Derrek,
Thanks for those advices but they are, like Janus suggested, “trivial” and do not apply to the issue I have raised in my initial post.
The issue is: initially you input a whole note with dynamics length over the whole of it. Then, for some reason you want it to start later (say, 1 quaver later) and end earlier (again, say, one quaver before the end of the whole note). The easiest way (used in Sibelius) would be just to drag with mouse the starting point of dynamics to the right and end point to the left. In Dorico there are several ways to do it and none of them is comparably smart or easy. Option 1: shorten the dynamics and move it to required position (one click and who knows how many key hits). Option 2: divide the whole note into pieces (like quavers or crochets) drag with mouse the start of dynamics to the one where you want it to start and then link notes back to a whole note (several clicks, several key hits). Option 3: delete the dynamic and use the first technique describer by Derrek (this is the fastest way). There are three options and none even close to what would be a user-friendly solution.
As a many-year user of Sibelius and and almost all Dorico’s life user of Dorico I quite often arrive to a basic question: we know that Sibelius and Dorico are two biggest competitors in notation area, but why can’t Dorico improve what is weak in Sibelius, but keep what is good there? Why ALL has to be different resulting in problems like the one we discuss here or the previous about interpretation of articulations of tied notes? There is no doubt in my mind that in general I value Dorico way higher than Sibelius, but on some important details level Sibelius wins, and these details usually cost my time.
Perhaps Dorico’s team would be willing to listen to the user’s comments, especially when they are not artificial or made with the purpose of annoyance.
Witold
It is always possible to use the caret to enter hairpins.
Shift-, and Shift-. (< and >) to initiate the hairpin (no need for the popover), then arrow to where you need the hairpin to end, then either Shift-D dynamic Enter or Shift-/ (?) to end it without a textual dynamic.
N.B. the hairpin will not show at all until you’ve given it length as above.
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Thanks pianoleo, I knew the hairpin wouldn’t show up till pressing right arrow, but didn’t realise that it was necessary to Shift-/ to terminate. Very good of you to take my examples and use them, and I’m pleased to have found my error!
I have not seen those shortcuts before either… but it makes it very easy to create additional dynamics in the middle of a long note. Thanks for the tip!