I’m typesetting a set of short harpsichord pieces which will include many cases of more than 1 flow on a page (I’m putting each of the small pieces in its own flow). However, the vertical distance from the end of one flow to the beginning of the next one is too big for my taste. Is there a setting I can modify to change it throughout the whole project?
(I tried Setup → Layout Options → Page Setup → Flows but nothing there seems suited for this task.)
It’ll be a combination of values rather than a single one, I think.
In Layout Options > Vertical Justification there are thresholds for how Dorico should spread music on the page. By default the first of these is set to 60%. I suspect that the assortment of staves, music, Flow Headings etc. (and gaps between them as defined in Layout Options > Vertical Spacing and Layout Options > Page Setup > Flows takes up fractionally more than 60% of the usable area on that page.
You can check this for yourself if you have Dorico Pro: switch to Engrave mode, select the Staff Spacing tool and you’ll see a percentage value in the bottom right corner of each page.
Setting that first threshold to something higher will fix the immediate problem, but it won’t necessarily allow Dorico to squeeze a third flow onto that page. For that you’ll probably want to reduce
Layout Options > Vertical Spacing > Ideal Gaps > System to System or possibly the top and bottom margins in Layout Options > Page Setup > Flows.
Yes, when pages aren’t vertically justified (or when they’re quite a bit fuller than this page), the margins above/below flow headings are most likely what would improve that gap quickest.
Thank you very much, guys. I will try all this. I’m not necessarily indenting to put three flows on one page… it’s just that I’d like two flows to be closer together. Thanks again!