Finale v27, v26, v25; Windows 10
Click on the "Page Layout Tool" icon. It looks like a piece of paper.
What you have to realize (which, I guess, you've figured out now) is that "note spacing" and "Automatic Music Spacing" (AMS) clears "beat chart spacing" adjustments. So, it is a necessity to turn o...
I'd agree with Mike R. that you could probably fit less measures per system. However, you can get the accidentals spaced by putting those notes in the same layer as the preceding note. For example:...
The "extend beams over rests" and "extend secondary beams over rests" are modern conventions. They also work in combination with the "stemlet" option. It has it's place, but it's not intended to do...
https://makemusic.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360009649233-Finale-and-macOS-Mojave-10-14
That's the caveat in working with v26. The easiest way to solve this is to use the Finale version your publisher is using.
My guess is the OP created a Finale file and a Cakewalk file of the same music, and the Finale file is misplaced? Another possibility is that the OP is conflating Finale with Cakewalk?
.cwp is Cakewalk's file extension.
I say that not because of its usefulness, but because of how it changes the program. If MM released v26 as a free update to v25 (say 25.6), you wouldn't be able to work on your 25.5 files as expected.
I think that the new stacked articulations warrants a new version. Whether the upgrade is worth it for you is a different story.