I have a project I’m working on to typeset a few hundred individual folk songs. Each one is in it’s own dorico file and has a single flow.
Is there a way to automatically import or consolidate all these files into a single dorico file? My hunch is that there isn’t an easy way to do so, but if anyone has tricks that might numb the pain in doing so I would greatly appreciate them!
Thank you in advance.
File > Import > Flows. Select the files, click Open. Tick the flows you wish to add for each separate file (in your case leave as it is). On the top select “Merge with existing players where possible”. That should do it.
You might find Dan Kreider’s podcast about compiling/creating custom hymnals on Scoring Notes Podcasts a valuable read. And since Dan is a regular contributor here, I’m sure he could answer any follow-up questions you might have.
Thank you for the replies and for the solution @avrabec
I did a quick test and that works great. I’ll need to just figure out how to format my flow headers to be a bit more customized when having more than one flow start on the same page. I’ll do research and return here if I can’t figure it out.
Something I noticed when I did an import of flows is that the casting off of each individual flow does not show in the flows imported into a master project. Is there any trick to getting that to work, or should I just manually put in system breaks where needed?
Those formatting changes don’t get imported with the flow; you’ll need to add them manually.
If your “master project” holds exactly the same layouts as the various source projects, copying and pasting from one project to the same layout in the other project will carry pretty much all overrides with it.
It’s dependent on the internal layout IDs matching, though, so it’ll only work if you basically have a single template file that holds all the layouts already, and then you start each project from that template file.
Thanks. It would be nice to have this clarified in the manual (e.g. what doesn’t carry over when flows are imported).
I am working on a similar project in which each separate file needs to maintain its own formatting. In your opinion(s), is it best to keep them as separate Dorico files and then compile them once they are in .pdf format?
Absolutely, if it’s a large number of songs/pieces. This is what I do for hymnals. Individual files, exported as PDFs, and collected/formatted in InDesign.
Many thanks, Dan. Do you deal with page numbers once in InDesign then?
Yes exactly. To be clear, Dorico has a great set of tools for this and I’m not disparaging those. It just depends on the size of the project. I had one a few months ago that was 950 pages. That just isn’t going to fly using Dorico alone. And as you said, the formatting requirements. Dorico isn’t intended to be a full-featured DTP like InDesign is. Dorico–>InDesign is just the workflow that works best for me.
Agreed. I’m still new enough in Dorico that I’d already spent a bit of time formatting the individual pieces, and was reluctant to do it all again once I imported them all as flows.
I expect to have similar, larger projects in the future, so I’m happy to have a better workflow to apply.
Can you share a little more about the project you’re doing now, or the ones you’re considering in the future? Users here can advise on best practices.
Sure. This one is for an autobiographical theater piece which involves extant, re-engraved Handel pieces (arias, keyboard, orchestral), spirituals as accompanied solo songs, and spirituals as choral concert pieces. It needs a conductor’s score and a piano-vocal reduction. The layouts and formatting requirements for each piece are quite different, so I can’t see how a single set of settings would work.
Yep makes sense.