I’d like to suggest a refinement to the handling of defaults across Dorico’s option panels (Engraving Options, Notation Options, Layout Options, etc.).
While I’m fully aware of the Library Manager and its usefulness for managing complete sets of settings between projects, this request concerns something more granular: the ability to act on individual parameters by adding:
a “Set this value as my default” function
a “Revert this value to my default” function
and a visual indicator (such as a small icon or highlight) showing when a value differs from the user’s saved default
This would greatly enhance clarity when reviewing settings. The current global approach makes it hard to keep track of which changes are deliberate and which are accidental.
Having visual feedback and per-parameter control would provide more precision and speed, without relying on exporting and comparing full libraries every time.
You’re right that only Notation Options differ per flow.
But please do not be needlessly pedantic just to dismiss a valid feature request. This is not about flows. It is about the absence of per-parameter control in Dorico’s option panels. I know how the Library Manager works and I use it when needed. What I am suggesting is something much more immediate and usable during normal work. I want to be able to see which individual parameters differ from my saved defaults, and have the option to reset or define those values one by one.
One last thing: are you actually part of the Dorico team, or do you just personally dislike me and feel the need to keep replying with that tone?
I’d like this too. Currently you can only save all of your current Engraving Options at once as a default, where I might only want to save one value as I’ve changed others for a specific client. You can of course just open engravingOptions.xml and manually change it, but most people won’t want to bother with that.
This of course already exists now in Library Manager where you have individual control over every default setting and visual indication if the value is different or not.
Yes, I know that kind of control exists in the Library Manager.
What I’m suggesting is having it also available directly where you’re working, inside the options panels. Being able to right-click or see immediately if a value differs would make things much faster and clearer, without needing to switch to another part of the interface just to check one setting.
It’s just about having everything in one place when you’re adjusting things. Nothing more.
I’m with you on this. In fact, I would very much welcome if the libraries themselves could be accessed in a way that they do not obscure the score when opened*, so one could view the effects of a particular setting being applied without exiting them and - if the result isn’t what was desired - needing to reopen them.
(*I do know about multiple or ultrawide screen setups, but I think this would be very useful if it was possible on a single laptop screen as well.)
You may know this, but dialogs which have Apply/Close buttons instead of OK/Cancel buttons (e.g., the Options dialogs but not Font/Paragraph Styles) are non-modal and do not block access to the score. You can change an option and hit Apply, then switch to the score to see the effect without closing the dialog (and then back to the dialog).
I made a similar suggestion about adding this functionality to Library Manager.
You’re right that this is not the same as having the functionality available within the Options dialogs themselves. But it’s better than what we have now, and at the risk of harming a programmer fairy I’ll guess that it would be easier to add this to Library Manager than to redesign all of the Options dialogs.
Yes, but that’s still more clicks and cursor moving - and thus, energy and time - needed than it would be if we could have the score and the libraries side by side. In my mind, I can imagine this being solved by opening the libraries in the right half of the screen while the score is still visible in the left half. When editing the settings in the libraries, one doesn’t usually need the usual side and bottom panels, so those could be hidden to make room for the libraries.
Just Alt+Tab on Windows, but I take your point that it’s an extra action.
You mentioned laptops before – on my laptop, the Options dialogs occupy most of the screen, so there wouldn’t be room to see much of the score, unless this were all redesigned.
Yes, and that is also a major shortcoming of the current UI in my opinion. We definitely need UI scaling and layout options to better make use of the available screen real estate and minimize the need for switching between different dialogs.
To respond to the initial feature request in this thread: I agree it would be helpful and indeed powerful, and we have of course discussed this kind of thing internally within the team more than once. Being able to show which values are modified through some kind of visual indication would be a lot of work, however, and it’s not something you should expect to see in the software any time soon.
