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Finale 2008 Interface Changes

Finale 2008 included several interface changes that provide a more intuitive and streamlined workflow environment. These changes included the consolidation of functions into fewer tools and menus, and as a result, some commands were moved, added, renamed, and/or moved to different locations. If you have upgraded to Finale 2008 from Finale 2007, use the information here to reference the new location of these commands.

The New Selection tool  

The Selection tool has inherited all functions previously encompassed by the Mass Edit Tool. Select regions of measures, copy, and edit music, apply plug-ins and make other changes to score regions (or the full score)with the Selection tool. Most commands previously under the Mass Edit menu have been moved to the Edit menu and the new Utilities menu. Others now also appear in the MIDI menu (now called the MIDI/Audio menu) and Mirror menu. See the Finale 2007 to Finale 2008 Menu Reference Chart below for details.

There are some notable changes regarding selection, copying, and filtering:

The Select Partial Measures command has been removed

Finale always allows you to select full or partial measures without requiring a menu selection. See Selecting Music for more details.

Copy, paste, or insert measure settings by selecting a "stack"

In Finale 2007 and earlier a measure could be selected in, for example, four horn parts of an orchestral score. Inserting this music elsewhere would add the measure in all staves, filling only the target selection with the source horn music (the inserted measure in all other staves would be empty). Now, to insert full measures, the source and target must include full measures, and all staves, called stacks.

In a stack selection, highlighting extends between all staves (vertically) of a selected region. Double-click full measures to select the measure stack. For details, see Copying Music.

Copy and Insert/Copy and Replace

In Finale 2007 and earlier, drag-copying either inserted or replaced entries depending on a setting under the Mass Edit menu. Now, selected regions can be easily inserted or pasted (replacing entries) by dragging or using the clipboard (see Copying Music). All musical elements in a region, including measure-attached items, can be copied, pasted, and inserted with all methods of copying - within the same document or across documents.

Filtering

In Finale 2007, musical elements were excluded from target regions while pasting using the Items to Copy dialog box. Finale 2008's equivalent is the Edit Filter dialog box. The Measure Settings can be either inserted or pasted, but only if the source is a stack selection. Using the clipboard to copy, paste, and insert now always includes the same elements whether drag-copying, drag-pasting, and drag-inserting. In other words, the same mechanism is now used for clipboard-copying as drag-copying.

Modeless Editing Commands

The following changes mean less switching tools and more universal controls.

New Utilities menu

The Utilities menu was introduced in Finale 2008 and includes many commands that previously existed under Finale 2007's Mass Edit menu and submenus. Commands that apply to the entire document, such as Update Layout, are always available. Editing commands that require a regional selection are available whenever any measure region is selected (with the Selection tool or any other tool that supports regional selection). See Utilities menu.

Copy and edit with any tool that allows regional selection

right+click a measure region with the Selection tool or Measure tool selected to access a new expanded context menu. Now, to insert full measures,he source and target must include full measures, and all staves, called stacks.

Cut, copy, paste, insert, and apply any command under the Edit and Utilities menus whenever a region is selected. The following tools allow regional selection:

The BACKSPACE and DELETE keys now clears or deletes measures in the above tools.

Staff tool:

Repeat tool:

MIDI tool:

Some commands are accessible in many tools

The following commands can be applied with any tool that allows regional measure selection. A single-key alternative is available for some of these commands if the Selection tool is chosen. (These are similar to previous Mass Edit keyboard shortcuts).

Tool-specific changes

Finale 2007 vs. 2008 menu reference chart

Use the following key to identify any commands that have moved or changed names since Finale 2007. New commands, menus, and submenus (as of Finale 2008) are marked with an asterisk (*). For menu changes and addition in Finale 2009, see Finale 2008 vs. Finale 2008 menu Reference Chart.

Finale 2007 menu Command Name

Finale 2007 menu

Finale 2008 menu

Finale 2008 menu Command Name

-

-

Edit

*Paste Multiple

-

-

Edit

*Copy All Items

-

-

*Utilities

-

-

-

Edit

*(SmartFind and Paint (submenu)

Add

Measure

Edit

Add Measures

Add Enclosures

Measure/Measure Numbers

Measure

Add Measure Number Enclosures

Apply Articulation

Mass Edit

Utilities

""

Apply Beat Spacing to Current Part/Score

Mass Edit/Music Spacing

Utilities/Music Spacing

""

Apply Note Spacing to Current Part/Score

Mass Edit/Music Spacing

Utilities/Music Spacing

""

Apply SmartFind and Paint

Mass Edit

Edit/SmartFind and Paint

""

Apply Time Signature Spacing to Current Part/Score

Mass Edit/Music Spacing

Utilities/Music Spacing

""

Articulation Assignments

Mass Edit/Change

Utilities/Change

Articulations

Automatic Music Spacing

Edit

Preferences-Edit

""

Automatic Update Layout

Edit

Preferences-Edit

""

Break

Measure/Multimeasure Rest

Edit/Multimeasure Rest

 

""

Change (submenu)

Mass Edit

Utilities

""

Change Lowest Fret

Mass Edit/Utilities

Utilities/Change

Lowest Fret

Check Accidentals

Mass Edit/Utilities

Utilities/Check Notation

""

Check Elapsed Time

Mass Edit/Utilities

Utilities/Check Notation

""

Check Ties

Mass Edit/Utilities

Utilities/Check Notation

""

Chord Assignments

Mass Edit/Change

Utilities/Change

Chords

Clear Entries and Smart Shapes

Mass Edit

Edit

Clear All Items

Clear Items

Mass Edit

Edit

Clear Selected Items

Convert Mirrors

Mass Edit/Utilities

Utilities/Check Notation

""

Create

Measure/Multimeasure Rest

Edit/Multimeasure Rest

 

""

Create for Parts/Score

Measure/Multimeasure Rest

Edit/Multimeasure Rest

 

""

Customize Palettes

View

Window

 

Delete

Measure

Edit

Delete Measure Stack

Deselect SmartFind Source Region

Mass Edit

Edit/SmartFind and Paint

""

Edit

Measure/Multimeasure Rest

Edit/Multimeasure Rest

""

Edit Measure Attributes

Measure

Edit

""

Edit Measure Number Regions

Measure/Measure Numbers

Document and Measure

""

Explode Music

Mass Edit/Utilities

Utilities

""

Fill With Rests

Mass Edit/Utilities

Utilities/Check Notation

""

Fit Music

Mass Edit

Utilities

Fit Measures

Freeze Stems Down

Mass Edit/Utilities

Utilities/Check Notation/Stem Direction

Down

Freeze Stems Up

Mass Edit/Utilities

Utilities/Check Notation/Stem Direction

Up

Hide Numbers

Measure/Measure Numbers

Measure

Hide Measure Numbers

Implode Music

Mass Edit/Utilities

Utilities

""

Import MIDI from Clipboard

Edit menu

MIDI/Audio/MIDI Clipboard

""

Insert

Measure

Edit

Insert Measure Stack

Items to Copy

Mass Edit

Edit

Edit Filter

Lock Systems

Mass Edit

Utilities

""

Measure Numbers

Measure (submenu)

Measure

(Items loose in menu)

Mirror

Mass Edit

*Mirror

Dragging Copies Music

Dragging Mirrors Music

Move/Copy Layers

Mass Edit

Edit

""

Multimeasure Rest (submenu)

Measure

Edit

""

Music Spacing (submenu)

Mass Edit

Utilities

""

Note Durations

Mass Edit/Change

Utilities/Change

""

Note Expression Assignments

Mass Edit/Change

Utilities/Change

Expressions

Note Size

Mass Edit/Change

Utilities/Change

""

Noteheads

Mass Edit/Change

Utilities/Change

""

Rebar (submenu)

Mass Edit

Utilities

""

Rebeam (submenu)

Mass Edit

Utilities

""

Remove Manual Slur Adjustments

Mass Edit/Utilities

Utilities/Check Notation

""

Remove Stem Changes

Mass Edit/Utilities

Utilities/Check Notation/Stem Direction

Use Default Direction

Respell Notes

Mass Edit/Utilities

Utilities

""

Restore Defaults

Measure/Measure Numbers

Measure

Restore Measure Number Defaults

Retranscribe

Mass Edit

MIDI/Audio

""

Scale View To

View

View

Zoom

Set SmartFind Source Region

Mass Edit

Edit/SmartFind and Paint

""

Show Numbers

Measure/Measure Numbers

Measure

Show Measure Numbers

Special Part Extraction

Edit

Document

""

Ties

Mass Edit/Change

Utilities/Change

""

Toolbars

View/Customize Palettes

Window/Toolbars

Customize Toolbars

Transpose

Mass Edit

Utilities

""

Tuplets

Mass Edit/Change

Utilities/Change

""

Unlock Systems

Mass Edit

Utilities

""

Update Layout

Edit

Utilities

""

Update Smart Word Extensions and Hyphens

Edit

Utilities

""

Commands Removed from Finale

 

 

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