Final tips

We hope that you have enjoyed this guide and have learned some useful ways of working in Dorico. To finish, we would like to leave you with some final tips for maximizing your time and output, and to let you know where you can go from here.

  • You can find comprehensive documentation on steinberg.help, including separate PDFs for popover entries and text tokens. There are quick reference cards for common key commands available on the Dorico blog and video tutorials on the Dorico YouTube channel. There is also a Dorico Resources page with both official and third-party resource links.

  • Dorico Pro users: Check the available options Engrave > Engraving Options (key command Ctrl/Cmd-Shift-E). There are many options for each notation, including default minimum gap settings, for example, if you want all playing techniques to appear further from the staff or all text objects to appear closer to the staff. Other options include changing the appearance of notations, such as whether gradual dynamics are hairpins or cresc. text by default.

  • Dorico Pro users: You can find default settings for how music is notated, such as beam groups, how notes are split into ties, or voice columns, in Write > Notation Options (key commandCtrl/Cmd-Shift-N).

  • Options that are typically different in different layouts, such as page size or bar number positions, are in Setup > Layout Options (key command Ctrl/Cmd-Shift-L), which is available in all product versions.

  • We strongly recommend using the vertical spacing options in Layout Options to adjust the gaps between staves and systems. Dorico Pro users can move staves manually in Engrave mode, but staff spacing overrides can get deleted if the page they originally occurred on changes, such as if you add a title page at the start of the layout.

  • Avoid entering project information directly on the page, especially if you have Dorico Elements or Dorico SE, because this creates a page override, as mentioned in Master pages and tokens. Add titles, composers, and other information in the Project Info dialog (key command Ctrl/Cmd-I). If you have Dorico Pro, you can edit or create new master pages in Engrave mode to put that information where you want it.

  • You can use time signatures to determine how notes are grouped into tie chains and beams by entering the beat grouping into the time signatures popover, such as 2+3+2/8. If you don’t want to show the beat grouping in the time signature, enter the beat group inside square brackets, such as [2+3+2]/8. This can be very useful in pieces with irregular meters but specific beat grouping: no need to change the beaming on each staff manually!

  • If you want to input notes or rests with specific durations, you can use Force Duration (key command O) to override Dorico’s default note and rest grouping.

  • When the caret is active, you can press Shift-Up Arrow and Shift-Down Arrow to extend the caret to multiple staves and input notes and notations (using the corresponding popovers) on all those staves simultaneously.

  • Dorico Pro users: If there are specific symbols you use frequently, create them as custom playing techniques or custom lines.

  • For operations you perform frequently, check the Key Commands page in Preferences (key command Ctrl/Cmd-,) as you can assign your own key commands for many options.

  • For further questions and advice, the Dorico forum is an active and friendly place to go.