Is there a way to align text below the staff

Dorico
1

Hi I’ve figured out how to flip the text. But now I’d like to have it aligned. The text is one or two characters attached to a specific note and at the moment, they are a set distance from the note they are attached to. It’d be great to have them in a straight line.

Many thanks

2

There’s no function for aligning text at the moment, but you can change the default position of the paragraph style such that it’s a specific distance away from the staff in Library > Paragraph Styles. It’s a good idea to create a custom paragraph style and use that for all text of the same type.

3

No auto way, but tweak in Engrave mode.

4

Thanks for that. Is there a way to have a parameter for the text above and another for the text below the staff? Thanks again.

5

Thanks for that. When I align them in engrave mode, the changes don’t make it to write mode, is there something else I have to do? Cheers.

6

You can create two custom paragraph styles, one for the text above, one for the text below.

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Note that you can create key commands to input text directly in a specific paragraph style.

7

Hi, thanks for that. I’ve just tried doing that and when I alter one, it automatically alters the other one. Am I missing something? Thanks again.

8

It can happen if one is the parent of the other one, and you alter the parent.
It would be easier to help with a screenshot of your two paragraph styles!

9

Hi Charles, This the original.

Image 06-05-2026 at 11.42
Image 06-05-2026 at 11.424430×1644 330 KB

This is what happens if I select 8 as the below spacing. It changes both and the Ex 1b gets shifted too.

Image 06-05-2026 at 11.43
Image 06-05-2026 at 11.434330×1912 398 KB

Many thanks.

10

Thanks for the screenshots but I was meaning the Paragraph Style Dialogs with all the settings.

Could you also explain exactly what you want in terms of distance from the staff for both?

11

Sorry.

I hope these are more useful.

Image 06-05-2026 at 11.51
Image 06-05-2026 at 11.512090×1310 222 KB

Image 06-05-2026 at 11.51 (1)
Image 06-05-2026 at 11.51 (1)2056×1284 287 KB

12

Also, I’ve tried to set those to different numbers in a new project and it won’t allow me to do it. Thanks very much for your help.

13

I see, you’re just changing the settings of the same, which is the Default Text Paragraph Style.

You need to create two custom paragraph styles.

14

Here is a quick demo, where I create two custom Paragraph Styles, for text above and below, with a different distance from staff for each.

15

Wow. I really appreciate your taking the time to make that video. I’ve been trying to find videos on YT.

Thanks again.

16

Perhaps OT, but if you were to enter the ‘text’ as lyrics they would automatically align.
(and you can position them above or below the staff to suit)

17

That’s the way. Thanks for that. Much simpler.

18

That’s the way I’ll do it from now on. Thanks.