Just converted a number of Finale files (v27) to .xml. When they are imported to Dorico the number of measures per line is changed. Is there anyway of quickly and easily fixing this. For instance, have 2 measures on one line and four on another. It would also be great if you could change the number of lines(staves) on a page. I keep seeing people give shortcuts to Layout Options, but they don’t seem to work in my version (5) of Dorico.
Found Layout Options under Library
Hello @nutmegsuzy ,
if you want to jump to the Layout Options quickly, without going into the menus,
useCmd+Shift+L on macOS
or Ctrl+Shift+L if you are on windows.
Like L for Layout Options.
ps: edited to correct the key conbination
pss:
You can open Layout Options in any of the following ways:
- Press Ctrl/Cmd-Shift-L in any mode.
- Choose Setup > Layout Options in Setup mode.
- Click Layout Options at the bottom of the Layouts panel in Setup mode.
- Right-click an instrumental part or a full score in the Layouts panel and choose Layout Options from the context menu.
Isn’t it command/control + shift + L
shift + L would be Lyrics.
Jesper
jesele, of course you are right 
I’ll edit the above post.
Welcome to the forum @nutmegsuzy !
Dorico only has a single casting off value for bars per system (ie you can set the layout to be 4 bars per system, but that applies to the whole layout, all flows in it).
However, you can override that on a per-system basis using system breaks, “make into system”, or by moving bars up/down a system.
Thanks, I have some success moving bars around in Engrave Mode. Seems pretty labour intensive. Is there any way to set the number of lines (staves) of a single part for individual pages? For example, I have transcribed a lot of solos that begin with pickup notes or bars. The form of most is 32 bars. So ideally, I’d like the first page to be 9 lines and all subsequent pages to be 8. In contrary to some of posts in the forum, Dorico’s spacing seems to be a huge step backward compared to Finale.
The two programs approach things differently, but I think with familiarity you’ll start to see that there is comparable power in Finale and Dorico in this regard.
You can specify on the Staves and Systems page of Layout Options that there should be 9 systems in each frame, and then activate the option to scale the number of systems according to the frame height, so on the first page, where the music frame is less tall (because of the title info at the top of the page and copyright at the bottom), you will end up with 8 systems.
I will probably end up liking it or at least learn to live with it. However, I want 9 systems on the first page and 8 on the next ones. That title takes up way too much space.
Then you should redesign your First Page Template in Engrave.
@nutmegsuzy
if you use Dorico Pro: go to Engrave Mode, there you can shrink the header in your page templates.
Also, if you generate a Frame Break after 9 Systems and a Frame break at the very beginning: open the Property Panel while this first Frame Break is selected and tick “Wait for next Frame Break”
This will give you 9 Systems on the first page. If you think they are too crammed, change the Page Margins if that Layout, change the Staff Size if your Layout. This will probably get you closer to your desired result.