Beaming options

I’m using a trial version of Dorico Elements. I’d like to be a able to beam 8th notes in groups of two, rather than the default groupings of four 8th notes. Searching around, it seems one can set this in “Notation options,” but I cannot find that in any of my menus. I also tried the key command “ctrl-shift-N” as well as “cmmd-shift-n” as I saw both listed in a forum.

In the edit menu, I see there’s a beaming menu. However the only option that seems to work for me is the “make unbeamed” option, which gives me single 8ths with flags.

Is what I’m trying to do not possible in the Elements version?

Notation Options isn’t available in Elements I’m afraid, only in Pro. Here are the key differences between the versions.

You can also split beams in Elements, which should produce what you want. You can also try specifying beat grouping as part of the time signature, e.g. [1+1]/4 - however, there are some options regarding time signatures with a half bar, like 4/4, that will still apply regardless of the beat grouping specified in the time signature.

Ok, thanks. I discovered I can select two 8ths at a time and choose “beam together” and that works. A bit tedious, but it’ll do for now. I teach young kids and I don’t use four 8ths beamed together right away because they easily confuse it with a grouping of four 16ths.

You might find it easier to select all the notes immediately to the right of where you want to split the beam and split it, as I suggested - you can select lots of notes and split the beam to the left of them all at once.

You can also copy music with the beams already split (e.g. after doing the first bar), copy/paste that and then repitch the notes.

For what it’s worth, I anticipate that future versions of Dorico Elements will include the ability to modify notation options.