Responding to myself and also those work at Finale, since for some reason I am not allowed to execute a private email about this issue -- I THINK I WANT MY $550 BACK!!! I've spent all this money and I can't do a damn thing except wait on a response from a "community forum?"

GET REAL!! As far as I'm concerned this is a REALLY bad way to conduct service requests after someone spends $500. Shabby service!!!

:(

Did you install in the Default location?

Did you reboot after installing? Mojave generally requires this.

I also recommend doing a Safe Boot after a full install of Mojave and/or High Sierra. This fixes any corrupt system paths and rebuilds the desktop. If any of your alias icons have taken the generic shape, you should do this anyway: Shut down; hold the Shift key on startup; log into your Users Account when you see the screen; wait for your desktop icons to rebuild; shut down and reboot normally. This takes 10–30 minutes on most Macs so be patient.

Your Users Account either has Admin privileges or it doesn't. This is set up by the administrator of the computer. If you are the admin, contact Apple Support. Telephone support for such issues is free and you should get a return call in a few minutes—they're very good at this. They can even log in and see what you are seeing.

You can contact MakeMusic directly through the Submit a request link at the top of the page. Since the upgrade price from 2014.5 to 26 is not $550 (in the USA, anyway), you should be contacting MM.

Most of us who answer questions on these boards do not work for MM and have no affiliation beyond being fellow users—myself included.

This is solvable, Good luck!

Thanks, Mike! I paid $149 for my v26 upgrade, but I also added in the Garritan package for another $400 -- thinking I would have a sweet setup for 2019.  However, the problem got solved. It WAS indeed "non-authorization!" I had a "Finale 2014.5" app in my Applications and on my Dock, and have used that to access Finale for the past few years.

I did notice a "Finale.app" in my App Folder, but since it had no number, I assumed it was from earlier days. But in desperation, I opened that app - and behold! It is Finale 26! All new and shiny and asking me to "authorize!" Of course, I did and all was well immediately!!

Since I did not find a "Finale 26" in my app folder after I upgraded from 2014.5 to 26, I just opened my music files with the 2014.5 app, never realizing that it was not Finale 26. These twilight zone episodes with computer, where one is literally adrift with no sense of even how to navigate, are my least favorite computer experience. And most of the time, you're only one button away from the correct thing!

Anyway -- THANKS! AND WHEW!

js

Whew indeed!

Glad you got it resolved.

BTW, I still recommend a Safe Boot after a Mojave install.

When I upgraded from Finale 25 to Finale 26, I found that the Mac did not update the icon on my desktop, nor did it create a second v26 icon. This was not the case when I added v26 on my Windows machine, so I suspect it has more to do with the Mac OS than with Finale.

Granted, if Finale could somehow override the Mac OS to produce a new icon, that would be preferable.

>Granted, if Finale could somehow override the Mac OS to produce a new icon, that would be preferable.<

Try a Safe Boot

My Applications folder contains several previous versions of Finale from earlier years, all identified with numbers except one. I had assumed the "no-number" version was an earlier version from the 2000s. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the "no-number" version was INDEED Finale v26. And, I'm happy to report that not only is my Finale working, the v26 works better than ALL previous versions. Currently, I have Finale v26 working very well with Mojave (MAC OS 10.14), iMac Desktop. Definitely a "Doh!" moment. :)