I use the arrow keys in Engrave mode mostly for fine adjustment of selected items, which requires the option key. Otherwise, I use them (much less frequently) for selecting a note in a chord or other items that are difficult to select with the mouse. I never use them for moving around the page.
Therefore, I request an option to reverse the present system. No option key for adjustment of a selected item; option key for moving from item to item.
Agree 
%. Having come from Finale, I tried to move some things in Engrave mode by just clicking the box and dragging, and nothing happened until I consulted the online manual and learning I had to use option-arrow. But trying to move something, like a final bar line to right-indent the last system, is fairly quick in Finale and a slog with the fine adjustments via option-arrow.
Just checking: Have you tried setting Layout Options > Note Spacing > Only justify final system in flow to 100%? That will let shorter final systems remain short.
Are you aware of the other key combos to move objects larger amounts?
I did not know of that. Thanks-that works very nicely, and I’ve now set it as my default.
I wasn’t, although I do know about invoking the CMD key when clicking on up or down arrows in some of the preferences to go to the next integer rather than in increments of 0.1. The only thing is that it becomes even more cumbersome (at least for me) to have to remember 2-3 new shortcuts and whether they move things a tiny amount, a “moderate” amount, etc. It would just be so much easier to be able to drag things where I want them. I know Dorico is very much keyboard-centric, much like PCs and older terminal-based systems. Don’t get me wrong-I use a ton of keyboard shortcuts in my daily life, beyond Dorico, and always love playing with Unix. But there are a plethora of keyboard commands for Dorico, and while I certainly use them all the time, I’m still having to look up commands that I don’t use often enough to remember. And some of these options for Engrave mode are in that category. So yes, I’d love to see the ability to simply drag things where I want them to be, rather than having to gradually move them with arrow keys; even if a larger increment is used via a modifier key, it still isn’t likely to be as fast as simply dragging the handle of a note to where I want it. If I need finer precision, that’s the place of an arrow key, and that sort of behavior I think is pretty standard across various graphics apps.
I agree, but once I learned these, I don’t think about them anymore. And if I happen to use the wrong one, I can just Ctrl+Z and then use the right one.
Don’t forget that you can access any command from the jump bar (which will also display any applicable key command, to help you remember in the future).
Most things in Engrave can be dragged; I think it may just be note spacing handles that can’t be. There’s probably a design reason for this, but I don’t know what it is.
I’m sure you could set your key commands appropriately to do this.
I don’t think those commands are listed, but I agree that this is the likely/better outcome for the request.
Toggle switches for different styles of operation add complexity to learning and support.
Well, under selection and navigation you have select left and right, which are simply the arrow keys by default. Easy to change to alt-left etc…
Yes and I do use the jump bar on occasion, but I’ve not found it to be as useful for me since you need to know the specific command verbiage exactly for it to find it.
Once you’ve found a command you know would be helpful to your workflow, if you type = followed your desired shortcut (can be just one or two letters), from then typing that into the jump bar executes that command.
Documentation:
Thanks. Yes, I will certainly give that a try.
Quick question: is there any way to make that the default behavior across scores? I’ve tried saving as default after changing the percentage to 100, and it does not carry over to previous scores or even a new one. Thanks.
There are different sets of default Layout Options for score layouts and part layouts. If you want this to be the default for future part layouts, you need to open Layout Options, select a part layout in the right-hand panel, change the setting, and then save as default. If you also want it to be the default in score layouts, then repeat that with a score layout in the right-hand panel.
Defaults will affect new projects, but not existing ones. And if you’re changing the behavior for multiple layouts in an existing project, make sure you have them all selected in the right-hand panel before hitting Apply.
Yes, I had done that for the full score and tried it again just now but only in one case did it seem to carry through to a new test score. Every other new score I created had the prior default of 50%. Not a big deal, but not sure why save as default is not working for this. Thanks.
Your user config files are in c:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Steinberg\Dorico 6 on Windows and /Users/<username>/Library/Application Support/Steinberg/Dorico 6 on Mac.
In that folder, find the file called layoutOptions_scores.xml and open it in a text editor. Search for noteSpacingJustificationOptions. Does the threshold show there as 100, and use threshold is set to true?
Thanks. This is where BBEdit is one’s friend; easy to find any text string in a document. Indeed, it is correct at 100. And now, a new test document seems to have it; not sure what was going on before, but all good now. Much appreciated!
Getting back to the original topic. I expected someone to point out that using the Option key protects one from accidentally moving things around with the arrow keys. To which I would have replied that, as it is, one can accidentally do all kinds of damage with the mouse in Engrave Mode. Using the arrow keys is protective in itself, and I don’t feel the need of additional protection by depressing the Option Key.