Saving a handbell template isn't giving me what I want

I’ve been tried this several times and still don’t get what I thought I should. I’m trying to create a handbell template formatted the way I want. I’ve got all the handbell techniques. I think I have all the playback controls as I want (though haven’t checked lately). The issues seem more basic than that.

I create a project with two flows, one eventually for the bells used chart, the other for music. Both flows have one measure. I save it as a template under the category of handbells. I get out of the working window and back to the window that lists all my current projects – I see the window is labeled as the Steinberg Hub. I click on Create New, click on Handbells, click on the name I just saved.

I’ve seen one of these when the template opens:

  • The BUC flow has 32 measures, not 1, and the music flow has the one measure I expect.
  • There is one flow of 32 measures. I’ve forgotten how to tell which flow it is.

When I save the file as a template what am I forgetting to do?

Two flows does seem right to me: the “bells used” chart typically appears at the top of the first page and shows which bells are used in the piece. It’s natural in Dorico (in the absence of an automatic feature to create such a chart) to use an additional flow for this.

When you saved your template, @bellist, did you activate the Preserve existing flows option? I think this would be a good idea: that should ensure that both your “bells used” flow and the main flow are preserved and will be there in the newly-created project.

Tried it – had a file with a one-measure BUC flow and a one-measure Music flow. Saved it as a project template and checked the Preserve existing flows box.

Then I closed that file, which brought me back to the Hub. I clicked on Create New and selected the template I had just saved. It opened with a 32 measure BUC flow and a one measure Music flow.

I’d attach this project template file if I knew where Dorico put it.

I did some poking around and I found what is going on.

In the Hub under Create New there are options on the right side for initial conditions for the new project. One of them is the number of bars. And it was set to 32. And those 32 bars were assigned to the BUC, because that is first flow.

The problem wasn’t in saving the template, but in opening the template for use.

After opening the template as a new project and seeing that I got what I wanted. I closed it without saving. The working screen closed and the Hub did not return as it has done on every previous use of Dorico.

I tried restarting Dorico by double-clicking on the desktop icon. Nothing. The Activation Manager says it is Activated. I’ll try a computer restart in a moment. I’m on Windows 11.

Restart done. I clicked on the Dorico icon. I got a message: “Dorico did not close correctly last time, and the following auto-saved projects can now be recovered.” It listed one. I selected Discard All. Then the Hub and Dorico main window opened as expected.