Beams according to time signatures

Default beam groupings are determined by the time signature, which you can customize by specifying the subdivision of beats within bars.

Dorico Elements has default beaming settings for common time signatures, based on general conventions. For example, although the time signatures of 3/4 and 6/8 contain the same number of beats, they imply different meters and so are beamed differently. In 3/4, phrases of eighth notes are beamed together within each bar and phrases of other durations are beamed in quarter notes (crotchets) by default, but in 6/8, phrases are beamed in dotted quarter notes.

For situations where you want to control the beam grouping in more detail, you can input a custom time signature with an explicit rhythmic subdivision. Dorico Elements then automatically beams phrases according to this subdivision. For example, entering [7]/8 into the time signatures popover means all seven eighth notes (quavers) are beamed together, whereas entering [2+2+3]/8 subdivides the seven eighth notes into two, then two, then three.