How to hide cautionaries at the end of a system

Dorico
1

Here is a procedure for hiding cautionary time and key signatures at the end of a system without needing to use separate flows. I apologise for the length of this post, but if you work through the steps you should be able to achieve the results as shown in the attached picture. I have also attached the Dorico project which I created using those steps. You might like to show signposts.

For the purposes of simplifying things, I limited each “exercise” to 4 bars per system.

As well as wanting a change of time signature and/or key signature at the start of each system with no cautionary time signatures and key signatures at the end of the previous system, my requirements were to have no staff labels, no bar numbers and no system indents.

  1. Create a new project consisting of 8 bars of 4/4 in C Major. Use whatever instrument you want.

Staff labels can be turned off in Layout Options > Staves and Systems > Staff Labels. Set Staff labels on first system to None and set Staff labels on subsequent systems to None.

Bar numbers can be turned off in Layout Options > Bar Numbers > None.

The indent of the first system can be removed in Layout Options > Staves and Systems > Indents. Set Indent first system of flow to zero.

Because the Coda functionality is being used, the gap before a coda can be changed in Engraving Options > Repeat Markers > Repeat Sections. Set Default gap before mid-system coda section to zero.

  1. In Write mode, select the barline at the end of bar 4. Press shift-B, type final, press Enter.

  2. While the barline is still selected, go into Engrave mode and press shift-S. This will add a system break.

  3. While the system break is still selected, go into Write mode. Press shift-R, type coda, press Enter.

  4. While the Coda mark is still selected, go into Properties > Repeat Markers and enable Hide.
    Add a time signature and/or key signature in bar 5 if you want to.

  5. Show the System Track if it is not already showing (alt + T).
    In the System Track (NOT in the staff) click in bar 5, shift-click in bar 8 then click in the rounded square at the end of bar 8 to make the selection. The 4 whole-bar rests, the time signature and the key signature (if they exist), the purple System Break signpost and the green Coda signpost should all be highlighted.

  6. Press R to repeat. Do this as many times as you need.

  7. To change the key and time signatures, click on a signature and change it to whatever you want.
    If everything has been done properly, there should be no cautionaries at the end of the previous system.

  8. Enter notes.

Obviously, if your “exercises” are of different lengths, you will need to add or delete bars as required and make any layout adjustments which you probably would have had to do anyway. Just make sure that when you change a key signature or time signature you are at the start of a “coda”.

No cautionaries
No cautionaries1640×2236 323 KB

No cautionaries.dorico (817.4 KB)

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Steven, thank you for the detailed step by step instructions!
Short version “if you want to avoid cautionary accidentals at the end of a system: use a Coda”

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@k_b Thank you for the thank you.

After having read previous threads on this topic I was left with the impression that some users still felt uncertain about the steps involved and also had some concern about the tedium of having to create many codas. For me, steps 6 and 7 take care of the tedium - once the first one has been set up, the rest is quick and easy.

I hope that my post will be of benefit to other users.

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THANK YOU for this workaround.

I read most of that long original thread on the concept of hiding cautionaries. I understand that Dorico is trying to preserve its workflow, but sometimes it’s just about the appearance that an engraver wants. Dorico allows menus and menus of customization for non-standard appearance and spacing of other elements (see Chord Symbols, Engraving, and Layout menus). So I can’t understand dying on this hill when it can simply be argued from a “I want my music / flow to look this way” standpoint. Creating multiple flows or hidden codas to hide one little symbol seems to me like forcing a breakdown in structure, not preserving it. Coming from Finale, I LOVE the flows concept, but this situation is over-tedious.

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You are replying to an old thread.

There is an official solution now:

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Thanks! That should be perfect (although I searched for this thread and posted because I couldn’t find a working solution for this in Dorico Pro 5 this morning, despite toggling an option similar to that mentioned in the help article). I’ll look again. I’ll assume it’ll work so THANKS in advance for clarifying.