Hello all. I’m writing this because I’m finding myself becoming more and more dejected about trying to learn my way around Dorico. I am watching so many tutorials every five minutes, because the more I do (I have managed to do a few lead sheets fairly successfully…) but it is taking me soooo long that it’s very depressing. I find I run into issues that I can’t replicate because I don’t know the program well enough … and then I watch the tutorials and ask for help here – and I have to say, the help is great. Very responsive and helpful. So thank you all for that sincerely. But I’m feeling like I may have to take lessons or something. I’m not even beginning to do anything near the level of stuff I was doing in Finale and what I am doing is taking me so long I feel on the verge of giving up and just buying a lap top and keep the OS old and run Finale until I die. I know I’m just being a baby…but oof. 5 hours to do a lead sheet is making me very sad. I don’t want to keep asking for help here every time I need it – but my brain is having trouble applying some of the tutorial info to the specific thing I’m doing. Has anyone else, especially maybe 60 years and up, felt this frustration growing? Any helpful advice? Maybe paying for some work sessions is the answer. Thanks for listening.
Don’t worry Bob, the Forum is here mainly to answer questions 
It is also suggested to use the forum search functionality, to see if maybe a similar question was already be answered.
You can also take advantage of a free switch session (don’t know if this is still available):
And on the Dorico resources page there is a list of official trainers:
I wish you that you will soon overcome your frustration and begin/continue enjoy working with Dorico.
(As general suggestion: I take note of every new thing/functionality that I learn on a Note file in my Mac, and add pictures/screenshots and links to my notes, to help remembering the procedures.)
Hi @bobwalton60,
Have you tried the First Steps guide?
Bob, I’m so happy to hear that you’re having seemingly insurmountable problems. Why am I happy? Because it tells me that I’m not alone. Even after watching video after video, and lurking around here trying not to feel so clueless, I still feel that way.
It’s not that Dorico does things differently than Finale did them. It’s that there are (seemingly) so many steps to accomplish what we did with a simple click or two.
I’m still trying, but I fear that I will be using Finale as long as I can.
I hope your life improves with Dorico. Can you list a couple of things that are taking you longer than you wish? There may be an easier way to do them, but maybe not!
Bob,
I get it. I spend an hour a day on Dorico and I have learned a lot, but I still find myself circling back to Finale for finishing many projects. Having said that, a lot of what I do is banjo tablature and Dorico handles that very well.
Bill
Hi Daniel - And thanks again to everyone who responds. I do want to reiterate that the personal responses and these forums are very helpful. I’m not sure I ever heard from a Finale rep in 35 years, I relied mostly on the kindness of strangers and friends. And also had a younger brain 35 years ago to learn. There are definitely some “getting started” things I could revisit and learn properly in Dorico. Like I said, I have had some success while working only in lead sheets - it’s not a lot of info I’m inputting. And right now I can’t even imagine doing a complex piano part or an orchestration - feels light years away atm. But just today I had issues with how to remove slash regions. I did finally get it - and granted some of it may be a basic thing of trying to select certain elements while still in the note/carat option…But I think or hope maybe maybe I can duplicate that result. I thought there would be an option of “make this measure standard notation” – anyway. That, then I had issues of wanting a double bar at the end of the into - and the next bar having a repeat sign - and seemingly not being able to do that. ?? I had troubles with learning how to change the enharmonic spelling of accidentals. I’m still not POSITIVE I’ve learned that one – but maybe. Then the thing that drove me to write my venting message was when inputting, trying to get notes to be dotted. I had had success in the double tapping (the 6 key for example, with midi keyboard) had made it a dotted quarter pretty consistently – but for some reason that I couldn’t figure out, it was creating two quarters instead. Is it because of the “note before duration” setting? I’m still trying to make it work similarly to Finale speedy entry…was it because Dorico doesn’t want a dotted quarter following an eighth note that was tied to the previous note…I never figured out why it was behaving this way. I felt myself aging! And this is what pushed me to feeling like I need to do something more drastic. Maybe it’s private sessions with someone, or a course. Anyway, I’m getting tired of hearing myself - which is probably a good thing! Thanks for listening.
Are you talking about this? Or something different? You can post a screenshot from Finale, or a picture from printed music, to help explain.
Yes – if you’re using Pitch Before Duration, then each press of a duration key will enter a new note. If you’re using Duration Before Pitch, then double tapping a duration key will add a dot to the selected duration.
I’ve never had much luck with the double tapping and finally turned it off. Reaching the period key is not much to ask in my case.
And I have been using Dorico now since it came out (after being one of the first adopters of Finale those many years ago), and I continue to be impressed with each new Dorico release.
I’ve only been doing this for a few days, but it seems very useful: feed the Dorico documentation into an AI and access it that way. (I use NotebookLM because I happen to have a subscription to Gemini, but similar interfaces are available for other ChapGPT, etc.) I created a new notebook for Dorico and added the Dorico pdf . I also added the NotePerformer PDF, since I use that. If I find other relevant material, I can add that, too. (If only I had a PDF of Behind Bars… )
The result is that I have conversational way to find what I need from that set of documents. Much like asking a question in the forum, but without bothering anyone. Not only does it find the relevant material and give very detailed instructions, but it can customize the results. For example, I told the AI that I use a Mac and don’t want to see any Windows keystrokes; it now gives me Mac-specific instructions. If there are several ways to do something, it finds them, even when they are in different sections of the manual. The output also links back to the PDFs, so I can check anything that seems questionable.
Like I said, I’ve only been using it for a few days, but overall it seems very promising.
Issues with tied notes vs. dotted notes are often caused by settings in Notation Options. Look for Note Grouping settings, which determine how a dotted quarter note is displayed (and many other options). Try changing some of those options and watch the notation update automatically.
Do download the First Steps tutorial and work your way through each step quite deliberately - you will learn many of the underlying concepts of how Dorico works (and why). You could also search the forum for a tutorial offered by Dan Kreider which was developed for older versions, but is still quite helpful.
Oh, and while entering your notes and chords - don’t worry how it looks as you enter it. Just keep entering notes until the end, then start working with how it looks (that includes dotted notes, beaming of 8th notes, spacing, etc.). All that can be done later (and very often by adjusting global settings which automatically update the notation and beaming - it’s all “actively fluid” — which takes some getting used to).
Keep watching videos on YouTube, especially those by John Barron and Anthony Hughes, and keep asking questions on the forum - you’ll eventually understand how it all works. Hang in there!
As many here have, I have had to learn new software and unlearn others. It is very frustrating. For example I wanted to learn DTP software (Quark Xpress) many years ago. It took three years and 5 attempts before I made any progress at all. I was familiar with two other DTP programs so it made it very difficult.
With new software I usually look through all the menus, often writing down where various options are (not all, just a few that I might need to know for now). And repeat this a few times as I need to, in a few days or weeks just as a mental reminder. Some entries will be more obvious what they refer to, so I start to remember those, where they are, how the software might need them for my access. I usually find menus give an overview, a kind of template of how the software is kind of set up … and of course, where various menus are. This is visual, whereas key commands can be a bit more difficult sometimes to memorize although Dorico’s key commands can be quite easy for at least some of them. If you know something is somewhere in the menus, then you just click through them, you can read the menu wording, so no problem there.
With Dorico, there are so many settings (Engraving, Notation, Layout settings) so I would spend time going through them, setting any options if you understand any and again, making any notes of where they are for later reference.
The most common options that seem to be complained about initially relate to beaming and note values/ties. Make a note of where they are, which of the three, and either set them, or feel free to move on inputting and leaving that detail for another day. Don’t try to learn it all at once.
Repeating what you have done is a better way to learn. As you know there are very many aspects of preparing music and although completing a complete piece like a lead sheet can be finally satisfying, there are too many components involved to remember anything much.
I would suggest this instead:
Work on a few lead sheets, by just inputting notes (not beaming or even needing to correct note/tie annoyances). Just get used to (ignoring rest input, entering note values, perhaps adding slurs). Do this regularly every day, you need to repeat this again and again, (not then going off into some other aspect or layout setting unless you really think you have to.) (No absolute rules, but you asked, I’m just replying.) Get a few basics practiced.
If you are wanting a little more of a challenge, add dynamics, which is just the one Popover, Shift-D. Many of them are easy to remember, p = piano, f = forte etc. Either put them where they need to go, or just practice a few wherever you like, undo, repeat adding them, undo.
Gradually you will speed up, but give it time, and actually you might not even feel yourself speeding up. Do this several times a day if you can, even for a few minutes here and there, or at least every day. If you run out of lead sheets, just do them again, yes it’s practice a few things at a time, again, not a complete piece just learn small elements of input.
When we do a layout there are so many many things needing attending to, it’s quite enormous. It will become a blur in your mind to complete one each time, and actually very likely not in any way be memorable.
Next if you want to be brave ask here or look at the user guide for some layout/engraving settings and set those. You might hopefully see them change on your music as you wish them to. Make a note of where they are. Or just play with a few vertical stave settings and just see what happens. Play with them a few times, not for the goal of completing the layout, but just to actually learn what they do (visually), so play around with just a few settings. Then come back to it in a few days as another practice session and repeat.
I always write notes to myself, on paper, little diagrams and underlining like being at school. As I learn a little more, I write down those too, I might not write down everything, again, too much. But just what you want to make a note of. Again, it is a visual reminder. And just look at it away from the computer, it becomes your own personal memories/user guide to assist you in remembering what you have done (achieved).
If you want a break from this kind of learning, do a tutorial or two, or watch a video on basics. Hopefully some of it will be what you already know, (now practiced) so you have mental room to learn a little more. Feel free to stop a video so you do not get overloaded with information, perhaps repeat a section of it only a few times over a few days, just that segment.
At some point you will come to dynamics or slurs or something, so you would now have a number of lead sheets to practice with. Be brave, if it is going well, undo a few times and enter whatever it is to put them in again. Practice becomes memory.
Take regular breaks, a day off, do something else so your brain can relax and get away from the frustration.
I could go on, but I would think you get the idea. Small amounts to learn at a time and repeat and practice just those. You know, a small amount. Your aim is to learn and memorize a small amount, not complete a whole piece or even symphony. Over a few days, practice again just that small amount. Don’t leave it took long in-between practice sessions (as short or long as they may be) otherwise you’ll have to learn it again instead of (after a few practices), remember.
If you become bored or question something or want to progress (just a little please!) then look up something else to add, learn, but do not progress too soon. Your brain, your mind, remembers specifics (some of which are no longer needed and getting in the way now), but your mind also has experience in learning and more importantly, how it learns. However you perceive this, see if it can now guide you into learning Dorico.
We have all been where you are (surprised? I hope not. Dorico is new, most of us have come from Sibelius, Musescore, Finale, Encore …) Dorico is a fresh reinvention based on many years experience of the team and all their hours and hours of research; many of us here now know the benefits of using Dorico; but many of us use other music notation software.
Take it or leave this but you have asked, so I thought something here might, just might be useful.
I think we are all glad you have started this thread and collectively have a great understanding of your utter frustration. I hope you feel you are among friends and colleagues.
Best wishes
Great answer. I concur a 100%
Yes! Very thoughtful.
@MarcLarcher I hope it makes sense, when I usually do this kind of answer, it takes a few days or a week or more to refine whatever it is to make sure it says what I wanted to say. This is probably the quickest one I have done, I have not re-read it yet, it might need editing 
Thank you @DanielMuzMurray also.
A PDF of Behind Bars is available.
I’m in the age category the original poster mentioned.
To echo Christian_R, I have a word processing document on my computer where I write up (for myself) how to do things in Dorico using the words I’d use to explain it plus the “real” vocabulary of Dorico. I also use screenshots, some of which I mark up with explanations. It takes time, but in the long run, it’s helped me save time. I also put in links to forums threads, and I quote relevant parts of them.
Then when I get stuck but I know (or just suspect) I’ve seen this before, I search that document. And I use the forums a lot. Now I can usually find my answer on the forums without even posting a question, but sometimes the answer eludes me and I start a thread. The help on the forum has been amazing!
Your brain is readjusting long held habits, that doesn’t happen overnight. Actually it literally does happen overnight while you sleep, that’s when your brain cleans house and makes the chemical memories from the day more permanent, but for this it isn’t taking a day or two. Give it time and work at it every day, eventually you’ll wake up and it’ll just make sense and feel like you’ve been doing it forever.
If you think about it, when Phil Farrand set down the core design of Finale he had no idea what he was doing. Nothing against him, that’s how it is for all us software engineers, the first time we don’t know what we’re doing. However in his case he was a writer, not an engineer, so didn’t have experience from previous projects at least to build from. He also was an music editor, so you got a design from that use case perspective, but which has other constraints because of it.
Here in Dorico, with all of their legacy experience in doing a notation program, these folks had a chance to apply all those years of experience learning the right way to do it, applicable to many use cases. So they’re doing it in a way that looks radically different from Finale - because Dorico was written by industry experts while Finale wasn’t. Again - not knocking Finale or other notation programs, just talking as a software architect about these things work.
I wasn’t coming from another program but it still took me a long time to feel comfortable because its so well thought out. Now I can’t imagine working any other way.
You do not need to have a dedicated machine with old operating system to run last Finale version.
Just use a virtualized OS (with VirutalBox for example) just for Finale, performances should be more than enough. With some tweaking you should also have usb thru for audio interfaces.
Worth trying. You will have it on the main machine.
A suggestion for the development team: an interactive Zoom session where participants can present share/present their Dorico projects on screen and ask “how do I…?” and get a solution realtime. Just a thought. I’ve used Dorico since it’s inception and love it (I’m over 60 for what it’s worth) but yeah, I’ve had to watch certain videos (which are excellent) multiple times in order for the info to sink in and it’s totally because I had to get to that “aha!” place. When you see the big picture of it’s logic and well-thought out design it’s like the clouds parting to reveal the sun, lol. Here’s a link to a recently created playlist specifically for Finally to Dorico people. Skip the first one since it deals with installation which you’ve already done. Hang in there - it’s worth it!
Edit: this is a series that moves progressively forward