Any tips on getting PDF into Dorico? I tried converting to xml then import but anytime I convert the notations gets changed significantly.
No, you cannot import a PDF of a score. You need to use XML. If the score is properly created in a standard notation software, it should convey most conventional notation upon import. It is best to import XML files “dumb” - that is, without importing their settings.
Thanks! Do you have any tips on how to get a PDF into XML? Any programs I tried produce the XML then I get an error when I import in Dorico. I imagine it’s because the programs are that are converting it are junk. I was thinking of trying Acrobat.
I see there are some specific music programs for this for reasonable price just not sure if any of those actually work well.
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I have never found a good way to convert PDF to XML to Dorico so I have always just manually create it myself from PDF then notate it in Dorico. I have a lot of arrangements in PDF from past project before my Dorico days so was hoping I wouldnt have to do them all manually.
The XML format can be various things, depending of witch software for what you use it. (I had once a program for my old Windows machine that made a complete backup of the hard drive as a single .xml file but it contained for sure no music information 
)
Dorico and notation programs handle import (and export) of MUSIC XML files, that are a very specific type of XML
To produce such XML from music (pictures or PDF), I use personally PlayScore2 and it is truly phenomenal!. Very easy to use and very accurate.
Here a good video from the Dorico channel by @Markus_Hartmann (in German, but you can try with the auto generated English subtitles. I don’t remember if John made also one in English).
You find the links to the app in the description of the video. You can also make only one month subscription (circa 6€), and the suspend it, and reactivate for another month when you need. I made the lifetime subscription (circa 60 € for what I remember).
In a couple of words: the app transforms images or files into XML that you can easily send to Dorico and open them there.
I found also this video from their channel:
And a general video about music XML import in Dorico by @John_at_Steinberg :
Thanks for sharing this. I will look into it. From what I used and tried (was years ago) and from what I read it always seemed like those programs would require fixing os many errors where it was more work than creating it all manually. I never tried this one so I think it’s worth a shot as Im sure a lot has changed since I tried one.
If you follow their suggestion (of the maker of PlayScore2) of how to take the picture of the music (or if you have a clean PDF file is even better) and you set the options in the app trying different settings, you will be surprised of the results. And you can immediately see the accuracy of the recognition, even before exporting as XML, because the app gives you an audio playback of the scan, so you hear immediately if the recognition is what you want.
Of course there are always things to correct after the XML import, but it is only a little work in comparison with re-entering all the music manually.
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WHOA! I just tried “Sheet Music Scanner” cause it had a free trial. It can use a PDF file or scanner with phone. Then it expore to XML and I got in Dorico and looks pretty clean. Lyrics didn’t make it in but I think with a little more playing with it I can get lyrics and Im also going to try the one you suggested too. Both of these apps are very reasonable priced.
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Agree! I can’t believe how far I already got with just a few minutes experimenting with the apps. I’m super excited. Thank you and this all the more reason why I love Dorico- great support on the forum too
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There is also a French application PDFtoMusic. It reliably reads PDFs generated by notation programs, scans don’t work:
https://www.myriad-online.com/fr/products/pdftomusicpro.htm
In the mean time though, PlayScore2 is my favourite.
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Just tried the app.
Fantastic!!
Not only exports the printed sheet page to XML, but also play the printed page!
Very useful. Thanks for the tip -
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@Christian_R - I imported a very clean PDF and Playscore 2 shows it perfectly and plays the audio well. I then Export to MusicXML then Import Music XML into Dorico and somewhere along the way it loses bars that have slash note heads but it does show these bars in the app and during the play back.
I’m trying all sorts of settings and no luck. Any chance you have seen this issue? If I can import 60 out of 80 bars and do some clean up on those 60 I imagine it will still be more efficient. I will find out soon
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Hi @Sebastien-Jacob
If you can send me your PDF (also as private message if you like), I can try and see what are the best settings.
By importing XML in Dorico I suggest to deactivate/untick all the options in Preferences/Music XML import