I always use the Time Signature Tool:

Double-click the measure.

The dialog box Time Signature appears.

To get more options, you can click a button to expand the dialog box Time Signature.

When the dialog box has been expanded, you can set both a ‘real’ time signature (e. g. 1/8), and a ‘display’ time signature (e. g. 4/4).

This method works everywhere in a Finale document.

By The Way:

Finale also has an older way of creating a Pickup Measure (look in the Document menu).

This “older way” only works in the very first measure of the document, and it does not play back correctly (= always plays a full measure).

Thank you, Peter. That works.

Peter's way works. The manual should just dump these instructions.

Finale also has an older way of creating a Pickup Measure (look in the Document menu).

This “older way” only works in the very first measure of the document, and it does not play back correctly (= always plays a full measure).