On Windows 10, I’m trying to copy some special characters into the lyric popover (in this case, Czech).
Some, like Ž, have a native keystroke assigned. But many do not, and I can’t get Unicode to work in the popover. So I have to copy-paste from the Windows character map.
When I paste, it kicks out the popover and deletes any other letters that were in that syllable.
If possible, I would like to be able to copy-paste from the character map into the popover while having it stay active (I know the popover cancels when I click away from Dorico). Thanks.
Unicode does work in the popover, I use it all the time for my short unbreakable spaces compulsory in French typography… But yes, the copy-paste behavior has changed a lot
The copy and paste code has changed because of the ability to paste lyrics syllable by syllable. We could change it so that the pasted text is added to whatever is already there in the popover rather than replacing it, but that would have the disadvantage that you would then have to explicitly clear any existing lyrics before you paste in new ones on top of them, which would take extra time. I’m unsure which way around would be more annoying!
I think the best solution here would be for Dan to figure out how he can input unicode… On mac, I have no problem at all (changing keyboard layout to unicode and alt+code) but on Windows I could not help him. But Google is there…
Maybe an alternative workflow would work better when using characters like that: typing out your lyrics fully (if possible) in a text editor, adding the unicode characters there, hyphenating as required, then copying and pasting the whole selection syllable by syllable?
I don’t think there’s any way of doing this in Windows that will work in all applications (it’s straightforward in Microsoft Word).
By far the quickest way to enter Czech characters or words into the Lyrics popover is to install support for Czech (Language Settings, Add a preferred language) and use the On-Screen Keyboard (or simply type). Predictive text is offered.
That’s what I do but it’s far from ideal and even when I know the music very well, I rarely mark up the text correctly first time.
I’d really like a super-popover into which I could paste some text, mark it up as required, and have it applied to a span of music. It wouldn’t be that different from the editor we use for forum posts. It would be nice if the editor had useful features like unicode entry, a glyph palette, a multi-item clipboard, and tools to handle things like syllabification, but they wouldn’t all be needed immediately.
I’d be prepared to sacrifice the Lyrics popover but if it were retained, changes would be synchronized with the marked-up text as presented in the editor.
