While adjusting the layout of some parts, I’ve moved various items like some dynamics markings or system-attached text that have created bad staff spacing in the part, and that has created other issues that I don’t like about the layout of the part. Is there a way to revert all the way back to how a part would initially appear? Using “revert to saved defaults” will change only the engraving or layout options I may have changed, but it won’t move the moved items back to their default positions. Is there a way to get the moved items back in their original locations?
The easiest way to completely reset a layout is to delete it in Setup mode and then recreate it.
If this is not what you want – if you want to reset the position of some items but you don’t want to lose things like system breaks, note spacing changes, etc. – then you could select everything in the layout, filter for just the kinds of items you want, and use Edit > Reset Position. (Or select a few of the things you want and use Select More to select the rest, without filtering.)
Thank you asherber. Filtering and resetting position does what I need, I think, along with the reverting to saved defaults. The problem I run into is when I have some stacked text items (including rehearsal numbers, which I realize aren’t exactly text), that separate staves too much. If I move a bar to the next system, it sometimes results in two staves being very close together. Changing the minimum vertical spacing between staves has never changed anything, whether justification is on or off. So I’m trying to make changes in parts by moving things around for better reading and am running into some serious layout issues. Reverting things back to original positions gives me a chance to try some other ways of getting the parts the way I want them.
Just to clarify: You’ve been talking about part layouts. Assuming that these are parts for single-staff instruments, each staff on the page is actually its own (single-staff) system, so the setting you want to adjust is the inter-system gap, not any of the settings involving staves.
Interesting. I did not know that. I’ll see if changing that setting makes a difference. Thanks for that insight.
This was really helpful. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to my idea of staff vs staff system, as in a score, but it definitely helped my spacing troubles. thanks for that bit of advice.
You’re welcome!
This isn’t just a Dorico thing, btw. A system consists of one or more staves. In an orchestral score, there might be 10 or 20 staves per system; in piano music, there are two staves per system; in solo cello music there is one staff per system.
In Dorico, the first 9 settings under Layout Settings > Vertical Spacing > Minimum Gaps all refer to spacing between staves in a system; you can see that the graphic accompanying each image shows the systemic barline connecting the staves on the left. When there’s only one staff per system, as in most part layouts, these settings don’t apply.
The graphic for the inter-system gap does show a system divider, which you normally wouldn’t have in a part layout, but this is just to emphasize the fact that the two staves belong to different systems; the divider is not required for this setting to have an effect.