I had some large gaps between systems because Dorico stacked up some rehearsal marks and signs, and I also had some multi-line text that needed the space. So I used Engraving Mode to move the offending items to better locations and also shortened the text to one line. After doing that, Dorico did not close ranks and left the big gaps. It appears to be behaving as if the items that I move/shorted are still there. I’ve tried a bunch of vertical spacing parameters in layout options but to no avail. Is there a way to get Dorico to close up the gaps that are now holding nothing?
Perhaps this setting:
Library → Layout options …
Change this to 100% so Dorico does not justify your staves vertically.
Thanks, that’s good to know but it doesn’t solve the problem. Dorico appears to be leaving room for a Sign that isn’t there anymore.
And if you
Select All → Edit → Reset Position
If you can share your Dorico file, we could take a closer look into your problem.
Yes, this is just the actual state of affairs. Unfortunately, there is no command like “I did help you by moving some things out of the way, now please run your spacing algorithm again”.
Vertical spacing doesn’t take engrave mode edits into account, this is by design.
The way to deal with this is twofold:
- Switch off collision avoidance for some items, such as text or rehearsal marks, this will let Dorico reclaim the space, and then adjust in engrave mode.
- For non-playback items, you can also move them in write mode in order to un-stack them, and later rearrange them in engrave mode, just as in solution 1. above.
The reason for this behavior is that Dorico considers vertical staff spacing and purely graphical engrave mode editing to be completely different things… 
B.
Good advice here. Switching off collision avoidance does work, but now I have to go in and move everything around. Well at least I can enjoy the nostalgia of when I had to do that in Finale Nevertheless, I find it disappointing that Dorico is making room for something that does not exist (at least to the user).
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I hear you… There are undoubtedly posts by Daniel Spreadbury explaining this concept, but I don’t have them at the ready right now…
B.
And now I would like to switch off collision avoidance for segno and coda signs …