System breaks

System breaks are where musical material must be split across multiple systems or pages in order to fit on the required paper. Dorico Pro automatically arranges music across systems so that notes are correctly spaced and legible, but you can also control system breaks manually.

System breaks are indicated by signposts, which you can hide/show at any time.

Note

  • System breaks at the start of systems that were created using Make into System have Wait for next system break activated in the Format group of the Properties panel by default. When this property is activated, Dorico Pro creates a system containing all material between that system break and the next system break or the end of the flow, whichever comes first. If you later delete subsequent system breaks, this creates very full, tightly spaced systems. For example, if you delete all subsequent system breaks, all music until the end of the flow is forced into a single system.

  • You can also control the content of systems by fixing the number of bars per system in each layout.