I’m away from the computer, so I’m working from memory… In Measure Attributes, I believe there is a dropdown to “always display a time signature” in the selected measure,

Jeff Kantner,

If I understand you correctly, you are talking about two consecutive systems - right?

The first system ends a verse, and it ends in the time signature of a verse - right?

And the next system (= the beginning of the next verse) begins in the very same time signature - right?

But you need the first system to end with a courtesy time signature for the refrain (which comes in as a D. S. target between the two verses) - right?

And you need the second system to, not display time signature - right?

I would

- use the Page Layout Tool to insert an extra staff system before the second system,

- give the extra system the refrain’s time signature which will now display as a courtesy time signature at the end of the first system,

- make the second system not begin with a displaying time signature (there are several ways to do so),

To hide the inserted staff system, go to the Page layout Tool.

In the Page Layout menu, de-select Avoid Margin Collisions.

Now you can have negative values in system margins.

This means that you can move the inserted system to the right - outside the page margin - and up.

To do so precisely, do it by entering numbers in the dialog box Edit System Margins.

Now the inserted system will not print.

You can use the Measure Tool to exclude the inserted system from measure numbering.

You can use the Repeat Tool to exclude the inserted system from playback.

I hope that this is clear?

If not, ask again.

Mr. T --

Clear enough, if bewildering at first read.  You were correct in each of your suppositions, and once I waded through the machinations, the result was what I was looking for.  As the saying for workarounds goes, "if it works, it must be right".  It would be simpler if Finale provided a no-show or hide option for a system; or if it permitted hiding all staves of a system when all are empty (tried that - can hide any combination, except all).  Or even better if Finale followed the music flow and allowed the option to display the courtesy time signature of the D.S. target measure in the measure where the D.S. appears.  Anyway, all's well.  (And if anyone from Finale reads this stuff, consider this a feature request.)  [Btw, if the inserted system has at least two measures - mine had four, realized later probably didn't need all - the forced time signature display in the first measure of the follow-on verse isn't needed if the time change in the hidden system is limited to the first measure.]