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I am SO TIRED of Finale not allowing me to write a minor 7th chord!  This is one of the most common chords in music (far more common than many of the arcane chords that Finale DOES recognize).  But if I try to enter a m7 chord, I get the "there's no such thing" message.  AND Finale is so upset that I tried to enter a "non-existent" chord, it has a nervous breakdown and hides the mouse cursor for about 60 seconds.  This is a MAJOR FLAW in this program.

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Of course, you could always press the Yes button...

 

I don’t disagree. There is an issue with one particular chord font not recognizing the lower case m. There have been a couple of threads about it.

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Why not simply add m7 to your library?

Chord symbols are not universal: You may see m7, mi7, min7, or -7. Finale simply chooses one of these for default, but allows you to adjust based on preference.

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How?  I don't see anything about how to add a chord suffix in the Help file.  Actually, the message above is NOT the one I usually get, it usually says: "Could not find the suffix 'm7'.  Would you like to select another suffix?".  If I click Yes, I'm given a choice of 272 suffixes, none of which are correct.

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… Actually, the message above is NOT the one I usually get …

 

Which program are you using? - (the “full”) Finale? - PrintMusic? - SongWriter? - or?

Are you perhaps using two different “siblings” of the Finale family?

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I usually use Songwriter 2012.3, it's by far the easiest and most user-friendly.  Occasionally, I use Finale 26.2.2.494.  m7 problem occurs on both versions.

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Finale can create and edit chord suffixes, via the dialog box Chord Suffix Editor.

SongWriter can not.

That explains the two different dialog boxes.

 

Chord suffixes are document specific, not program specific.

 

What I would do (I am not sure how detailed instructions you need):

Use (the full) Finale to create the m7 suffix.

In the dialog box Chord Suffix Selection, select the mi7 suffix, and click the button {Duplicate}.

Then, edit the duplicate copy of the mi7 suffix (since you need m7 instead of mi7).

When a suffix is selected in the Chord Suffix Selection, clicking the button {Edit…} will get you to the Chord Suffix Editor where you can edit the selected suffix.

Add the new m7 suffix to the template(s) you use when creating new documents, and all new documents will have the m7 suffix.

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Mike Rosen:

Sorry. OS is Windows 10 Home, version 20H2

Software is Finale Songwriter 2012.r3

Computer specs: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-9700K CPU @ 3.60Hz, 16.0 GB RAM

I don't know what F26 is.

 

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Peter Thomsen:

Thanks for the help.  Can't get it to work, though.

I started Finale 26.2.2.494 and clicked Chord, Manual Chord Input, and typed C:0, as the help file says this is how to get to the Chord Suffix Selection dialog box. 

I don't see mi7 there.  The closest I see is m7.  If I select that, I don't see any button that says Duplicate, nor do I see Edit.  My choices are Select, Cancel and Help.

Tried it in Songwriter Version 2012.r3, same result.

Are you guys saying that there IS another version of Finale that DOES include the m7 chord?  Sorry for my lack of tech skills.

 

 

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… I started Finale 26.2.2.494 and clicked Chord, Manual Chord Input, and typed C:0, as the help file says this is how to get to the Chord Suffix Selection dialog box …

 

If I understand you correctly, you are looking in the Help file for Finale v26 (Help menu > User Manual), - right?

(not in the Help file for SongWriter)

You did see that the Help file also mentions another way to get to the Chord Suffix Selection - right?

Unfortunately the Help File is a little misleading.

Both ways will get you to the Chord Suffix Selection.

But you will only see the button Duplicate (and the other editing buttons) if you get to the Chord Suffix Selection the other way, namely via the dialog box Chord Definition:

To get to the Chord Definition, double-click a beat that does not have a chord symbol (or context-click on the handle of a chord symbol, then pick Edit Chord Definition…).

From the Chord Definition, go down to the pane Suffix, and click {Select…} - and you are in the Chord Suffix Selection.

 

… I don't see mi7 there.  The closest I see is m7.  If I select that, I don't see any button that says Duplicate, nor do I see Edit.  My choices are Select, Cancel and Help.

Tried it in Songwriter Version 2012.r3, same result.

Are you guys saying that there IS another version of Finale that DOES include the m7 chord? …

 

The presence/absence of the m7 suffix is a matter of Finale document, not a matter of Finale version.

Chord suffixes are document specific (not program specific).

In Other Words: the chord suffixes are saved inside the document (not inside the program itself).

Different documents can contain different chord suffixes.

This is by design, and what users have requested.

 

To get the m7 suffix in all new documents, add the m7 suffix to the template(s) you use when creating new documents.

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But you still can’t do it in Songwriter. 

F26 = Finale 26.

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Hands down - this is lame you cannot add min7 ~~ does anyone recommend another program ?

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All we have said is that you can’t add that chord in one particular, no longer available program. And we’ve made it clear that there is a way to add it to Finale.

 

Lots of other programs, though.

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I prefer the full version of Finale, but for my students and other musicians that don't want nor need Finale I recommend Noteflight.

It's an online notation software that can write minor chords which ever way you want to ;-)

 

Cheers,

Martin

 

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Put the blame on Finale for discontinuing the less expensive products. I agree that there should be an entry-level program. But of course, there would always be that "just one thing" that everyone would want added.

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