Hmm, seems like I’m doing everything right but no cookies for me, do vertical lines have to span same durations only?
This is a Soprano and a Bass line, in this flow Alto/Tenor are not participating
Vertical lines added gives this
Test.dorico (502.2 KB)
Not entirely sure what you are asking about, but staves for singers customarily do not connect the barlines so that lyrics will not be obstructed.
The question is why can’t I get a vertical bar? It’s an instructional worksheet so want it to illustrate some principles. Does Dorico care about the instrument/voice type, and won’t give vertical bars with voice? The manual makes no mention of that and I’d doubt it would try to be restrictive in that way.
AFAIK the manual just says “select two notes” from different staves or voices and they’ll connect.
You’re talking about Line tool lines, not barlines (which I think is what Derrek thought).
It does look like they don’t join different staves, but you can drag them in Engrave mode.
See the note in the manual
You cannot put vertical lines across different instruments. The best you can do is extend the line in Engrave.
Ah, thanks didn’t read that carefully enough in the manual. I didn’t know about manual placement in Engrave, that’ll work …
@Lillie_Harris I think this might be one case where the language needs some clarification. While I knew you could drag the lines manually in engrave mode to extend them, I was surprised to read the link to the manual above which makes it sound like this isn’t possible. It IS possible, just not with one click.
This is another case where a multi-staff choir instrument would work.
Please can you clarify what you think needs clarifying.
In terms of reliable Dorico functionality, it’s not possible to input vertical lines that span multiple instruments. Hence the note in the manual.
Graphically extending a line that belongs to one instrument, so that it appears to connect to another instrument =/= a line that spans multiple instruments. It will appear in one instrument’s part but not the other, for example. I document the intended functionality of the application. There are many, many things one can technically do in Dorico that you’ll notice aren’t in the manual either.
You should however notice that there is not only a related link to the task about lengthening/shortening lines, but that this option is explicitly called out in the “after this task” list of “things you might want to go on and do now”. This page tells you how to use the properties for top/bottom position of vertical lines, and also reminds you at the end that the “move stuff graphically in Engrave mode” functionality is also an option here too. (And should you need reminding of how that works, there’s another link to that as well, on the length task page.)
I guess what I found confusing was the line,
However, you cannot create cross-staff vertical lines between different instruments, even if they are held by the same player.
I’ve certainly stretched lines across different players in engrave mode to great effect in the past. But part of your reply is the bit that had not occurred to me, namely that these lines would not show up in parts. My arrangements are such that I usually only need the full score (psalm arrangements where singers and organists use the same music) so I’ve never noticed the lack of any of these lines in a vocal part, for instance, because I focus on the full score where it works just fine.
That said, it does seem from the above quote that even what I do is not possible, whereas it is, as long as you do it manually.
Yeah FWIW I was thinking the same. The italic insertion is more clear to me at least.
My 2¢: The text uses the verb “create,” and it’s true that you can’t create a line between different instruments – as the OP found out in this thread. You can only edit/stretch a line to appear to do so. But the result does not actually attach or refer to the other staff; if you change the staff spacing, the line does not follow.
Lol … musicians, a bunch of damn language lawyers the whole lot of us! 
Thanks for the clarification. I’m not going to make any changes, however.