Did you look all the way down at the bottom of the chord chart? I believe that the chords you create go down there.

My suggestion would be to start with a document with no libraries. Add the chords that you want, and save the library. Then, whenever you start a doc that will need them, load your library.

We have been asking for a feature that would show us which libraries are being used for at least a decade, if not longer

Thanks.  The problem is I deleted the chords I didn't want like multiple iterations of maj, min, now they are all back.  I do have my own chord lib but apparently that just gets added to whatever libs load with a doc.

I thought the suffixes, expressions, etc. stay with the document, that is, the template I created.  If I create a new doc from a template it should have whatever is with the template and nothing else or at least the way it should work in my opinion.

As a test, I just created a doc with no libraries then loaded the chord lib I had created. The chords are exactly what I had done before so the work is not lost.  Now the problem is what about all custom stuff I had done with the template like fonts, staves, etc?  How do I get a new doc to look like my template without the hassle of loading libraries (and which ones)?

Pardon me if I'm on a little rant here, but there has to be something easier or cleaner than these methods.

See if this makes any sense on controlling which libraries are loaded for a doc.

- Copy specific libraries to a new folder  (do Finale updates affect any or all of the libraries?)

- Update Preferences (Edit>Preferences - folders) to point to the new folder.

Well, that didn't work or I probably missed something since it's not clear on what libs are opened and from where.

I copied the Finale Chord folder and Finale Broadway folders (articulations, expressions, etc) to another location.  In the copied Chord folder, I deleted all of the libs except mine and the slash chords libs.  I also renamed the Finale Default Library folder to something else so Finale would not find it.

In Preferences I updated the folder locations for "libraries" to the new location.

I create a new doc using the wizard.  All of the Finale chords, expressions, etc. are there. All of my stuff is not.

Gordon Malone,

This is a misunderstanding.

Libraries are only loaded into a Finale document when you tell Finale to do so:

Open the document, and go to

File menu > Load Library…

In Other Words:

Libraries are not loaded “automatically”.

If you need to create a new document using the wizard, and have that new document containing only your own expressions, articulations, chord suffixes &c., you must first create a custom document containing exactly what you need in all new documents.

Then, use that custom document as a Document Style in the wizard (= you must put the custom document in the folder Document Styles).

Peter,

If libraries are not loaded automatically on a new document created through the wizard, how do the chords, articulations, etc. become available?  Those have to be stored and loaded from somewhere.  I have created docs using the wizard and without specifically loading any libraries. Chords, articulations, etc. are available for use in this new doc.

I created a template and use that as the default doc for new docs. When I created this template, I went through the chords added new ones and deleted the ones I did not want.  I saved that doc as a template.  If I create a new doc from the default or from template, ALL of the chords I had deleted earlier are back so they are being loaded from somewhere. For the new chords, I have to manually load my chord library. My chord library has what I expect - new chords and ones I didn't want are gone.

I understood that any changes made to chords, expressions, etc. are stored with the doc when it is saved. Is this correct?  If so, then why are all of the chords that were deleted still showing in the selection window?

What is the difference between using the template/default doc and creating a style?

Thanks,

Gordon

… What is the difference between using the template/default doc and creating a style? …

Really, there is no difference.

In all three cases Finale creates a new document by copying an existing document.

And the new document will contain the same articulations, expressions, chord suffixes &c. as the copied document.

When creating a new document from a template, Finale copies the selected template document.

(When you create a new document from a template, you must tell Finale which template to copy)

When creating a new document from the Default Document, Finale copies the selected Default Document (which you can set/select in the Preferences).

When creating a new document via the wizard, Finale copies the selected Document Style document.

(When you create a new document via the wizard, you must tell Finale which Document Style document to copy)

Thanks, Peter.

I still have open questions if you or someone could help. If these are better directed to Finale support I can do that.

If libraries are not loaded automatically on a new document created through the wizard, how do the chords, articulations, etc. become available?  Those have to be stored and loaded from somewhere.  I have created docs using the wizard and without specifically loading any libraries. Chords, articulations, etc. are available for use in this new doc.

I understood that any changes made to chords, expressions, etc. are stored with the doc when it is saved. Is this correct?  If so, then why are all of the chords that were deleted still showing in the selection window?

Thanks.

Gordon

… If libraries are not loaded automatically on a new document created through the wizard, how do the chords, articulations, etc. become available?  Those have to be stored and loaded from somewhere …

They are already in the new document when it is created.

Finale always creates a new document by copying an existing document (template, Default Document, Document Style).

The document Finale copies, contains some saved articulations, expressions, chord suffixes &c. - and the new document will contain the very same articulations, expressions, chord suffixes &c.

In Other Words:

They are already loaded in the new document; they are not loaded when the new document is created,

The only exception is the Document Without Libraries:

File menu > New > Document Without Libraries

In a Document Without Libraries the selection windows are empty.

Hence the file size of a Document Without Libraries is the “minimum file size” of a Finale document.

… I understood that any changes made to chords, expressions, etc. are stored with the doc when it is saved. Is this correct? …

That is correct.

Items such as articulations, expressions, chord suffixes, are document specific (not program specific).

They are saved inside the document, and all edits to them are saved in the document.

… If so, then why are all of the chords that were deleted still showing in the selection window? …

I am unable to reproduce that issue.

It does not happen for me.

If e. g. I delete an articulation from the Articulation Selection, it is deleted from the Articulation Selection, and it does not come back - not even if I save the document, close it, and open the document again.

If you - On The Other Hand - open another document, then you may see the items you deleted from the first document.

Thanks again, Peter.   I was not aware the elements like chords and expressions were part of the style definition.

It appears my solution is to go back through the elements in my template and redo the chords or whatever else is not right.  I still don't know how it happened. I save it when stopping work.

I'll leave this open for now. I have some other stuff to work on before I can get back to the template.

Thanks for your time.

Gordon

I updated the template with the chord changes/deletions. Everything appears okay.  I created new docs from template, a default doc, etc.  We can call this one resolved although it's still a puzzlement.

Thanks again for the help!