When I hit my frustration level on a Dorico file that looks like spaghetti and do what is known as “Casting Off” or throwing a temper tantrum and going out to walk in the rain, when I come back and “Cast On” sometimes everything looks much better. Does Dorico do repairs on re-opening a file? If so, thank you.
::: Bill
Bill, please show us a spaghetti file (ideally with signposts showing…), and you’ll likely get an analysis within the hour.
And I’m getting the feeling that there could be a misunderstanding about the wording “casting off”…
It’s not cast OFF and ON, but rather “casting off” referring to the distribution of the music into systems and pages according to rules set by the user, such as vertical gaps and rastral size.
So, let’s see that pasta music, we’ll help, promise!
All the best,
Benji
Can you explain what you mean by these two actions?
Do you mean “Layout Options >Staves & Systems > Casting Off”, (e.g. setting fixed systems per page / measures per system)? Or something else?
From a lot of the posts here about Layout troubles, the problems often seem to come from trying to do too much. Dorico does really good layout automatically, as long as you provide it with a few bits of information – note spacing, staff size, Ideal gaps, etc.
The problem users get into, I suppose you mean, is a question of their trying to micro-manage layout rather than “macro”-managing via the layout options (rules) Dorico provides.
I guess that he ist not talking about the process of “casting off” in Dorico. He is talking about getting off the computer, getting some fresh air, and then getting back to working on the project again 
@billstevns I guess we live in an age when subtle humor is no longer appreciated. Always add a big tongue-in-cheek emoji to such a post or it will be taken dead seriously.
But, wait, maybe the responses were tongue-in cheek? 
Thanks for all the replies. Next time I experience a spaghetti nest I will post here. And keep my “sense of humor” to myself. FWIW the mess almost always happens on imported files, not on files originated in Dorico.
::: Bill
Please don’t! 
I’m currently negotiating the flu, so I clearly didn’t read your post too closely.
But the large point stands – if you’re getting frustrated with something, post it on the forum, and someone will have a look.
Sorry @billstevns It sounded like a composer in the midst of a creative block or something.
I know that closing & reopening a project causes unused voices to be removed, probably there are more of those ‘cleanup’ processes but you shouldn’t notice a difference in how the music looks. Similarly there are a number of checks happening when starting the application, like connected audio & MIDI devices and installed fonts, but even then an error in those wouldn’t immediately result in what you’d call spaghetti. I can only echo the others above: next time you encounter such a delicacy, be sure to share it here and we’ll be happy to take a look.
Well my casting was generally off, stuck in the brush again, and my serious fisherman father losing his patience. Spaghetti was more my Grandfather’s thing, as he insisted on using an old fashioned open face reel that would run away if he didn’t brake quickly enough with his thumb. Mine occasionally WOULD fix itself as the boat drifted and changed the angle. His not so much. Dad - he just smoked a lot. In more than one sense of the word I suppose.