In this example I’d like to align “39” with “38” and “40”
I know I can move “39” and its new position is shown in properties as Bar number X and Y. But these offsets are from where Dorico thinks it should be placed. That has no connection to the position of “38” which is where Dorico thinks it should be placed and thus has an offset of zero.
I recognize in left-right positioning I don’t want to bring “39” straight down, but to move it a bit to the right. But that’s secondary to getting a matching distance from the top of the staff.
I tried it. That option moved “38” (and “37”) up to the level of “39” and did not move “40” so they are still not all aligned. And I wanted “39” to be brought down to “38”. It also changed the bar numbers in the system before.
When I selected that option I selected notes in all the bars in the system. I did not select notes in the previous system.
While I can upload the file I don’t think this is a problem with the file. It is about how I can finely position “39” so that it matches “38”.
I removed the manual positioning of “40” and tried “Align bar numbers across width of system”. Again, it moved “37”, “38”, and this time “40” (and bar numbers in the previous system) to match the lofty position of “39” and what I want to happen is a way to align “39” with the lower position of the others.
Another way to say what I want: “38” is so many spaces from the top of the staff. I want to set “39” to be the same number of spaces from the top of the staff. But the offsets for “39” aren’t from the top of the staff, they’re from wherever Dorico thinks “39” should go, and I can’t gauge how far that is from the top of the staff.
That’s not how the feature works, and it is clear why: that could cause other collisions as higher numbers move lower.
What you might do is align all measure numbers for that system and then choose all the numbers on that system in Engrave mode ( manually or using Select More…) and lower the numbers with ALT/OPT + down-arrow.
I tried setting the options Christian_R suggested. The bar number “39” stayed in its lofty position. Also, the gap between the bar and the first element in a measure was beginning to look strange.
I tried Derrek’s idea of aligning the bar numbers and bringing them into position as a group. But here I consistently ran into the situation that the bar numbers of the previous system were also aligned. With that I decided there could be a problem with my project. So it is attached.
I maintain that Dorico is missing a capability, that of offsetting an element, not from where Dorico thinks it should go, but offset from something concrete, such as the top line of the staff and a barline.
When the offset is based on where Dorico thinks it should go there is the problem that if I remove the element that put a bar number in its lofty position the bar number’s position changes, frequently down among the lines of the staff. It then must be moved again, and again from an unknowable position. This is not a good way for me to position bar numbers consistently.
Thanks for the help and for taking interest in this problem.
I am unfamiliar with the Library Manager and don’t see it mentioned in my local copy of the Dorico manual. I wonder how well the Library Manager will be able to compare a file from Dorico 6 to one of Dorico 5.
What little I can see with my eyeballs is that in bar 39 the G-flat was moved to the right rather than the bar number moved to the left. The question then is how you accomplished that.
I didn’t move manually the Gb, but I just changed some global options (similar as in showed in my previous post). Here the settings for this V2 of the file:
First: When I made the same changes in Dorico 5 that Christian_R made to Dorico 6 I did not get the same result. The number for bar 39 remained high and aligning all bar numbers in the system moved the others up to 39 rather than moving 39 down to where the others are.
Second: I tried the Library Manager, comparing my Dorico 5 project to the one Christian_R changed in Dorico 6. And this is where my confusion comes in. Didn’t you take my file, make a few changes, and post it again? If so, why were so many things listed as not the same? Why were the HSO expression maps for bassoon and clarinet solos listed as changed? This project has neither instrument.
Perhaps pulling the project from Dorico 5 to 6 changed a lot of these things? Perhaps more were changed when I pulled a Dorico 6 project back into 5? All those changes may mean changing settings in Dorico 6 to fix this problem are a sufficient reason why changing them in Dorico 5 doesn’t work.
Third: I’m thankful for all the help all of you on the forum are willing to give to me and others. Over the two years I’ve used Dorico you have helped me many times.
But in this case, I’m done. I will move the few high-flying bar numbers by hand, getting them as close as I can to the others on the same system by eyeball.
And I will repeat my request for a change in how Dorico allows positioning of bar numbers. The offset should be from where the barline meets the top line of the staff instead of from an unknowable position of where Dorico thinks the bar number should go. Using the current method I have no way of precisely aligning bar numbers (where I think they should go with some left-right leeway). I’ll be glad to discuss this change request in more detail.
