Point of curiosity, Why is it possible to set up mirrored page margins but not mirrored text frames in layouts? I see some very old posts on this topic. Is this really not possible in version 6? If it is, how do I do it?
JW
I don’t think there’s a magic button for this, but there’s nothing stopping you from setting up mirrored frames – that’s why each page template has an L and a R page.
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yes, except when you try to mirror things like text on the top of the page, you can’t have justify left on the left page and justify right on the right page. which means that you can’t actually do mirrored layout of headers and footers. (as far as I can see).
It is the weirdest choice to have an invisible link between frames like that.
You can—look at page numbers.
If you can show a more specific example of what you’re trying to do, someone can help.
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It’s not only about page numbers, it’s about setting up running headers. BASIC book layout stuff.
Can you show an example?
I’m on deadline, so no. But try to set up a running header where you have left justify on one side and right justify on the other side so there is text on the “outside” of each side of a spread toward the outer margin. You CANNOT do it.
I think you can do it by setting the paragraph alignment to Outside Edge.
Note that you have to define a paragraph style in order to get this; it’s not available from the formatting toolbar.
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Edit: @asherber already replied 
Hi @jakeysworld, yes you can. Please read carefully what @asherber said about page numbers. If you check the Paragraph Style you see that it uses Outside Edges to automatically justify on the outside edges of the frame. You can apply the same concept for the Paragraph Stye of header, and adjust you header text frame to position them as desired:
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I appreciate your patient explanation, but how in the heck is anyone supposed to be able to find these settings??
Why on earth would anyone have the faintest clue that they need to look under PAGE NUMBERS to do basic layout and design tasks that should be obvious in the template space.
Why can’t there be some link between the place where you actually create the layouts and these obscure hidden menus where you’re supposed to work out all of the actual details.
The page design elements in Dorico are maddening. Don’t get me started on how stupid it is that Library layout options always default to whatever flow you happen to be working on so that you have to hit “SELECT ALL” every single time you want to change something globally in your file.
You don’t – the Page Numbers paragraph style is just an example of this kind of alignment. Though I agree that there doesn’t seem to be a good explanation of these alignment settings in the manual.
The paragraph styles dialog does have many more options for formatting text than the formatting toolbar when you’re entering text – but the same is true in apps like Word as well.
Well, the layout options are layout-specific. I certainly wouldn’t want to open that dialog and have changes apply by default to all layouts – at a minimum, I want different settings for the score and parts. And notation options are flow-specific, so it’s also reasonable that I need to choose certain flows to operate on.
I’m not saying that Dorico is a perfect application, but I do find the design generally very well thought out.
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The Page number paragraph style was only an example, since you referred to it in your OP.
To learn the complex functionality of a complex software like Dorico I would suggest you to use the Manual as reference, to study the Videos dedicated to Layout and Page Templates in the Dorico Youtube Channel, and to ask here in the Forum
This is not correct: Layout Options are layout specific, while Notation Options are flow specific.
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