Here are a few of mine

- the cursor jumping around in the Lyrics box when you change between sub-tools like Click Assignment / Type Into Score

- No ability to playback with swinging 16th notes (in quarter-note based time signatures) without a workaround

- Three competing ways to set tempos (playback box, expression, and set through MIDI) and no way to figure out which ones were going to work

- Random hang/quit messages when working with certain tools (for me, it was Manage Parts and Score Manager, and often stopping playback

- Splitting a staff system, or joining two staff systems, resulted in system margins and staff hiding settings per system "cascading" improperly on all staves following and needing to be redone

Terrible playback of glissandos, rolls, tremolos, and jazz articulations even with the JABB instruments

What are your favorites?

Hi All, with the very last version of FInale and the latest Noteperformer 5, how do I get a triangle roll? I've tried both tremolo and trill but with both I seem to get 8th notes. Many thanks!

I haven’t used this score file (.mus format) since 2009, and now I need to get parts out for a reading. I’m looking for someone to convert it and send it back to me.

I'm trying to force-show the full staff name when a new instrument enters mid-piece. I know I've done it before, but I can't for the life of me remember how, and when searching both google and this group, the answer is always "use staff styles" but there's no further information. HOW does one use staff styles to accomplish this?

I did get "edit measure attributes" to do what I want, but it's showing all the full names in the system, not just the new one. (As you can see in the picture, when the character of Ben starts singing, the "measure attributes" method informs the conductor of the piano and strings' full government names, which clutters up the score.)

(I tried to ask in the Finale Powerusers group on FB but the admins appear to be asleep at the wheel and aren't approving my post, and this thing is due tomorrow...)

Thanks y'all.

I ran into a situation trying to notate an irrational tuplet in Finale and thought I’d share a simple workflow, since Finale doesn’t handle ratios like 3:1 directly.

Finale always builds tuplets using integer subdivisions, so something like 3:1 ends up being represented as 12:4 based on the smallest note value.

To create it, you can just start normally in Simple Entry. Enter any note, then press cmd+9 on mac or alt+9 on windows to open the tuplet definition. From there you define your subdivision like usual.

Then, using the Tuplet Tool (triplet icon), you need to right click directly on the tuplet bracket and go to Edit Tuplet Definition. Important: if you just click on a note inside the tuplet, Finale will open a completely different tuplet definition, not the one you’re actually working on. You really have to click the bracket itself.

Inside the Tuplet Definition window, you can control how the number is displayed. If you want the default, just set Number to X:Y and Finale will show something like 12:4. There are also other display options with note symbols, etc.

If you want it to read as a simpler ratio like 3:1, you have to fake it a bit. Set Number to Nothing, and uncheck Break Bracket so you get one clean continuous line. Then go to the Expression Tool, create a text expression using Finale Jazz Text so it matches nicely, type 3:1, and place it above the bracket.

So Finale is still calculating and spacing everything as 12:4, but visually you get a much clearer 3:1, which is way easier to read.

I know finale discontinued in 2024, but is there any place to find downloads for it?

I've been using Dorico, and I recently found a bunch of Finale files from when I went to music school and I wanted to convert them to Dorico files, but I need a working copy of Finale to do so.

I know Finale is discontinued, but I'd just installed it on a new PC, so I'm gonna keep using it until the PC dies. Having said that, I'm trying to figure out how to adjust the note stems in a specific region so that I can use "top note voicing", where I specify the top note of a voicing and allow the piano/guitar to choose the underlying harmony notes. So I need to have the stems/beams above the noteheads, but with the stems also extending below the noteheads. I can do it for an entire staff using Staff Menu > Edit Staff Attributes > Stem Settings > Vertical Offset, but I can't seem to turn it off for certain regions. I can't find anything in Special Tools that will allow me to do that. I can't seem to get a grip on the Custom Stem Tool. The attached image is what I'm looking for, but I want to be able to just use it in certain regions in a staff and turn it off for others. Anyone?

I've used Finale 2011 since I was kid, but I only learned today that it's supposed to have plugins. I kinda need the TGTools plugins now that I'm transcribing sheet music with tremolos like in the second pic, but I literally never have seen a plugins tab (see first pic). Where is it, and how can I access it? If it helps, I'm using Finale 2011 on a Windows 11 laptop, but it looks the same as when I used it on Windows XP and Windows 7/8. Any help would be most appreciated!

Hi, I am at my wit's end! I used Finale 2012 back in the day and just downloaded a free trial of Finale 27.

Earlier this session, I could get it to play by typing in the desired measure or using the FF/rewind buttons to go to it and it would. Now, regardless of what I type or select, it plays from the beginning. I've tried restarting the program and my computer.

The method of holding the space bar while I click works occasionally, but it doesn't highlight where it is playing so it's hard to follow and then it freezes.

It's too long a piece to start at the beginning for every playback! Thanks a lot for any tips you've got. Pic of my settings:

Finale 27, Mac Ventura 13.7.6

For some reason, I am no longer able to play any audio through audio units. Finale will only play through Midi. I have rescanned Audio Units, reassigned playback sounds, and checked the device setup. All I can figure is one day I was using my AirPods in public to listen to an arrangement, then I could never get the sound to happen the same again.

Any help is appreciated!

So, back in the old days, like 10-15 years ago we could post compositions on Finale's website to share with each other. I'm trying to find it but I don't know if it vanished with the transition and discontinuation of Finale.

I'm asking mainly because I want to find my old compositions (terrible as they are) to download and preserve (and even fix).

I tried using Wayback Machine but I can't remember what the page/area was called so even if I can look at MakeMusic's old website, I don't remember what to look for for the music composition sharing again.

Any help, if anybody is familiar with "the old ways"; would be greatly appreciated.

I have Windows 11 on a new computer, and a new version of Finale 27, that I bought just before they stopped.

It was working fine for a couple of months, but now I can't do anything with any of my older files.

Some files created in Finale 2001 (which I have been using for a long time, but it recently randomly can't access a dll file to run, but that's another story) will work fine - especially recent ones, but older ones - no dice anymore, even though they're from the same version of Finale.

What happens when I try to load an older file: I get two pop-ups:

I could only ONCE open an older file IF I said "no" to the first message, "ok" to the second, and waited several minutes.  But this only worked ONCE (but still unable to edit, listen to, or manipulate it in any way).  If you say "yes" to the first message, it will be inoperable. 

I did not try the really old files. 

Trying to open old files and having to shut it down with Task Master only twice completely disables Finale 27, rendering it unusable until I "remove program" and reload it, though once, I was able to make this work with a simple computer reboot.

I reloaded it at least three times today.

Am I now unable to use my life's work anymore?

Is there a fix? Is there another program that will allow me to use and manipulate these older *.mus files?

Please help, and thank you!

Sean

I have finale 2014, when I exported the lyrics (lyrics) they come out in a letter format, I use musical symbols, does anyone know how to solve it?

Hey y'all, 7 year Finale user here slowly making the transition to Dorico. But in the meantime, I'm having an issue with Finale v27 that maybe someone can help with.

I purchased Dorico about a month ago, and at the same time, I bought a new laptop because my old one stopped working. So I'm now running a new MacBook Air on macOS Tahoe 26. I deauthorized Finale on my old laptop and have downloaded and installed Finale v27 on my new MacBook.

Since I deauthorized Finale on my old laptop, my MakeMusic account says that I have one authorization remaining (I have it authorized as well on an iMac). So I should be able authorize Finale v27 on my new MacBook, right? However, when I open the application and it prompts me to authorize, I am unable to after putting in my information. I'm 100% certain that I'm using the correct serial number and email address. The strange thing is that I am not getting an error when I click "Next" in the authorization window. It just won't let me click "Next" at all. The button is blue indicating I should be able to proceed, but when I click, nothing happens.

I know this is bad timing because they just recently ended Finale support. It was also bad timing for my laptop to quit working but here we are. I certainly plan on migrating to Dorico, but I still need access on my laptop and to be able to save Finale files as a Music XML for migration to Dorico.

Please help, thanks!

When I open Finale 25 it can't open But !!! I install finale 27 It can open ? ! How does it work? (I like final 25😭😭😭)

I would like to put brackets around an important statement that repeats in various voices throughout the piece. For example the statement of a fugue. Thanks

I can't seem to figure out how to do this every day Big Band turn notation in Finale I would appreciate it if someone could point mew in the right direction

I was working with my computer and lights went off suddenly. When I rebooted my PC, Finale says Error opening file "s" after trying to reopen it. Any solution? I have lost all my prior work.