Well, I have spent nearly an hour on this. I’ve found some posts that deal with it – but this is what happens frequently still with me and Dorico – I can’t figure out how to apply the information I see. The latest is just how to put a box around text I created. In this case a bar number I created as text to go above the bar.
And now…
RANDOM RAMBLINGS: Here’s the other thing I’ve spent a lot of time on today…moving a system to the previous page. I THINK I did it…but it feels like I might have changed all pages instead of just the one I want. It seems like I have to go several steps in to resolve something that feels basic. Also - this is probably still a Finale shift I’m not able to make…but I feel like Finale let me visually do things and in Dorico I need to KNOW how to do it? Is that fair?? For instance, if I have the option to manually move the distance between systems on a page in Dorico, and I can create the space at the bottom of the page so the lone system on the next page can go there - why can’t I move it manually? This is also something I never really learned in Finale. All the numbers to use at certain times. ("use 3.91 instead of 4.20 etc…) that stuff never stuck in my tiny brain - I mostly eye balled it. Which I know is frowned upon. Anyway…more coffee. Thanks.
Assuming that you added the text as system text (or maybe staff text), what you want to do is go into Library > Paragraph Styles and define a new style; if there’s an existing one that close to what you want, you can set the old one as the parent of the new one. Then activate the Border property and set things there the way you want them. Finally, go back to Write mode, double-click on the text you added, select the whole thing, and apply your paragraph style.
It’s true that in Finale you could just push things around on the page. Dorico is more organized around a system of global rules, and the best approach is usually to adjust those rules to get the results you want, and only move things manually at the very end.
Can you upload the project in which you’re having problems moving a system? Someone can take a look and make some suggestions.
Thanks again. Yeah - I think for me this is going to be the continual challenge. Doing what you kindly suggested for a box FEELS like 5 steps to do something basic and it tumbles me right back into self doubt on how I will ever learn all of these elements. Ugh.
Anyway…here is the project. Just making some very basic, personal lead sheets for a gig - page 2, sad little “29.”
Love Song.dorico (950.4 KB)
When you enter system or staff text, there are many things you can change about the font right there – but border is not one of them. And the advantage to using styles is that if you’re entering several of these bar numbers, and later you decide that you want them all bigger, or you don’t really want the box, you can just edit the style and all the instances will change. It’s just like defining expressions within a category in Finale and using the category defaults – update the defaults, and the expressions change.
What would you like to change about your lead sheet?
Edit: The first thing I did was remove all the manual changes you had made to the layout. So now this is how Dorico lays things out by default. Can you describe the changes you’d like to make?
Thanks - again. Getting help here is very quick and greatly appreciated.
I guess this all started with me trying to get a box around that 29 on page 2, just because I was trying to learn something new…
I had moved the systems around on page 1 because I think they look too close together, mainly the first two systems. So I manually tried to create a little more space. I also prefer the coda on page 3 to be it’s own system for my eye…I guess that’s it.
Okay, here’s a lightly modified version of your file. There are certainly further tweaks that could be made, but I think it gets closer to what you’re looking for.
- I reverted all of the manual staff positioning you had done.
- For the 29 text, instead of using staff text, I added it as a rehearsal number (using Shift+A), which gets a box by default. In Engraving Options > Rehearsal Marks, I set the sequence type to be Bar Numbers.
- Dorico positioned the 29 above the other text elements, so I repositioned it in Engrave mode
- For your first two systems, it’s important to know that Dorico generally calculates spacing based on the default position of items; if you move something, you’re on your own. So the “bass often plays” text had been moved to underneath the staff, and Dorico wasn’t making room for it there. I reset it to its default position above the staff and then used F to flip it to underneath (could also have used the Properties panel for this). Dorico does understand a flipped position and now allows for more separation between systems.
- If you want even more space between the first two systems, you could play with Layout Options > Vertical Spacing > Minimum Gaps > Inter-system gap with content.
- I added a system break for your coda measure. And since Dorico by default seemed to prefer a slightly cramped line there, leading to a rather loose final line, I also moved m.71 down to the next line.
Love Song adjusted.dorico (947.7 KB)
Once again, I just have to say the attention and help I have received here is amazing and is above and beyond. It’s very much appreciated.
I think this looks better to me. I will mostly try to learn the bar numbers thing. And then I’ll see if my brain can learn these new methods. Like I said before, it’s not only what I became used to, but also how my brain works - is visual. My brain works better (in Finale for example) to go to the expression design box and visually see/choose the things I put in there. Maybe there’s a way I can see all these things somehow too. I have a lot of learning to do. I hope hope hope my brain can start to understand and apply “Layout option > Vertical spacing > minimum gaps > inter-system gap with content…” but some of that, I don’t even understand the words let alone what it does! Thanks again.
When you get there, Dorico gives you a picture of what it does, which I think you’d appreciate:
(I certainly appreciate this aspect of the Dorico options dialogs.)
Thanks again. I just created a box around m.5 ALL BY MYSELF!!! It’s 5 pm somewhere…