Enhancement so saving the expressions library will save both your custom expression categories and organization of expressions within all categories.

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Randy Garrou Posted February 13, 2018 19:05

I use Finale 25 on Windows 10 (but I suspect the issue I present below is also present for Mac users)

This request concerns two pretty obvious deficiencies with how Finale 25 currently saves text expressions to a library:

(1) It won't save your custom made expression "categories" to a library.

(2) Any library file you do create won't maintain the careful organization of expressions you've set up within any given expression "category."

Here's a more full explanation:

As to (1), if one clicks on the Expressions tool, they will see the Expressions Selection window. To create a custom CATEGORY of expressions, one would first click on the bar on the lower left that says "Edit Categories." At the next screen they would click on "Duplicate" and then they would just type in the new name they want to give to the category of expressions they want to create in order keep all such similar expression in one place. So far, so good. That works great.

The problem is that when one returns to the document, clicks on the File menu, and then clicks on Save Library (to save their newly modified library so it will be available to them for all future documents), the saved library does NOT contain the new custom expression category you just created. It only contains the original default Finale expression categories. It seems like an enhancement would be a simple fix. It would definitely help me. Hopefully others agree and will weigh in since it will only happen if it gets a lot of "Me too" requests.

As to (2), the problem concerns saving the ORGANIZATION of expressions to a library. For example, I like to have several dozen tempo markings saved so I can quickly and easily select them while experimenting with whatever would be the optimal tempo to select at some point in a song. I have created many tempo expressions (e.g. quarter note = 50, quarter note = 53, etc.) beyond those that Finale provides by default. To make them easy to locate, I move each expression up and down within the list of expressions in any given category so that they will appear in numerical order within the Tempo Marks expression window, i.e., so the expression for quarter note = 50 would be right before the expression for quarter note = 53, etc., rather than right next to, e.g., half note = 200.

After I have created dozens of tempo expressions for quarter notes, I do additional sets of tempo marking expressions for eighth notes, dotted quarter notes, half notes, etc. It takes a lot of time to create all these and then organize them numerically within a category so I can easily find them when I want to use one.

The problem is that when I then save my expressions to a library, the saved library, while INCLUDING all my new tempo markings, nonetheless forgets all the organization I did to arrange them in numerical and logical order. So, each time I call up the saved library, I have to go to the considerable time and effort of reorganizing all these randomly saved tempo markings.

It would be much appreciated if Finale would add an enhancement so saving the library of text expressions would also save the order within which they appear within any given expression category.

I hope others agree and request this as well.

4 comments

Date Votes

PETER THOMSEN Posted February 14, 2018 07:33

… when one returns to the document, clicks on the File menu, and then clicks on Save Library (to save their newly modified library so it will be available to them for all future documents), the saved library does NOT contain the new custom expression category you just created. It only contains the original default Finale expression categories …

Randy Garrou,

I am unable to duplicate this problem.

Here are my steps:

1) Create a new, empty document: File > New > Document Without Libraries

2) In the new, empty document, create a new, custom expression category, with custom choices of fonts and positioning.

3) Create an expression in this new category.

4) File > Save Library…

- and save the new expression library with a custom name.

5) Create another empty document: File > New > Document Without Libraries

6) In this other, empty document: File > Load Library…

- and load the previously saved, custom expression library into this other document.

As a result, the only expression in this other document is the expression from the new library - and the expression’s category is there, too.

In Other Words:

In my own test the saved library actually does contain the new custom expression category.

Randy,

What happens if you follow my steps (see above)?

Do you get a different result than I do?

Randy Garrou Posted February 14, 2018 20:56

Peter

Lawson Dutton at Finale was able to duplicate my problem and said this:

"This is Lawson from MakeMusic Customer Success; . . . This experience with expression libraries is indeed frustrating. You are not doing anything wrong and the behavior you are experiencing is how we expect the loading of expression libraries to work currently."

In any event, I tried your steps and followed them TO THE LETTER. While the new expressions did show up after I loaded the new library (as I expected they would), the custom "Category" I created to hold them disappeared and I could only see the expressions in the Expression Selection window by selecting the category of "Show All."

So, I see you are using a Mac. I'm using a PC running under Windows 10. Perhaps there is a difference in how it works in the two systems? In any event, the problem is hugely annoying and remains, system wide, at least in Finale 25 for PCs.

PETER THOMSEN Posted February 15, 2018 06:39

Randy,

What you describe, sounds to me like a bug in the Windows version.

One more thing to try - as a test, not as a solution:

Open a document that contains an expression from your custom expression category.

Select a region that includes the expression, copy the region, close the document, and insert the copied into a new, empty document.

This step should add the expression to the new document.

Check whether not only the expression, but also its expression category appears in the new document.

Vladimir Timofeev Edited May 01, 2024 19:51

I had a similar problem - when loading the library in a new document, only one of the new categories was copied, and it contained all expression entries in it.

In the original file, in which the categories were created, all the new expression categories had identical settings.

Try going to "Edit Categories.." and I change something in one of the parameters in the Category Designer for each category. In my case this helped - all the new categories are copied exactly as in the original file.

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