1. Do you have access to your old computer?
2. Can you de-authorize on the old machine?
3. Can you read the serial number off your old machine?

I always write my serial number on the program DVD and also keep a copy of purchase invoices in my (paper) files.

(I'm not sure Finale 2007 will even run on the latest Mac OS's.)

No to all three, unfortunately. This has happened before under much the same circumstances, and was fixed remotely by Grant P. who was with MakeMusic Customer Support. This was in October of 2014. 

Can you log into your MM account and deauthorize there?

What OS are you running on the Macbook? As Adrian says, 2007 won't run on the last couple of OS updates.

You can also open a support ticket. Use the Submit a Request tab at the top of the page.

New MacBook or new to you? If new MBP, 2007 will not install correctly (neither will 2008–2011 and, according to MM, neither will 2012).

If you pulled it over via Migration Assistant it might boot up.

Log into your MM User account and see if Manage Authorizations is available. If so, clock on it and follow the directions. Even if you get it authorized, there's very little chance it will run orrectly in a current OS.

If Finale 2007 doesn't run on Sierra 10.12.6, and I upgrade to the current version of Finale, which I really don't want to do, will I be able to open, edit and save my old files?

No response from Finale yet. Is there any way to actually speak to someone there, or are those days over?

Yes, you will.

No, there isn't, AFAICT.

Hi Jay,

I wanted to jump in here and mention a couple of things.

If you have Finale 2007 installed, you can find your serial number to authorize by logging into your MakeMusic account. You should be able to use that to authorize Finale 2007. I have gone ahead and removed the old authorization left behind by your previous Mac. 

That being said, I also wanted to take a moment to discuss compatibility. When Finale 2007 was developed, it was created for the operating systems that were available at the time and with as much future persistence as possible. That being said, Finale (Version 25) is compatible with macOS 10.12 as many others have already mentioned. I'm afraid that Finale 2007 is not compatible with macOS 10.5 and later.

While I know that options are slim and that this is a tough situation, I would recommend getting started with the 30-day free trial of Finale. This would be a good way to see if the latest version of Finale works for you, and try it out before making a purchase.

I also wanted to mention that we're still here to help! Finale support is available online; as others who've posted here have mentioned, you can reach out to us using the Submit a request link at the top of this page.

I hope this information helps!

Hi Lawson - I now have my serial number, yes, but I get a message saying that I must be an administrator to authorize. Finale has been running fine up until last Spring, when I replaced computers. I can't believe that there's no specific help for this problem. I had my Finale customized to the way I work, everything was perfect. Until now. What happens to all those years of work I've done on this, is all that just down the drain now? Not to mention the $600 I spent on the program. 

To authorize any copy of Finale, you must open the program as an administrator.

If you own the computer, that means right-clicking the Finale icon and selecting "Run as administrator" on a Windows machine. Presumably there is something similar on a Mac.

The rest of your post is just venting. Nothing we can do about that.

Mac programs normally have to be installed by an admin to have admin privileges. If just copied over, there will often be no admin privileges. Since versions before 2012 cannot be installed in the latest OS, there is no way to grant them.

The reason that 2011 runs for me is that it was previously installed before I upgraded my OS. It doesn't run very well, BTW, but I can test some things in it.

. I can't believe that there's no specific help for this problem

I fail to see the problem. Since 2007, Apple has released 8 OS upgrades as has MM with Finale (only 7 were paid, however). I am at the Vatican with terrible internet access and am doing this from memory so if I am off, don't hold me to it.

BTW, I still use Word 2008 and really like it but it can't be installed over El Cap or later, either. There is no hack that I know of — and I tried. Again, it works for me because it was already installed when I upgraded to OS 10.11. Here's the weird part: It runs so much better than it did in 10.8 – 10.10. Performance is so bad that I upgraded to Office 2011 for my day job. After installing El Cap, I uninstalled Office 2011.

Hola Jay. Good to run into you here, since the All About Jazz forum shut down.

I had the same problem as you a few years ago, and there was no choice but to upgrade.

I have to say that the newest version of Finale is better than any previous one I've used, despite a few annoying bugs that MakeMusic can't seem to fix despite multiple emails back and forth.

I think you just have to bite the bullet and pay the $150.

Cheers,

Jer

If you have a favorite reseller, the upgrade price might not be so steep.Google Chrome has had issues with the upgrade process and users still complain. Firefox and Safari work fine.

My MacBook Air using OS X El Capitan Version 10.11.15 was serviced after crashing on Jun 17, 2018.

Finale's Saving & Printing has been disabled and I am in dire need of completing my score.  

My Authorization Code from 2016 will no longer work...please HELP!  Is this a way to force a new upgrade?  Thank you very much!

You are not giving enough information so I am guessing based on the rest of this thread. If your version of Finale is older than 2012, a new installation will not authorize on Yosemite or later (El Cap, Sierra etc.). There is no workaround—the license server is incompatible.

You would have to roll back the OS to Mavericks, install and authorize Finale then update the OS to El Capitán. If that is not possible, your only path is to upgrade to Finale 25. BTW, if you are able to do this, 2011 will give you problems in Sierra and will not work at all in High Sierra.

I do not work for MM but I tested all of this last year. I am just the messenger based on my own findings   

As to “forcing an upgrade”, it is impossible in 2011 for any developer to know that something won’t work in an OS released in 2015 and no reason to expect that app to be updated when two or more later versions have been released—four by now if you count 2014.5.