I haven’t had much luck with direct import. What I do is first, just import the xml. Then, I copy all from that Finale doc, and paste it into my template. 

That’s how I do it with barbershop scores and the templates I’ve set up. With other music, I just use whatever I get on the import, and make changes from there. But I don’t see any reason it shouldn’t work with other templates.

Thanks, that worked. Unfortunately it's a hot mess --  a ton of notes (it's a classical vocal score) are stacked with quadruple accents, notes with 10 ledger lines, and random guitar tabs. But perhaps good for basic scores.

I'm not sure about the extra ledger lines and guitar tab. Send me the file, and I'll have a look. My email is coded in my signature.

Don't blame SmartScore for the multiple articulations. It's because of Finale's stacking articulation "feature."

Double click on one of those articulations. That will take you to the Articulation Designer. Uncheck "Stack Automatically." that will take out all of the extras for that articulation. You will have to do it for each particular articulation (staccato, accent, etc.) but only once.

Yes, that de-stacking worked. After experimenting with varying degrees of texture, it appears that I'd have to spend way more time editing than simply engraving. The scan often adds incorrect and/or extra notes in the bar and the spacing is just bonkers. It can't even recognize voice+grand staff setting:

Expressions are not even close and it's super hair trigger about first and second endings. But there has to be a tipping point where a less dense texture would lend itself well to the software. Hopefully this will catch up in a few years.

Much depends on the quality of your original. Garbage in, garbage out. Scores from IMSLP are particularly suspect. 

My best advice: Recognize without text, and delete most everything else. No matter what they say, text/lyrics/expressions/articulations/repeats/slurs are best added back in Finale. Use SmartScore for notes. End of sentence.

SmartScore is very shortcut oriented. And getting started can be tough. If you like, I’m happy to spend some time coaching you via Zoom. Once you get over the bumps (and maybe lower your expectations!) it’s a great timesaver, and worth every penny. I’ve used it for hundreds of scores, and I wouldn’t be without it any more.

Sure, I'd like to see it in action. I'll send you an email.