The right hand is an “allowable” exception to the rule about showing beat 3 as it’s a complete pattern throughout the bar. The left hand isn’t an “allowable” exception as the offbeat pattern doesn’t complete the bar, so you have to show beat 3. I agree the discrepancy is noticeable and not good, but I think the solution is to either manually change the RH with an override if you want to keep that option elsewhere, or change this Notation Option:
Thanks. Allowable exceptions sounds a bit complicated. However I am surprised that within the same bar Dorico can take two different approaches to grouping.
I will try your suggested setting anyway.
By “allowable” I really meant “allowable” by common notation standards. The catch in your example is that Dorico is considering each staff separately rather than the Piano as a whole. I agree it would be nice if Dorico could consider both hands here. Here’s Clinton Roemer’s explanation from his book:
Your RH is rhythmically the same as the top example #5 which is fine as it’s a commonly used figure. Your LH matches the rhythm of the 4th bar at #6, which he calls “not as acceptable” and rewrites in #7.
Using the setting you suggest certainly aligns the LH and RH by making them both tied quavers. However the first setting only seems to revert the RH back to a crotchet leaving the LH as two tied quavers.
It’s not a big deal of course.
And thanks for that fuller explanation too. I see the issue now.
Clearly there are differences of opinion and they vary by situation. If Dorico could provide a selectable default behavior in Preferences, and/or a simple way to override the default, we could all agree.
Force Duration is the simple way to override.
Thanks - that’s the answer to the OP.