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I really wish the Page Layout tools in Finale were more intuitive and easier to use. I feel like this is a part of the app that hasn't gotten updated in years. I almost always have to refer back to the manual or web-site to remember exactly how to space systems, hide measures, move things around, set margins correctly. It would be great if you could design a new, more modern way of performing basic page layout tasks.

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Hi Paul,

 

This problem occurs in most software. Meaning that if you don't use it frequently, then you need to refer to the documentation, which takes time.

The things that make Finale versatile, is the same thing that makes it frustrating to use sometimes. There are a lot of choices in Finale. I have no problems with page layout, whether it's a score or parts, I can get a good layout fairly quickly. Just stick with it. The more you use it, the easier it'll become.

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Thanks, Jeffrey and LOL, I have been sticking with it for 20+ years. Since version 2. Page layout in Finale has ALWAYS been a pain. Yes, I can get it to do what I want, but it just seems like it's so obtuse and takes too many steps. It's definitely an area that could use a little love.

I'm happy to re-educated myself, though and give it the old college try again. I'm working on a 13 song cycle right now for chorus and small ensemble. So I'll be doing a lot of page layout soon. If you have any recommendations for good tutorials or videos that I can watch, I'm happy to see if it's just me being a grumpy old user or if there really is room for improvement in the software.

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Tips, this might help. Hope so.

 

For measurement units, don't use inches. Use evpu's or points. Inches have a decimal point and the numbers can be confusing. I (and all publishers I work for) use evpu's. There's 288 evpu's per inch. This might be confusing at first, but in the long run it's much quicker.

 

Page layout - Here's a screen shot of my system margin DBX for a single part.

In this DBX, the top margin, bottom margin and distance between staves all effect the vertical layout on a part. That can be confusing. I generally use only one of those boxes when working on a layout. I usually just change the top margin, leaving the other boxes as is.

 

The numbers in this box are evpu's. With 55 in the top box, I have 9 staves on the first page and 10 staves on all other pages. If I need only 8 staves on page 1, I change that 55 to 95 and apply that to systems 2 thru 8. If I want 9 staves on subsequent pages, I change that system range to 95.

 

The templates that I use, have my desired page reduction and system reduction, so these numbers that I use in when editing system margins are consistent from one chart to the next. It's a very efficient way to work once I did the initial calculations.

 

Good luck!

 

 

 

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Add it to the list of improvements we’ll probably never see...

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