Hi Louis

Finale has a number of options for entering music via mouse or keyboard.

http://usermanuals.finalemusic.com/FinaleMac/Content/Finale/Tut2EnteringNotes.htm 

The link above is for Finale 25

Cheers...

Daz :o)

I'm a longtime Finale and Encore user. Simple Entry is one way to do it. 

To to make your Rests Pallette appear by default, go into Preferences and click on the category at the bottom of the list. You'll see the box to check, then click on Apply and Done. In 25, click on the Note Pallette and the Rests will appear—they will default to this next time you open Finale. This is a minor bug—in earlier versions, Rests appear as they should.