General placement conventions for glissando lines

Glissando lines are positioned between noteheads and the steepness of their angle should reflect the interval between the notes: the steeper the angle, the greater the interval. The endpoints of glissando lines must be directly beside noteheads but not directly touching them.

Glissando lines must not collide with accidentals, and instead must stop short so the accidental can be clearly read. Dorico automatically positions glissando lines so they do not collide with accidentals.

Usually, glissando lines join two adjacent noteheads because they indicate a gradual but constant change in pitch between those two notes, but they can also cross multiple notes.

Glissando lines can cross system breaks and page breaks. If text is shown for glissando lines that span across a system break or page break, then that text is shown on every part of the glissando line. By default, the start position and end position of each segment matches the original start point and end point of the whole glissando line.

In Dorico, you can make detailed adjustments to the default positions of glissando lines on the Glissando Lines page in Engrave > Engraving Options. You can also adjust the start/end positions of individual glissando lines in Engrave mode.