So, in my score there are quite a few times where the bottom staff system of a page doesn’t line up with the bottom system on the next page? Is this OK, or is there a way to fix this so that they all align correctly? I really don’t want to have to manually adjust the vertical spacing between instruments for every score (yes I know each score will have different vertical spacing depending on what’s on the staff but still…) If anyone has any suggestions please feel free to comment! When I used Finale all the bottom staff systems were aligned with each other. I’ve also included my project incase anyone wants to experiment with it.
Carry On Wayward Son.dorico (2.9 MB)
You’ve got one system per page, and you can see the Page “Fullness” indicator in Engrave mode at the bottom of each page.
The values are between 78% and 83%, but your Vertical Justification is set to spread the staves out when the fullness is more than 90%.
So, it doesn’t happen, and Dorico uses the Ideal Gap values (with adjustments for collisions).
If you set the Vertical Justification % to 75% (or lower), then all the systems will fill all the pages nicely.
No one wants this. That’s why we use Dorico!
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Could you please tell me where you went to get to that area in your picture?
Layout Options > Vertical Spacing > Vertical Justification.
In Dorico, there are lots of Options where you define things as defaults; then you only need to make manual adjustments very occasionally.
One more thing: You’ve put System Breaks on every system. That’s probably more manual work than you need to do. Let Dorico do the spacing.
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I know I did system breaks. I like how it’s spaced out. Also, before I hit apply, is this correct what’s in the picture below?
Yes, that’s fine.
As for the Note Spacing – you’ve changed the Note Spacing in Layout Options to 3.5 (down from Dorico’s default of 4).
That gives you 7 pages (with the last page not very full). If you want it more spaced out, change the Note Spacing value to something like 5.5. That fills 9 pages automatically – without you needing to add Breaks!!
Then you can add just one or two breaks to fine-tune things, like the Coda at the end.
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Thanks for the suggestion! I was also taught that the 2nd page and onward bottom system shouldn’t go below the copyright text that’s on the first page. Is that true or not?
The first page often has a slightly different layout from all following pages, because it’s got titling and other text. A quick check of some Ricordi and Barenreiter editions on my shelves shows that the first page system bottom is higher up than subsequent pages, exactly because it has copyright info, and the others don’t.
But if that’s what you want, then set the music frames in the Default page template to be the same bottom position as the music frame of the First page template.
If you’re saying that the second page and onward bottom staff system is supposed to be lower than the first page, I’ll leave it. I must’ve gotten told wrong in the past!
It’s certainly true that page 2 onwards should all align – and Dorico will do that for you.
I was mainly focusing on that they should be lower than the first page.
I tend to think of it the other way round: the first page should be higher than the rest, because it’s got extra stuff. 
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Well, now I know. They say you’re supposed to learn something new everyday, and I did! I’ll be applying that to my marching band template, and sharing an updated version! I greatly appreciate your help!