Left Align First Lyric In System

Version 01.14.00
Added 24 Oct 2012 (last updated 09 Apr 2020)

For use with Sibelius 6, Sibelius 7.1, Sibelius 7.5, Sibelius 8.x, Sibelius 18.x, Sibelius 19.x, Sibelius 20.x, Sibelius 21.x, Sibelius 22.x, Sibelius 23.x and Sibelius 24.x

Left-aligns the first word or syllable in a lyric line, leaving the alignment of other syllables unchanged. This is to support a common technique in hymnals.

The plugin accomplishes this by forcing the first lyric syllable in a system for each text style in that bar to act as though it covers at least 2 notes. This forces left alignment.

An unfortunate side effect is that syllables that generate hyphens will not show their hyphens. To get around this, the plugin appends 2 non breaking spaces and a hyphen to the text of syllables that would normally show hyphens.

Since this could cause unwanted layout changes, this zip file also includes the plugin Adjust Fake Lyric Hyphen, which will find adjusted syllables and let you choose the number of non breaking spaces to use for each such syllable.

Updated 23 March 2020. Version 01.10.00.

This update fixes a problem where only lyrics in the first bar in a system would be processed. Now the first bar in a system that contains lyrics will be processed.

An earlier problem involving syllables that would generate hyphens has also been fixed. Robin Walker came up with a way to avoid the problem, and his suggestion is implemented, so such syllables are no longer treated differently.

In previous version of this plugin, the plugin Adjust Fake Lyric Hyphen was included in the plugin zip file, so it would also be installed. It would find adjusted syllables and let you choose the number of non-breaking spaces to use for each such syllable. This is no longer needed, but for scores created in earlier versions of Left Align First Lyric In System, Adjust Fake Lyric Hyphen is now available to be installed separately.

Updated 24 March 2020. Version 01.11.00.Previously uploaded files was corrupted. Uploaded corrected file.

Updated 30 March 2020. Version 01.12.00.Changes to allow handling of verse numbers implemented as independent lyric syllables.

Updated 8 April 2020. Version 01.14.00. Hyphen handling has been reverted so that the plugin adds 2 non breaking spaces and a hyphen to the end of adjusted middle-of-word syllables. The gives less flexibility but is the only way I have yet found to prevent hyphens from vanishing in normal use.

Plug-in written by Bob Zawalich.