When I scan pages in DIN A4 in Photoscore Ulitmate and save them as Music XML and import the file into Dorico, I always get a custom page size, which just a little bit smaller than A4. I have switched off every option on the MusicXML-Import preference page, but for this case there is no option to choose. I would be glad, if there also would be an option to allow Dorico to import XML files in my Standard page and staff size. No big deal, but I always have to be careful, not to forget to change these values.
The options at Dorico Preferences > MusicXML Import only take effect if you’re importing your MusicXML file into an existing project. If you’re importing into an existing project then, as far as I’m aware, the imported MusicXML takes on the existing paper size of the existing Layout. Is there a chance that you’ve inadvertently saved this custom page size as default, for Score Layouts?
No. Standard Paper size for new projects is still A4.
In that case, are you sure you’re importing your MusicXML files into a project (even an empty project), rather than opening them?
Pianoleo, sorry, I have been unclear. I mean “opening” an XML-file.
Right. What I was trying to explain is that the MusicXML Import settings within Dorico only take effect if you import MusicXML into an open project. It may be that there’s no logical reason for this and/or that this behaviour will change in future, but in the meantime, this workflow definitely works:
- Start a new project (or duplicate an old one that you’re using as a template, with all of your personalised Master Pages and Layout Options - including paper size).
- File > Import MusicXML (or whatever the shortcut is on your machine).
- Choose to add new players or merge with existing players.
Job done.
Thanks, pianoleo. This would be another workaround. My wish is, that I can open a XML file without much (any?) effort.
Just checked in Sibelius (feels old fashioned …) and there you are asked, if you want to keep the page size or if you want to change to another page size. That would o.k., but I would even prefer a general option, because I never want to keep the page size from the XML file.
The bottom line is, if you open an XML file and it defines the page size, that is what you get.
So presumably, Photoscore doesn’t know the correct page size for A4. Maybe (being a US company) they don’t understand millimeters so they rounded the page size to the nearest 0.1 inches or something!
If you open the XML file in a text editor, there should be something similar to this near the top:
<defaults>
<scaling>
<millimeters>420</millimeters>
<tenths>4200</tenths>
</scaling>
<page-layout>
<page-height>5940</page-height>
<page-width>4200</page-width>
which defines the internal length unit “tenths” as tenths of a millimeter (i.e. 4200/420 in the “scaling” data) and then defines the page size in “tenths.” This file was A3, not A4 (594 x 420mm not 297 x 210).
If you have a compressed XML file which you can’t read, you can rename it as something.zip and then uncompress it.
Or zip it up, attach it here, and let somebody else read it!
You have the same basic choice in Dorico as in Sibelius. Either you open a project (and you can predefine a lot more than just the page size) and then import the XML, or you open the XML and use its own page size.
It’s just a different way to do the same two things.
Thanks, Rob, but changing the page size in Dorico is not the problem. I just wanted to ask for another import/opening option to make life even easier. No one need’s a page size, which is nearly A4.
Unless you are in a country that thinks Letter is “nearly A4” of course 
I really ment “nearly A4”. The custom page format of the XML file is 199.46 x 297 mm (DIN A4 is 210 x 297 mm).
Neuratron, the company behind Photoscore, is London based.
Btw, the part layouts, that Dorico creates for this file, are A4. (I know: at the moment MusicXML files don’t contain any information regarding part layouts).
I just think, that Dorico should give an option to choose the paper format, have a general option like the MusicXML import options or should be generous in this and similar cases.
Rob, just read your comment again. My PDF, which I opened in Photoscore, was definitely A4, but was scanned with 600x600 pixels. Presumably Photoscore “thinks” internally in 300x300 and enlarged the file to A3?!?
Guessing what Photoscore did isn’t very useful. If you can attach a MusicXML file we can look and see what it actually did. (I guess it could be a scan of anything - not necessarily copyright music if that is an issue).
Sorry, Rob, it was a bit to early this morning. Your Code was an example and not my file. 
Daniel, if you or someone from the team wants to have a look at the XML file, I could send it to you, but I don’t think it is different from other XML files from Photoscore, where you probably have enough examples.
Dorico does use fuzzy matching when trying to choose an appropriate page size when importing MusicXML, but the margin for error is smaller than 10mm for an A4 page, so Dorico takes the MusicXML file at its word and imports it at the size specified in the file.
I’ve made a note of your request to make the importing of page size optional; this would also entail not importing staff size information, by the way, since those two things are handled hand-in-hand by our importer.