Handling Fonts in Dorico
- tarokoike
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Music scores typically consist of many notation elements, including glyphs like clefs and accidentals, and text elements like titles and composer names.
Professional music notation software allows you to choose from a variety of fonts for each notation element.
In Finale, music fonts are set from the “Document menu > Set Music Fonts”, and many other fonts can be set from “Document Options > Fonts”. For individual text, double-clicking often takes you through the editing screen and to the font settings screen.
In Dorico, music fonts are set from the “Library menu > Music Fonts”. While other fonts can sometimes be individually set by double-clicking, as in Finale, they are generally set in three dialogs within the Library menu: “Font Styles”, “Paragraph Styles”, and “Character Styles”.
In this article, I'd like to talk about the differences between these dialogs in Dorico and how to use them.
[Table of Contents]
1. Music Fonts
2. Font Styles
3. Paragraph Styles
4. Character Styles
(Back to Table of Contents)
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1. Music Fonts
A music font refers to a group of glyphs, such as clefs and accidentals.
For example, the default music font is Finale Maestro for the English version of Finale, Kousaku for the Japanese version of Finale, and Bravura for Dorico. In Dorico, you can select the music font to use for a project from the "Music Fonts" menu at the top of the Library menu.
For more information about music fonts, see our other article “Comparison of Chaconne EX, a music font for the Japanese published scores, and the main SMuFL fonts currently in use”.
(Back to Table of Contents)
2. Font Style Dialog
The Font Style dialog can be opened from “Library Menu > Font Styles”.
The Dorico User Manual describes the “Edit Font Styles” dialog box as follows:
The Edit Font Styles dialog allows you to edit the formatting of fonts used for items that you cannot edit using the text editor, such as changing the font size of playing techniques, dynamics, or tempo marks.
The Font Styles dialog box is perhaps most similar to Finale's “Document Options > Fonts”. The available settings and their font settings are listed below. (Music fonts are shaded light red, bold fonts are shaded yellow, and italic fonts are shaded green.)
Font | Size (pt) | Style | |
Chord Diagram Fingering Font | Academico | 8.0 | Regular |
Ossia Staff Labels | Academico | 7.0 | Regular |
Guitar Technique Font | Academico | 7.0 | Bold |
Guitar Bend Interval Font | Academico | 7.0 | Regular |
Glissando Line Text Font | Academico | 8.0 | Italic |
Chord Diagram Fret Number Font | Academico | 8.0 | Regular |
Chord Diagram Horizontal Fret Number Font | Academico | 6.0 | Regular |
Chord Symbol and On-Chord Separator Font | Academico | 10.0 | Italic |
Chord Symbol Font | Academico | 11.0 | Regular |
Chord Symbol Music Text Font | Bravura Text | 11.0 | Regular |
Timecode font | Academico | 6.0 | Regular |
Tab numbers font | Lato | 8.0 | Bold |
Default text font | Academico | 10.0 | Regular |
Default music text font | Bravura Text | 10.0 | Regular |
Default music font | Bravura | 20.0 | Regular |
Trill interval font | Academico | 8.0 | Regular |
Fingering italic text font | Academico | 8.0 | Italic |
Fingering text font | Academico | 8.0 | Regular |
Fingering font | Bravura | 20.0 | Regular |
Pedal line font | Academico | 10.0 | Regular |
Page number font | Academico | 8.0 | Bold |
Fingering text for the alto horn Text font | Academico | 7.0 | Italic |
Font for horn fingering | Academico | 7.0 | Regular |
Font for horn fingering accidentals | Bravura | 7.0 | Regular |
Font for marker timecode | Academico | 8.0 | Regular |
Font for marker text | Academico | 10.0 | Regular |
Font for repeat brackets | Academico | 10.0 | Regular |
Font for print metadata | Academico | 8.0 | Regular |
Font for print watermark | Source Sans Pro | 192.0 | Regular |
Vertical line font | Academico | 9.0 | Regular |
Bar repeat counting | Academico | 11.0 | Regular |
Dynamic music text font | Bravura | 20.0 | Regular |
Dynamic text font | Academico | 10.0 | Italic |
Time signature font | Bravura | 20.0 | Regular |
Time signature plain font | Academico | 14.0 | Bold |
Time signature delimiter plain font | Academico | 24.0 | Regular |
Figured bass text font | Academico | 8.0 | Regular |
Figured bass font | Bravura | 20.0 | Regular |
Horizontal bar font | Academico | 9.0 | Regular |
Performance technique font | Academico | 11.0 | Regular |
Tuplet plain font | Academico | 11.0 | Italic |
Tuplet font | Bravura | 20.0 | Regular |
Multi-rest tacet font | Academico | 11.0 | Bold |
Multi-rest measure number font | Bravura | 20.0 | Regular |
Multi-rest measure number plain font | Academico | 14.0 | Bold |
Please note that settings in the Font Style dialog may be located in the Paragraph Style dialog (described below) depending on the version of Dorico.
For example, the tempo notation “Allegro ♩=140”, which is often written at the beginning of a piece, has undergone the following changes from Dorico Pro 5 to 6. *
[Dorico Pro 5]
Allegro: Font Styles > Instant Tempo Text Font
♩: Font Styles > Metronome Music Text Font
=140: Font Styles > Metronome Text Font
[Dorico Pro 6]
Allegro: Paragraph Styles > Tempo (Instant)
♩=140: Paragraph Styles > Tempo (Metronome Mark)
*The user manual also states, “If you cannot find a particular font style, it might instead be a paragraph style”.
In Finale, it was possible to set the music font to Maestro in “Document Options > Fonts”, and then use Chaconne only for rests, for example. In Dorico, this can be set in “Library Menu > Music Symbols”.
(Back to Table of Contents)
3. Paragraph Styles Dialog
The Paragraph Styles dialog can be opened from “Library Menu > Paragraph Styles”.
The Dorico User Manual provides the following explanation of the “Paragraph Styles” dialog:
The Paragraph Styles dialog allows you to change existing paragraph styles for text and create new styles. You can later apply paragraph styles to individual paragraphs in text frames or all text within a single text item by choosing them in the text editor.
While the Font Styles dialog is primarily intended for elements placed on the staff, the Paragraph Styles dialog appears to be primarily intended for elements placed independently within text frames (text boxes). (Bold is shaded yellow, and Italic is shaded green.)
Font | Size (pt) | Style | |
Instrument Change Label | Academico | 12.0 | Regular |
Instrument Change Notification | Academico | 12.0 | Regular |
Cue Label | Academico | 8.0 | Regular |
Galley View Margin Label | Source Sans Pro | 8.0 | Regular |
Title | Academico | 20.0 | Regular |
Tacet | Academico | 16.0 | Regular |
Tempo (Metronome Marks) | Academico | 9.0 | Regular |
Tempo (Instant) | Academico | 11.0 | Bold |
Tempo (Stepped) | Academico | 11.0 | Bold |
Default Text | Academico | 12.0 | Regular |
Harp Pedal Settings | Academico | 11.0 | Regular |
Flow Title | Academico | 16.0 | Regular |
Player Group Label | Academico | 10.0 | Regular |
Player Label | Academico | 8.0 | Regular |
Header | Academico | 10.0 | Regular |
Page Number | Academico | 10.0 | Regular |
Rehearsal Marker | Academico | 14.0 | Bold |
Repeat Marker Jump | Academico | 11.0 | Bold |
Repeat Marker Section | Academico | 11.0 | Bold |
Number of Repeats | Academico | 11.0 | Bold |
Layout Name | Academico | 14.0 | Regular |
Composer | Academico | 10.0 | Regular |
Lyricist | Academico | 10.0 | Regular |
Bar Numbers (Score) | Academico | 9.0 | Italic |
Bar Numbers (Part) | Academico | 9.0 | Italic |
Percussion Legend | Academico | 8.0 | Regular |
Numbered Bass Solo | Academico | 8.0 | Regular |
Lyrics | Academico | 11.0 | Regular |
Lyrics (Chorus) | Academico | 11.0 | Italic |
Lyrics (Chorus Translation) | Academico | 11.0 | Italic |
Lyrics (Verse Numbers) | Academico | 11.0 | Regular |
Lyrics (Translation) | Academico | 11.0 | Italic |
Copyright | Academico | 8.0 | Regular |
Staff Labels | Academico | 10.0 | Regular |
Staff Labels (Inner) | Academico | 10.0 | Regular |
Staff Labels (Percussion Grid) | Academico | 8.0 | Regular |
(Back to Table of Contents)
4. Character Styles
The Character Styles dialog can be opened from “Library menu > Character Styles”.
The Dorico User Manual provides the following explanation of the “Character Styles” dialog:
The Character Styles dialog allows you to change character styles and create new styles. You can later apply character styles to individual letters or words in different places in your project by choosing them in the text editor.
The Character Styles dialog appears to be used not to set the font for a specific musical element, but rather to register styles with font settings and then easily select those styles by selecting them.
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One great thing about Dorico family products is that even the budget-friendly version, Dorico Elements, has the same functionality as Pro for the four dialogs mentioned above. ※
In retrospect, the budget-friendly version of Finale family products, PrintMusic, offered almost no flexibility in font selection. This is one reason why Dorico Elements is recommended as your first music notation software purchase.
※ The free version of Dorico SE does not, of course, have the Font, Paragraph, and Character Style dialogs, but it still has the same music font dialog as Pro.
(Back to Table of Contents)
