How to create a pickup measure ?

It is common that a piece of music begins with a measure containing only one beat, introducing the first measure of the piece. If the score is in 4/4, the first measure must contain one beat only. The graphic result can be obtained by disabling the automatic justification for the first measure, stretching the measure and then sliding the quarter note graphically to the center of the measure. If the solution is graphically correct, Pizzicato will play this measure, but it will directly play the first beat and then it will wait 3 beats to play the next measure. To avoid that, you can add three quarter rests (or one dotted half rest) before the quarter note. The playing will be correct, but graphically you will see the rests... With Pizzicato Professional, you will be able to hide these rests, but you will have a white space before the measure... Another solution is to place a 1/4 measure as the first measure and change in 4/4 for the next one, but it is not the standard way for music notation...