Indeed it does not alter the existing note.
(Now in front of computer) And I’ve just checked and it definitely needs to be assigned to a different key or combination. Assigning to Shift-N means that every time you try to type a lyric, for instance, starting with “N”, you’ll get “No”.
Easily solved: limit yourself to setting the works of e. e. cummings.
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I too would like an option to leave force duration always on.
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add my name to the list of people who would like the “Force Duration” option as a toggle always on. I just copied a 900 measure piece for a client who liked durations a certain way, and pressing “force duration” for every little thing over 900 bars was quite time consuming and annoying.
Seems like this request has been around since December 2020…
Then turn on this Preferences setting:
Activate Force Duration once when you start Dorico then don’t worry about it again during that session.
Ah… you beat me to it 
Wow, thanks! is this jsut for the “Session” or can this be for any time I edit the file?
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Try it and find out, it’s all you got. But given that I still shout “damn it” every now and then, I think it’s for the session.
It’s a Preferences setting so it’s not project-based. Even with that on, I think you still need to activate Force Duration once each time you start Dorico.
+1 for this request! I’m a composer (so I don’t have “clients”, nor a “house style”), and the way I use rhythms in my music is to avoid the perception of any regular pulse, and using the bars just as a quick practical help during rehearsals and performances, but not to express the musical meaning of my rhythms. Besides, my rhythms are usually quantitative, not accentuative, so that (for example) a half note alone, a half note tied to a sixteenth note, and a half note minus one eight of a triplet are just little variants of the same category of durations (let’s say: “notes approximately as long as a half note”). In addition, the different instruments and voices (so, the different staves) do not use very often the same durations at the same time, in my music, and do not have the same base unit (one can be measured in eighth notes, for instance, while the other is measured in triplets eighth notes, at the same time, and so on). I feel that I really need to decide which durations have to appear, and Dorico’s default options are often something I constantly have to fight with. A “force duration” always on would really be very convenient for users like me (and I think we may be quite a few) and the lack of it is actually one of the main problems in using Dorico for me.
Did you read the last few posts where it explained how to enable force duration on in the preferences? You still have to manually activate force duration when you open the file, but that should hopefully just be once a day.
That being said, I also have written a bunch of pieces that just use 4/4 for coordination purposes and that avoid the regular pulses. Many pieces by Ligeti do the same thing. A lot of the rhythms in Ligeti’s works like this are expressed with tied values where it clarifies the beats and aids in coordination - it doesn’t necessarily imply a different accentuation. I haven’t seen Ligeti do anything like write a literal half note beginning one eighth rest through the bar, for instance - too hard to read, and hinders coordination, especially when there is a lack of rehearsal time. I have never personally seen a need to force duration in most circumstances in these types of free pieces - in most cases, the only times I do it are when I need to clarify the exact point of a dynamic arrival.
In fact, for such works, I much prefer the flexibility that the auto-notated rhythms give me, as I often find in the process of writing that maybe a moment needs more time or another moment is too slow paced and things need to pick up a bit, and such changes are made much easier in Dorico than other programs, especially if I don’t have all these durations forced, because then I can just add or remove time and everything is still correct.
In my view, forcing durations all the time is a good way to work if you are always 100% sure of what you want, and never change your mind on anything later. This is often the case for people engraving the works of others, or perhaps re-engraving an old work of their own, but is rare for people newly composing a work.
Thank you, yours is an interesting insight. I come from Finale (though I had already bought Dorico a couple of years ago, before it was announced that Finale was quitting), so, while I have already used Dorico for two or three pieces, I think I need some more time to realize how to use it at its best and meeting my needs. I will surely learn more with time!
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