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Windows - Finale 25 - Is there a way to convert .pdf files to music files on Finale?

 

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My inexpert response is as follows:  Yes and No.  You can do it with some pdf files, but not with others.  What I have done is take sheet music to my local Fedex office center and have them convert it to .tiff files.  If the sheet music is simple, these come in quite nicely if it is at all complex (changes in numbers of staves, etc.) all bets are off.   But when it works, it saves HOURS of keying in choral parts.  Notice that as long as you have paid for the music, and as long as you don't share your .mus files with people who haven't paid for the music, I think you are within the reach of the "fair use doctrine", which allows you to make copies of music you have paid for for study purposes. 

Take note of the following, though.  If you find this service convenient, DO NOT UPGRADE TO THE LATEST VERSION OF FINALE, because Finale has eliminated it (!) from the current version. 

 

 

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Uh... the OP says Windows and 25.

 

In 25, the answer is no unless you use a third party translator such as SmartScore X2 Pro. You need to scan, convert to MusicXML so that Finale can import it. You can convert a .pdf to .tiff with many utilities but the quality is usually too poor to be useable—I've never seen one good enough to work.

 

if you have an older version of Finale, you can use SmartScore Lite to scan a .tiff and import into that version, then open in 25. It won't do lyrics and many expressions but it's better than nothing  

 

i once had FedEx Kinkos scan a few pages. It was cheaper for me to buy a tabloid sized scanner—which I did. 

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FYI : PdftoMusic Pro can do it (it is not free) as long as the pdf was created in notation program. Doesn't work with scans.

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