Awkwardly-spaced lyrics after moving bars

I’m not sure how the third syllable got left-aligned. But thanks for flagging it! As for key combinations, I can’t get most to work for me. The whole matter of which elements are assignable and which aren’t remains a frustrating mystery. Maybe it will receive attention in a future update?

I may try this if my new setting for lyrics and hyphens don’t fully capture what I need. Thanks for the tip!

“Sometimes, you just can’t get it all on one line.”

I seem to remember that making key combinations for aligning syllables requires changing the JSON file for keyboard shortcuts. Unfortunately I no longer remember which of the files it is or where it resides. Someone on the forum can surely help if you’re interested.

“UI.InvokePropertyChangeValue?Type=kLyricTextAlignment&Value=kLeft” : [ “Your Key Command Here” ]

It’s also a matter of where it resides. There’s one embedded in the Dorico app but I seem to remember its not being a good idea to change that, as future updates will overwrite any changes.

%appdata%\Steinberg\Dorico 3.5 on Windows.
~/Library/Application Support/Steinberg/Dorico 3.5 on Mac.

I know, I looked there (on both laptop and desktop Macs) and the only folders in the root library directory were dedicated to NotePerformer, and the only folder in my users library directory was an empty download assistent folder. No JSON files at all.

Hmm. You need to have stored at least one custom key command from within Dorico itself, or there won’t be a JSON file in the user folder. Could that be it?

Are you looking in the wrong Library folder?
In the finder option-click the Go menu to see the user Library folder.

Jesper

No mistake. There’s really no JSON file in any of my library folders. I have stored some commands within Dorico itself. Does this prevent the formation of a JSON file in the user folder?

Are there at least some application.logs in there? Mine looks like this (albeit on a user account that hasn’t been used much, recently!)

And on That Other Operating System:

Now I’m worried…

That’s the global library, isn’t it? See how in my screenshot there’s a tilde (~) before Application Support? You need that…

As I said:

Hard to see, but seems you have an application support folder outside the Library.
Should be: vaughan->Library->Application Support->Steinberg

Jesper

We’ve somehow drifted from marmalade skies to here? Not sure if any of this discussion of JSON files is for my benefit? I’m pretty good at learning software and occasionally at something that goes an inch or two below the surface. (I’ve created dozens of macros for Microsoft Word, for example.) Alas, everything you mention in this string is entirely lost on me.
Having said that, I WOULD like to see a more usable system for assigning keyboard shortcuts to things in the panels/menus that I use every day. (For example, why no option to hide time signatures via a keyboard shortcut?
There are no mentions of marcos or scripts in the Dorico User Manual (at least a word search returns nothing), nor any YouTube tutorials on the subject.
So Vaughan, I appreciate your encouragement to add keyboard shortcuts to manipulate lyric placement. For my purposes, I’m not sure I’d use them as often as other shortcuts. And the learning curve for writing and storing them seems to call for brainwidth (brain bandwidth) and time I don’t have.
But again, thanks, everyone!
David

The point is that if you’re prepared to record a macro and then dissect it, you can find out what the command is that the property triggers, and you can then manually graft that command into your keycommands file.

There are two more detailed write ups of the process here: Dorico 3 - Keyboard shortcuts for microtonal accidentals? - #5 by pianoleo

The scripting functionality is largely incomplete, so there’s not yet any documentation for it.

Hi David,

I understand the reticence to jump into the deep end. Before I started using Dorico, I knew nothing about JSON or any of that (I still know very little).

The point is that you can use these JSON modifications to assign key commands to all sorts of extra things. It’s a question of scale to determine the return on your time investment. If there’s an operation you need to perform often, it’s worth it to do a little head-scratching and assign a key command. Then it’s done forever.

As a perfect example of this, I modified my JSON to add exactly the function you mentioned: hiding time signatures using “H.”

Here’s a short video I made to show how it works: Adding key commands to Dorico using JSON - YouTube