Appearance of bar numbers

You can change different aspects of the appearance, frequency, and position of bar numbers in three places in Dorico Pro and in each layout independently.

Different aspects of the appearance of bar numbers are controlled in different places, which are:

  • The Bar Numbers page in Setup > Layout Options for aspects such as the bar number frequency and enclosure type.

  • The Bar Numbers page in Engrave > Engraving Options for aspects such as the dimensions of enclosures.

  • The Paragraph Styles dialog for the formatting of the fonts used for bar numbers.

Layout Options

On the Bar Numbers page in Setup > Layout Options, you can change the following aspects of the appearance and position of bar numbers:

  • Paragraph style used for bar numbers in the selected layouts

  • Bar number frequency

  • Placement above/below the staff

  • Distance from the staff and from other objects

  • Horizontal position

  • Enclosure type

  • Hiding/Showing bar numbers at rehearsal marks

  • Hiding/Showing the first bar number when bar numbers are shown every bar

You can change options for bar numbers for each instrument layout and full score layouts independently of each other within the dialog. For example, you can use different paragraph styles for bar numbers in different layouts, and show bar numbers every bar in full score layouts but only at the start of each system in part layouts.

Engraving Options

On the Bar Numbers page in Engrave > Engraving Options you can choose whether repeated sections affect bar numbers or not, change the case of letters in subordinate bar numbers, and change the thickness and padding values for bar number enclosures. This affects all layouts that show bar numbers in enclosures.

Paragraph Styles dialog

Bar numbers use paragraph styles to control the appearance of their fonts and justification, so that you can use different paragraph styles in full score layouts compared to part layouts. For example, in large orchestral scores it is often necessary to make bar numbers much larger than required in the part layouts, so that they are still legible even when the staff size is very small. It is also common to use a bold plain font for bar numbers in the full score but italic bar numbers in part layouts.

You can change different aspects of the default bar number paragraph styles, such as their font size, in the Paragraph Styles dialog. These changes affect all layouts, but you can make as many paragraph styles as you like, for example, if you want bar numbers in some part layouts to appear bold but use italics in other part layouts.

  • You can open the Paragraph Styles dialog in Engrave mode by choosing Engrave > Paragraph Styles.