Cross Staff Lines

Dorico
1

Sorry to be dense, but could someone please tell me how to add a cross-staff line as in this picture from the User Manual (3.5 pro)?

lines_notehead_attached_example
lines_notehead_attached_example694×194 20 KB

Just point me to an explanation, or a video. This is the first time I have tried to add a line to a score.

I have read all seventeen pages about Lines in the User Manual, and the Scoring Notes page on Lines.

Here are the things I found confusing on my Lines journey: this page in the User Manual references a Lines Panel, but offers no help as to where to find it or what the icon is that represents it. A picture would help, please.

I found the panel, but it offers a choice of Horizontal or Vertical, but I want a Diagonal line.

So here is what I did, I inserted a horizontal line attached to a note at each end, then in Engrave mode, with Graphic Editing selected, I moved the line to the cross staff note. The problem is that the line is no longer attached to the second note.

I am sure there must be a better way, that doesn’t take 40 minutes.

2

The next page in the manual is this one, which includes a picture: Lines panel

  1. Set the attachment points to noteheads at both ends (see picture in manual linked above)
  2. Select the start and end notes on the page (click the first then Cmd/Ctrl-click the last)
  3. Click on the line you want in the Lines panel.

You might also find this page helpful: Inputting horizontal lines

As a general pointer: the manual’s split into small chunks. If you find yourself on a page that talks about the thing you’re looking for but doesn’t give detail on how to do the thing (or vice-verse), it’s worth looking through the links at the bottom of the page.

2 Likes
3

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

I am sure you don’t need to know this, but I have always navigated the User Manual from the Side Panel, which is much more labour-intensive. So thank you also for drawing my attention to the ‘next page’ and ‘previous page’ arrows.

The other bit of information I was missing was how to select two non-adjacent notes - “click the first then Cmd/Ctrl-click the last”. That is simply a life-saver.

Best wishes

4

Sure. I actually meant the “Related Links”, though the arrows are very useful too.

5

Leo’s quite right, the manual is divided into lots of small topics that are quite focussed in content.

We’ve now added a brief introduction that covers this a bit, including tips for searching and looking for onward information.

6

Thanks @Lillie_Harris - I would like to say that I think you do a great job. I use other software that doesn’t have a manual at all. You have to do several, including now for ipad.

I guess that the frustration I feel with Dorico, is that it seems difficult (for me) to find out how to do what seem to be relatively simple things, in this case draw a line. I am a long-time (and now ex-) Finale user, so I suppose I am having to unlearn as many things as I now learn.

Best wishes

7

I certainly do appreciate that. In the Dorico manual, it should be the case that instructions for “what to do” include an active verb: inputting, moving, changing etc. If there isn’t an active verb in the title, chances are it will give you information but not instructions.

I try to keep the variations to a minimum, so the task Leo linked you to (“Inputting horizontal lines”) includes various scenarios in the first step, including a tip for selecting notes on different staves. However, I do see how if what you want to see is a diagonal line, this title might not jump out at you. I’ll make a note to add some diagonal-related keywords.