I'm having similar problems.  It sounds like you have done several good steps (rebooting and restarting the software, and I assume you must have restarted the computer with a "cold boot" a couple of times with no help.)

The next step (which I already have done) would be to reinstall.  In that subject, I was looking at my Programs directory and to my chagrin found I have two folders for older finale, but nothing for the new.  In fact, I actually found I am physically unable to locate the new Finale. 

I know reinstalling sounds a bit drastic, but actually, it only takes a short amount of time, and you know for sure you have a clean program. I bet that somewhere, something's not quite right (well, your post already tells us that. Sorry!) such as one little subprogram having been corrupted. A reinstall should fix it if that's what's happening. I reinstalled yesterday, and it was not a long process.

Something to keep in mind if you can't get this very expensive piece of cyber-landfill to work.

You might want to have a deep scan of your operating system too. 

Gretchen,

There is no "authorize/register" in the help menu, only de-authorize. If your copy of Finale is not registered, you should get a popup window that tells you that each time to start the program.  If you're not seeing that popup, then you're probably registered.

What about copy and paste isn't working correctly?

Pasting wrong octaves, in your Finale preferences, under edit, uncheck "respect ranges of instruments when copying..."

To add to Jeffrey's comment, you can also check the About Finale dialog box for an 8-digit alphanumeric user code (Windows: Help > About Finale; Mac: Finale 2014.5 > About Finale). If one appears, then that installation is definitely authorized already.

This may sound simple, but whenever copy & paste does unexpectedly things, my first thing to make sure Edit > Use Filter is unchecked.

James,

Older versions of Finale would be in the Program Files (x86). Only Finale v25 would be in the Program Files folder. Of course you could be using a Mac, would be useful to know if you are having installation problems.

Thanks to a revision of this forum, you can now put your Finale version and Computer OS in your Forum Profile, available via a pull-down if you click on your user name at the top of the screen.

Hi Gretchen,

To add some info - for the third issue you mentioned, it sounds like there is an active preference that is affecting your copying and pasting. If you follow the steps below it should help:

1. Open the Finale and open any file.

2. choose Edit > Preferences (Windows) or Finale 2014.5 > Preferences (Mac)

3. Select the Edit section from the left-hand side.

4. Deselect the "Respect Instrument Ranges When Copying or Changing Instruments" option.

5. Click Apply.

6. Click OK.

7. Try copying and pasting in a section where you know this was happening.

I would expect this to prevent the pasting of info into the incorrect octaves. Also, how is the selection issued you mentioned going currently?