I tried using U+00AD and I got some strange results. If there was text already in that syllable, I got an invisible character of null length: I could only notice it was there by moving the cursor left and right with the arrow keys. If there was no text, I’d get a hyphen glyph, but I couldn’t select it so that I could copy it.
I’ll definitely try your suggestion of small unbreakable spaces: I think they will improve the looks of my score. And I wonder if the slightly imperfect results I got with U+2011 are somehow related to the way Dorico places hyphens at the end of a system (hyphens encroaching on the previous syllables at the end of systems is yet another problem I wish would be solved).
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Thanks, I’ve found this solution works best for me, since I can make all sorts of substitutions. How to manage character substitutions? - #10 by dan_kreider
I’m back, asking for help again. I don’t know whether it’s the font I’m using, or the fact that I’m on Mac. But I need the non-breaking hyphens to match:
I don’t remember what I modified on my other font to get them to match. It looks like Dorico is using an en dash? Is that right?
Dorico is using whatever you specify for Lyric hyphen character on the Lyrics page of Engraving Options, which is the regular minus-hyphen character (-) by default.
When I want an orphaned hyphen I add it by editing the single lyric syllable.
I use U+2011 for that. With a U+202f before it. Works like a charm
Thanks Daniel, but I’m not understanding. I do have the hyphen character set to hyphenminus in Engraving Options
and here’s the glyph in the font:
But it’s still displaying a non-breaking hyphen as some sort of en dash. The regular hyphen is correct.
Ok, I modified the font and copied the minushyphen glyph into the en dash code point, and now it works.
I don’t know why it’s insisting on the en dash, and I don’t like not having an en dash in the font, but it’s a workaround. I’d still like to know the proper way to do it in Engraving Options, or to know if I’m missing something.
Have you changed the keyboard layout to Unicode to get that result? I’m quite confident you didn’t…
I didn’t, no. How would I do that?
Search for “Unicode Hex Input” layout and add it to the input menu. Once you have the menu showing, there’s also a full-featured character picker available.
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Sorry Dan, I thought you knew… Let me know how it goes for you, for me this has solved any hyphen-related problem 
Thanks, I’m looking into it. I’m an absolute beginner on Mac, having used Windows my whole life.
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on Mac:
hyphen -
alt hyphen –
alt shift hyphen —
Yes, but no. In lyrics, you cannot use the hyphen as it jumps automatically to the next syllable. U+2011 appears as the expected hyphen.
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