A pop-up warning sign that ‘Insert Mode’ is still active or in active use would be nice.
One can easily forget to exit ‘Insert Mode’ when concentrating and on working on other matters, which can lead to strange events.!
Maybe this does exist already; Dorico has so many great functions and recent new features that I’m still playing catch-up!
Flashing lights and a siren would work for me! I even disabled the shortcut so I couldn’t accidentally hit I while trying to hit O for Force Duration. If I have to manually click the icon in the left panel, I find I do a better job at remembering to turn it off as well.
INSERT MODE IS ARMED!
If Insert mode is on, the toolbar button on the left will be active.
And if you’re in Note Entry mode, the caret will be different.
instead of
I sympathize with the feeling of forgetting to turn Insert mode off, but I think we need to learn to use the indicators that Dorico already gives us. A warning any time you try to do something in Insert mode would be very annoying if you had Insert mode on intentionally while carrying out multiple operations!
We’ve all done it. But ctrl-Z reliably backs out…
Good idea to change the background color.
This is an old, familiar discussion, but I agree. And Cmd-X does no good if you have been working for some 20 minutes and don’t want to lose your work. I too would love to see a more aggressive visual indicator.
Ahh! (… nice to see that ‘greater minds than my own’ are chiming in! I consider myself a pretty knowledgeable Dorico user now, and a lot of that is due to people like ‘dan_kreider’ and ‘bewiggy’ offering advice, solutions, and tutorials over the last few years!)
One of the great things about Dorico is how you can easily switch out between ‘duration before pitch’ and ‘pitch before duration.’
If you’re composing and need to ‘noodle around’ before committing to ‘the paper’, then of course ‘pitch before duration’ is the way to go. (We know the ugliness that can occur when one ‘noodles’ around in ‘duration before pitch’!)
But we do have to switch between the two note input methods very often, which is done very easily and very quickly in Dorico. That’s so well implemented.
And, of course, one can forget to make the change out of ‘duration before pitch’ every once in awhile. It’s very easy to see and undoe those mistakes within seconds of getting back to the business of composing and inputting the notes and chords… you very quickly see that it’s not what you want!
But if ‘Insert Mode’ is left on, the ensuing changes that will occur may be taking place ‘off the screen’ or somewhere else in the score, and you very well might not be aware of what’s taking place …as compared to ‘duration before pitch’, which is happening very immediately on the screen right in the measure of music that you happen to be working on.
I’m not a fan of ‘AI’, but maybe a combination of ‘red siren’ and a built-in voice saying “Hey you moron! You’re still in Insert Mode! Is that what you really want? If so, you’re going to really screw up your last half hour of work! Come on! Wake up! Get another cup of coffee! Can’t you see the Insert Mode button on the left hand side of the screen is still activated? What are you doing!”
Or something along those lines.
Much like the self-destruct button in the movie Spaceballs, a nice repetitive AI voiceover like this could be very useful when Insert Mode is active!
I’d vote for the warning voice from Lost in Space; or, the sound a truck or van makes when it is backing up.
And right after the countdown and before the self destruct: “Have a nice day!”
If there’s an election being held anytime soon, this gets my vote.
Speaking for myself, I have only done this once! 
