Scope of settings

Dorico
1

This is a pretty general question, but I run into it often. Many settings offer options about the scope of the changed settings. Two examples:

In the lower zone of Engrave you can “set local properties Locally or Globally”. Does locally mean just the selected notes, or the flow? Does globally mean the flow, the project, all future flows in the project, or all future projects? (and further, why does it not say just “Set properties Locally or Globally”?)

In Layout Options you can Save as Default. Is that the default for this flow, for the project, future flows of the project, or all future projects?

The same questions come up for Notation Options and Engraving Options and Preferences.

Is there one place, or explanation, for the scope of all these different settings options?

2
3

It means Local to the Layout. Global means “All layouts”.

That’s for new Layouts in this project and in new projects.

Engraving Options, etc, all behave in similar ways.

The Application Preferences are … just that, and can be set without an open document.

4

Sorry, but the categories and terminology are still not entirely clear to me. When you say “Local means ‘local to the layout’,” does “layout” in that sentence apply only to that layout in that flow, or to that layout in all the flows of the project? Conversely, does “all layouts” apply to just that flow or to the project?

(I apologize if I sound dense on this, but I really cannot find a simple answer in the documentation, and using trial and error to discover the scope of settings would be endless. I can only hope that my confusion may help those writing documentation to appreciate how some of this looks from the outside and coming from software that used a fundamentally different approach.)

5

A Layout encompasses one or more Flows (and one or more Players).

If I “locally” adjust the properties of a particular element, like a note or a slur, then the adjustment will only be shown in that layout.

If I make a global adjustment to an object, the adjustment will appear in every Layout (where that object is shown), e.g. the score and the parts.

The question of something applying to multiple flows doesn’t really happen, because you’re usually selecting individual items and making individual changes to them.

6

First thing off,

That feature is not retroactive. This means that you have to set global or local from the onset, knowing in advance what you want to happen. Personally, I like to have Global by default when I write. I tend to use local when editing parts in engrave mode, but that’s me. If one makes an error, one has to turn off the override, change the Global/Local setting, and then apply the override.

When you have global set, and you are writing, any changes you apply away from a default (for example, you force a dotted slur on a single slur through the properties panel) will appear in the corresponding layout (if it applies to individual staves) or layouts (if you have executed the change on a system object).

If you have local set before altering that slur, once altered to a dotted slur, the dots will appear in the score only, and the slur will be undotted in the part. Generally speaking, this is more useful when editing a part; meaning that you would change a properties on a part while “Local” is set, and the properties you change on that part will not appear in the score. Even if that slur is linked to another staff, only that layout will have that alteration. Same with system objects. In other words, for a system text to appear in the score but not the parts, you would have to set Local, write the text (shift-alt-x) on the score, press escape, select it and set it to “Hide” with the properties panel. To do the opposite, go to a part, set to Global, write the text, go to the score, set to local and flip the hide switch.

This has nothing to do with flows, but rather with elements that are on the score, where they appear. It is especially useful when modifying slurs in engrave mode so the alterations only appear in the parts. Or in write mode, having playing techniques hidden in the score (if independent voices playback is on) but appear in the parts. Or having pizz. al fine written with a PT suffix in the part, but not in the score etc …

Note that some properties panel overrides will always remain global, such as dynamics suffixes. The way to tell local settings will not apply is that, when in Local mode, the text beside the panel’s switch will remains bold white. When you see that, it means that this in an instance where having independent properties between score and parts is not allowed. properties that are changed globally will always have that label in bold, while local properties will be in thinner white.

7

The properties panel only changes selected items. That could be everything in the flow, but never in more than one flow.

More strictly, the selection only includes objects that are in the current layout whatever you select, in other words, objects you can’t see are never selected without you knowing.

Global properties are automatically changed in all layouts for the selected objects only.

Local properties are changed in all layouts if ‘global’ is selected, otherwise just in the current layout, for the selected objects only.

8

Thank you, RichardTownsend. Yours is the clearest response, at least for me.

9

Thanks. Each of the responses was some help on this. I continue to be thrown by some of the terminology used, though.

As I understood it, A flow can have more than one layout (full score, parts or combinations of parts). When you change properties of an element it can be applied to just that layout or all the layouts in that flow that have that element).

But your first sentence was “A Layout encompasses one or more Flows”. I thought that “A Flow encompasses more than one Layout.” Those seem to be contradictory (where is Bertrand Russell when I need him?)

10

Players, flows and layouts can all be assigned and de-assigned to each other in Setup.

For example, if I’m copying a symphony, that’s a bunch of players, a flow for each movement, and layouts for the score and each separate part. The Violins play in every movement, but another instrument might play in only one movement, so it would be assigned to that one flow, and the score, and its part layout.

While I’m editing the music I might want to use another temporary layout that includes, say, just the strings in the 2nd movement. Everything I edit there goes in the full score and the individual string parts, and vice-versa – except if you need something to be different between score and part, then you can make local changes in Properties.

Saving as default means new projects will use exactly those settings.

11

I tend to think of Layouts as containers for Flows and Players. Either the music for that flow is in the Full Score, or it’s not. And either the Player is in the Full Score, or it isn’t. (Of course, Players are in, or not in, Flows, too.)

Another way of looking at it is to think of Layouts as “Views” onto the music. In a Full Score Layout, we can see all the Players and all the Flows. A Part shows all the flows for one Player.
And we can make combinations thereof: Vocal Score Layouts with the instruments left out; “alternative version” Layouts with a different combination of flows. And so on.

You can delete all the Layouts in a Project. The music is still there, somewhere, but hidden from view. Add a Layout, and you can see it again! You only destroy something if you delete a Flow or a Player.

The confusion comes in because in Setup mode you can select a Flow, and then un-check the Layout – but what you’re really doing is removing the Flow from the Layout.

12

It’s a wiring diagram: Players - Flows - Layouts.

You can connect multiple players to multiple flows and multiple layouts. But you do not need to connect all players to all flows and all layouts.

It’s more about Boule and Venn than Russell.

13

Essentially, a layout contains music for one or more players from one or more flows.

The music is not stored in any of the layouts. The staves and the visible notation are generated by Dorico dynamically.

14

From my understanding, any property that you have set Globally should be bold.

@Lillie_Harris, I seem to recall a thread in which you posted about specific properties that cannot be set locally. Is there a way to tell the difference between these?

15

Duh! It’s difficult to be clear even when one tries hard! You are correct, however, if you are in Local mode, the label text will go bold if the property cannot be local. That’s what I meant but failed to specify. I will amend my post in consequence to make sure no one gets the wrong idea!

16

Ahhhh that makes more sense! :+1:

17

Apart from the bolder text, you can filter for only local and only global properties. That’ll give you a fairly strong clue.