The text being out of line is normal, at least for me. The rest of the file just look like it's forced too tightly together. Try Fit Music, with 3 or 4 measures per system.

If you would, send me the XML file to wawoodman at aol dot com

The Fit Measures option worked. Thanks!

I would let Finale's own spacing algorithms do the trick: select all, unlock systems and then respace. If you fit music, you may be forcing Finale to put more or fewer measures in the system than would be ideal. It looks as though your file just hadn't been spaced and the layout updated. (Make sure Automatic Update Layout is selected in Preferences.)

Hi. I am trying to import a MusicXML into Finale 27 (v27.3.0.137). 

It works, but when I import the same MusicXML into Dorico 4and into MuseScore 3, the result is way better than in Finale. For example, the piano fingering numbers appeared over the notes in Dorico and MuseScore, but below the notes in Finale. I wonder if there is a way to better importing XML into Finale.

I did this XML from a PDF using PDFtoMusic. I contacted them, and they told me "Finale one" by Michael Good would be better to import MusicXML into Finale. I searched online, but did not find this "Finale one", just "Dolet 7 for Finale (Windows)" (mine is Windows 11). However, it seems this Dolet 7 doesn't work in Finale 27.

Any tips I can better import a XML into Finale? This could go in two ways: better importing the XML or better creating a XML specifically for Finale from a PDF.

Thank you.

Since MakeMusic owns MusicXML, how Dorico etc. handle its import doesn't mean much. I can tell you that they support MusicXML 3.0 so best to set your Finale import preferences to that, not 3.1 or 4.0.

MusicXML is a toolkit, how it works (or doesn't) depends directly on which features an app's developers integrate it into their product and how well the work was done.

Dolet 8 is a plug-in that adds MusicXML 3.1 and 4.0 to current versions of Sibelius. Dolet 8 will not do anything else. Finale 27 already has this functionality. Doley 7 added certain functionality to Finale 2009–2014.5 including MusicML 3.1 support (introduced in Finale 25.3 or 25.4). There were versions of Dolet 6 for Finale and Sibelius as I recall.

Melody Assistant's PDFtoMusic converts pdf files that contain font information. It exports MusicXML 3.0, I believe.

Because it only processes PDF files that have been exported from a score editor software,  PDFtoMusic offers a unique reliability and outstanding results.
Therefore, scanned sheet music cannot be managed by PDFtoMusic.

I vaguely remember Finale One. It may have been discontinued before Mr. Good came to work for MakeMusic. He retired from MM earlier this year. If I remember next time our paths cross, I'll ask but don't get your hopes up.

For scanning sheet music into Finale, MM recommends SmartScore 64 Pro. There's a special price for Finale owners.

https://www.musitek.com/store/FinaleToPro64.html 

Thanks for answering.

In my case, the PDF was exported from Finale itself, but I lost the original Finale file, so I am trying to bring the PDF back into Finale. So, PDFtoMusic would be useful exactly for these situations.

I've tried SmartScore 64 Piano Edition (it's a piano score), and it converts the PDF into TIF, but Finale doesn't read TIF, so I don't know what to do with it.

PS: I tried changing the MusicXML Preferences to 3.0, 3.1 and 4.0, but the result was pretty much the same in all three.

PDF was exported from Finale itself, but I lost the original Finale file, so I am trying to bring the PDF back into Finale. So, PDFtoMusic would be useful exactly for these situations.

but it’s not working for you. That they suggested using a long discontinued app should give you a clue. Despite Melody Assistant’s high praise for their own app, PDFtoMusic is long in the tooth and the font library that it needs to maintain is seriously out of date. Bottom line: It’s not very good. In any case, that’s not a Finale problem. 

You might change to a different, non-SMuFL font to see if that’s any help.

I've tried SmartScore 64 Piano Edition (it's a piano score), and it converts the PDF into TIF, but Finale doesn't read TIF, so I don't know what to do with it.

Start with reading the instructions SS64. You only got halfway.

I think one would have better luck reformatting the existing XML file than scanning again from a PDF.

Does Perfect Layout offer a trial version?

https://elbsound.studio/perfect-layout/index.php 

In Page View

1. Document > Page Format > Score (I chose Tabloid size)
2. Select All
3. Utilities > Unlock Systems
4. Go to Page Layout > Redefine Pages > All Pages

Hope that works for you.

Ok, I've been looking at this while on hold for hours — something that senior citizens do a lot.

Anyway…

PDFtoMusic would be useful exactly for these situations.

Absolutely not. PDFtoMusic does not export MusicXML. It's PDFtoMusic Pro that does. Pro exports as MusicXML .xml  and Packed MusicXML .mxl — yes, they really call it that.

Because I have a lot of old Encore files that I printed to pdf, I thought I'd give PDFtoMusic Pro a try to see if the 2022 64 bit update was no longer horrible. To do this, I made one test page of an old piano/vocal score with three verses to see how it does exported it as .xml and .mxl from Pro. Then I opened (or attempted to) both exports in Finale 27, Dorico 4, Notion 6, Overture 5 and MuseScore 4.

My Mac sees the .xml export as Text xml, not MusicXML — huh? Dorico and Overture opened both equally but I give Dorico about 3.5 on a 1–5 scale since it correctly got everything on one page but didn't handle Text very well. Overture used two pages and couldn't import Text at all—I give it 3 on that scale.  MuseScore opened both types but the results were poor — about a 2. Notion 6 can't import .mxl (!) and threw an error that Text xml is unsupported—weird because it handles MusicXML from Sibelius better than anything else. Except for Notion, I could edit the results to match the old Encore page but it would be time consuming; doing the same in SmartScore 64 Pro before export is a lot faster (and Notion has no problem with that import).

Which leaves Finale 27. When I imported the .xml file, it only gave the vocal line and lyrics without the keyboard part. It imported the .mxl file almost perfectly — something no other app could do. It was as good as SmartScore 64 Pro. I'd give either e 4.5 on the 1–5 scale. BTW, I tried a piano score and Finale handled that .xml file pretty well.

So, will I spend $199 on PDFtoMusic Pro? Not a chance. As I've explained in many posts over the years, MusicXML is a toolkit. How well it works—or doesn't—depends on an app's developer. Myriad's implementation isn't very good at all.

MusicXML was invented by Michael Good. We almost never talk shop but I had hoped to run into him last night and was going to ask about Finale One, whatever that was. We're doing a show but our schedules haven't lined up so it may be a week or three before we're at the same rehearsal. I am curious.

I do a lot of work in SmartScore with choral scores, with and without piano accompaniment. Sometimes with e-delivery scores, and sometimes with scores I scan myself, on my old Canon MF. I always recognize without text or lyrics, that being (IMHO) SS’s weakest point. The XML that I take into Finale is generally excellently rendered. And if there is an error, I can almost always trace it back to something I missed.

Nothing else I’ve tried works as reliably. If you want to send me the PDF of your score, I’ll be happy to run it. My email is in my signature.

To clarify: Like MikeR, I normally scan without Text or Lyrics. It’s faster to add them after importing the notes than to edit the entire file. 

Editing before export and selecting which elements to scan is not an option in PDFtoMusic Pro (or Musitek’s $99 Music-to-XML for iOS/Android either https://www.musitek.com/m2xml.html) which is why I tested the way I did.

It all comes down to this: What is your time worth vis-a-vis the money spent? With PDFtoMusic and SmartScore 64 Pro each costing Finale owners the same $199, the choice for me is easy. 

Not that info about scanning isn't important, but the OP can solve his problem without scanning at all. The only thing required is to remove the system locks that crush the notes all into one system.

So, the demo of SmartScore 64 Piano Edition does not print or save files, and I am not sure I want to pay the full price for converting only one file. Any other practical options? J ADRIAN VERKOUTEREN what is this OP?

OP is Original Poster (you) or Original Post at the beginning of this thread.

I am not sure I want to pay the full price for converting only one file

Uh... Mike Rosen did offer to convert one file for you. Scroll up to find that. If that's all you need, problem solved. 

That's right, I will contact Mike Rosen.

Btw, to show me how it would be, technical support of SmartScore 64 Piano Edition converted one page for me.

We can see now a comparison between this same page imported into Finale by SmartScore and by PDFtoMusic Pro. 

Here's the original PDF:

I think the image will be better now:

I did this XML from a PDF using PDFtoMusic. I contacted them, and they told me "Finale one" by Michael Good would be better to import MusicXML into Finale etc.

Mystery cleared up. I spoke with Michael Good weekend before last and asked him about Finale One. Turns out that was the first version of Finale back in 1988. His company at the time also sold PDFtoMusic which explains why they might have thought to have you contact him. Eventually, MakeMusic bought Recordare and Mr. Good became a VP at MM. As I mentioned before, he retired earlier this year and no longer visits any of these chat groups.