUserOff(QPointF());
+                  _readPos = readPoint(e) * _spatium;
+                  }
             }
       else if (tag == "voice")
             setTrack((_track/VOICES)*VOICES + val.toInt());