Lengthening/Shortening lyric extender lines and hyphens

You can lengthen/shorten individual lyric extender lines and lyric hyphens. Lengthening/Shortening lyric hyphens increases/decreases the space in which lyric hyphens are shown. You can do this for the current layout and frame chain only or for all layouts and frame chains.

Note

The start handles of lyric extender lines and hyphens are attached to the lyrics from which they extend. If you move those lyrics, the start handles also move.

Prerequisite

  • Graphic Editing is selected in the Engrave toolbox.

  • You have chosen the appropriate property scope for local properties.

Procedure

  1. In Engrave mode, select the square handles at one of the following positions on the lyric extender lines or hyphens you want to lengthen/shorten:

    • The start of lyric extender lines or hyphens

    • The end of lyric extender lines or hyphens

    Tip

    You can show handles on all items, not just selected items, by choosing Engrave > Show Handles > Always. This can make it easier to select individual handles on multiple items.

  2. Move the handles in any of the following ways:

    • Press Alt/Opt-Right Arrow to move them to the right.

    • Press Alt/Opt-Left Arrow to move them to the left.

      Tip

      If you want to move items by larger increments, you can press Ctrl/Cmd as well as the standard key command, for example, Ctrl/Cmd-Alt/Opt-Left Arrow.

    • Click and drag them to the right/left.

  3. Optional: Repeat steps 1 and 2 for the other handle of the lyric extender lines or hyphens.

Result

The length of the selected lyric extender lines is changed. For example, moving the start handle of a lyric extender line to the right without moving the end handle makes the line shorter. If the property scope was set to Locally, this change only takes effect in the current layout and frame chain.

Lengthening/Shortening lyric hyphens does not change the size or shape of the hyphens themselves. Instead, you increase/decrease the distance between the handles in which hyphens can appear.

Note

  • Depending on your settings for the size of gaps relating to hyphens in the Hyphens section of the Lyrics page in Engrave > Engraving Options, more/fewer hyphens can appear in the space when you lengthen/shorten lyric hyphens.

  • The following properties in the Lyrics group of the Properties panel are activated if you move the corresponding handle on lyric extender lines and hyphens:

    • Line start X moves the start handles of lyric extender lines and hyphens horizontally.

    • Line end X moves the end handles of lyric extender lines and hyphens horizontally.

    For example, if you move a whole lyric extender line to the right, both handles are moved so both properties are activated. You can also use these properties to move lyric extender lines and hyphens graphically by changing the values in the value fields.

    Deactivating the properties resets the selected lyric extender lines and hyphens to their default positions.