Page layouts

In Dorico, the layout of pages is determined by their margins, the master page applied to them, any casting off values applied to them, system and frame breaks, and frame padding.

Casting off, meaning the process of determining a set number of bars per system and systems per page, allows you to fix a regular appearance across entire layouts.

System and frame breaks allow you to adjust layouts on a local level, by determining where individual system and frame breaks occur.

Frames cannot exceed the boundaries set by the margins of the layout, which you can change on the Page Setup page in Setup > Layout Options. You can change the size of margins in millimeters on each edge of each page, and choose one of the following styles of margins:

• Same

  All pages in the selected layouts have the same margins.

• Different

  Left and right pages in the selected layouts can have completely different margins.

• Mirrored

  Left and right pages in the selected layouts use the same margin values but they correspond to inside/outside edges of pages.

Music frames in the default master pages have padding that ensures musical material displayed within the frame remains on the page. For example, if music frames have no padding, the top line on the top staff in the frame is positioned at the top of the frame. Any notes that require ledger lines above the staff might then be positioned off the top of the page. You can change the padding of all music frames in each layout in Layout Options, and change the padding of individual music frames in Engrave mode using properties in the Properties panel.

Frame constraints are used to lock the edges of frames to edges of pages. This allows a single master page to be applied to layouts with different paper sizes and remain consistently proportioned.