Moving order of Staves

ex Finale user needs help. I want to move one staff above another globally. How do I do that?

Welcome to the forum — and to Dorico, @JEK!

In Setup Mode drag the player whose staff you want to be repositioned up in the left-hand Players part of the window.

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so easy !! thank you

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another question, how do I select all staves ( not just 1) of a certain part in order to move them vertically? I was thinking I could shift select but it seems not to work

Strange — shift-click works for me (Mac OS). Of course, if there’s one you want to move down that’s straightforward.

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yes, I to am using Mac OS. I’m in ‘engrave’ - staff spacing and selecting handles…is that correct?

Hi @JEK, if you are referring to moving staves graphically in the Staff Spacing of Engrave mode you have different possibilities:

A. selecting the big squares, the ones that control the systems (that in a single staff typical part is practically the same as the the staves) you have three possibilities:

  • use the Marquee tool and drag a selection that includes the desired systems control points → all the systems control points are select
  • if they are adjacentselect the first one, and then shift+arrow down to extend the selection
  • if they are not adjacent you can command(control) select them

B. selecting the little squares, the ones that control the staves, you use the second or third mentioned method:

  • if they are adjacent select the first one, and then shift+arrow down to extend the selection
  • if they are not adjacent you can command(control) select them

Here a little demonstration:

I don’t want to move the system (big square), just the lower of two staves (little square) but globally

You can edit the first page staff spacing as desired, and then copy this spacing to other pages (from menu Engrave/Staff Spacing/Copy Staff spacing…) if the subsequent pages have [cit. from the Manual] the same number of staves per system and the same number of systems per frame as the source page, it works nicely.

Here a little demonstration on a full score:

And here the Manual:

hmm…per chance do I need to create another page first? increased spacing would certainly require at least 1 more page. I followed those directions – having spaced as desired in the first system - and nothing happened ?? btw thank you both! very kind.

If you would like post your project here (or a cut-down version of it), this would make helping much easier and faster (as it avoid guessing and many questions/answers ) :wink:

I have only two staves in each system, therefore 6-7 systems per page, no a system that takes an entire page

ok thanks

screen shot of first of two pages

I mean: to post the Dorico file itself… (a screenshot doesn’t say much about the context)

Andante in C p.70.dorico (913.3 KB)

Hi @JEK, it was faster to make a workflow video for your file, and show how with just a couple of clicks you can have have a good layout:

Here the little video I made for you (about a fast workflow to polish the layout of your posted file):

@JEK
Also, here some more tips:

  • don’t star layouting before you entered all your music, dynamics, texts, etc, etc…! Because the automatic spacing and the needed spacings will of course change if you write some more material in your score

  • it is comfortable and handy (and suggested) to write your music in Galley view (for example because the view doesn’t jump to the next system or so…, and you are not distracted by layouting things and can concentrate on the content of your piece first), and once this has be done, to switch to Page view, to start layouting decisions, etc…

  • generally as you will see, (if you have no forced frames or page overrides), Dorico will create the needed pages to display your music, and delete the unneeded ones

  • you can also adjust globally the note spacing in Layout Options/Note Spacing, to shrink the music even more (for example if you have just one system orpahnized on a last page…)

  • you can also use a global casting-off of measures per system and systems per frame, if desired: under Layout Options/Staves and system/Casting off (but probably the number of automatically needed pages, by the current Layout Options settings, will increase)

  • you can anytime see the fullness of systems and frames with the percentage values (and colours) in Engrave Mode (that helps to make decision about what to do: global settings or local settings, that is probably better to change, as shown in my video above) :

  • in your file I would reduce the Page Margins especially the left one! (under Layout Options/Page Setup/Page Margins)

  • maybe you want another bracketing: you can change it automatically in Layout Options/Brackets and Braces:

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Wow, that’s amazing! You’re the best. Many, many thanks from a former Finale user, new to Dorico. TNX

@JEK Glad to help! (I added some more specific tips in my previous post :wink: )