Dorico is Very Intuitive

I’ve been working on a full orchestral score and it’s the first large project I’ve used Dorico on. I am finding it to be very intuitive and the workflow just seems so easy. When I bump into a problem looking it up in the manual or here on the forum usually solves it, unless I get the language wrong in my search. “Edit” “delete” “erase” and other terms that are similar don’t always have the best results. So the indexing of the manual could maybe be a bit more intuitive but the program itself I am finding to be very close to effortless. I was a long-time Finale user and I think I’ll be staying with Dorico. Thanks Steinberg & Co.

3 Likes

That’s lovely to hear, thank you for sharing your experiences @reberclark! Particularly the feedback on potential improvements for the manual. Do you have any particular examples (even just one or two) of things you wanted to do/achieve but struggled to find the relevant bit of information, and the searches you did when looking? You’ve already helpfully mentioned some but if you have an even more specific example that would really help me identify exactly how best to improve things. “Edit” can be a very broad and all-encompassing term unfortunately.

One thing that can help searches on the webhelp is if you put exact phrases inside quotation marks, like “repeat barlines” (with the quotation marks).

I will try to recall what the snags were. They were mainly word equivalents that I had to hit exactly to get to the help I needed. I tried many things including the quotations. I would eventually get to what I needed but searching the internet in general was faster than the manual. “Change” “Edit” “Replace” “Delete” “Alter” are some that come to mind immediately. Without being actually in the project any more it is tough to recall anything more exact. As I remember them I’ll pass them along.

Hi Lillie. I said I’d post when I had another manual issue. Here’s one and I think I have a good suggestion. I was looking for information on changing my flow headings. I typed in “remove number from flow title” and found the page for “Flow Heading Editor”. All well and good but unless I missed it there is no indication of how to find the Flow heading Editor in the article. At the very page top is “Table of Contents > Engrave mode > Flow headings > Flow heading editor” but because I am moving fast (not wanting to lose my idea when searching) I’d love to have a similar indication in the informational text that tells me where to find it. Just a thought. Thanks.

Can you share where you’re looking, because in the latest version of the manual, the instructions for how to get to the flow heading editor are at the top of that page.

Granted, it refers in text to the location (in the Pages panel) but a related link to the Pages panel is at the bottom of that page, and that page shows both a screenshot of the Pages panel and tells you it’s on the right in Engrave mode.

Hi Lillie. Thanks for your fast response. I am looking here: Flow heading editor

I see the instructions at the top and that is where I will look from now on. Thanks. I am having to develop new workflows coming from 25+ years of Finale and I haven’t mastered this one yet. Thanks.

Yes, that’s the same link to the one I shared. Our general style in Steinberg manuals is to include an instruction/reference to how you can reach/find the dialog/panel etc being described on that page near the top. There’s a short introduction, then you’ll find the instructions.

If there are multiple ways of accessing something, they’ll be listed. If there’s one, it’ll nonetheless be in a bullet point - our hope being that makes it easier to spot in the rest of the topic.

1 Like