Staff Tool

In addition to adding and deleting staves, use the Staff Tool to edit staff-specific characteristics using the Staff Attributes dialog box. Define attributes such as the staff's name, clef, transposition (if you're notating a transposing instrument's part) and so on. Or, specify the number of lines in the staff, and show or hide certain musical elements in the staff such as measure numbers, expression markings, time signatures and so on.

You can also create groups of staves; use the Group Attributes dialog box to define groups of instruments in the score and for part extraction, add a bracket to a group and specify how the barline appears on the grouped staves. An individual staff can belong to any number of groups.

When you click the Staff Tool, a Staff Menu appears that contains all the commands for working with staves and groups of staves: adding, deleting, positioning and spacing staves, creating customized staff attributes, defining groups of staves, adding brackets and piano braces, and so on.

When you click the Staff Tool, the Staff Menu appears, and handles appear on each staff and on staff-related items in the score. Select a handle then choose a menu command, or use the shortcuts listed below. The shortcuts are arranged by what the handle controls: staff handles and staves, group handles (includes the group name), staff name handles and bracket handles.

Staff handles and staves:

Staff handles always appear on staves in the score, even on staves that are hidden.

Click the Staff Tool to display the Staff Menu. Handles appear on each staff and staff-related item in the score.
Click a staff or a staff handle, or drag-enclose staff handles to select a staff (or staves).
Shift-click a staff or a staff handle to add the staff to the selection. If a staff is already selected, Shift-click to remove the staff from the selection.
Double-click a staff or a staff handle or right-click a staff handle and choose Edit Staff Attributes to edit the staff's attributes.
Double-click in the score (in Scroll View) to add a staff without repositioning the lower staves to make room for the new staff.
Double-click below a staff in the score (in Scroll View) to insert a staff between staves, repositioning the lower staves to make room for the new staff.
Ctrl-Shift-click a staff or staff handle in one or more selected staves (or right-click the handle and select Add Group and Bracket from the contextual menu) to create a new group for the selected staves.
Press shift-delete for selected staves, or right-click the handle and select Delete Staves from the contextual menu to delete the selected staves without repositioning the remaining staves.

Note: If a staff system has been optimized using the Page Layout Tool, two handles will appear on each staff in the optimized staff system.

Press delete for selected staves, or right-click the handle and select Delete Staves and Reposition from the contextual menu to delete the selected staves and reposition the remaining staves.

Note: If a staff system has been optimized using the Page Layout Tool, two handles will appear on each staff in the optimized staff system.

Press delete for a selected region to clear all Staff Styles in that region.
Select the bottom staff handle or handles in Page View and press Shift-delete for selected staves, or right-click the handle and select Delete Staves from the contextual menu to delete the selected staves for that system only without repositioning the remaining staves.

Note: This will remove the optimized staff from the system regardless of whether it contains music.

Select the bottom staff handle or handles in Page View and press shift-delete for selected staves, or right-click the handle and select Delete Staves and Reposition from the contextual menu to delete the selected staves for that system only and reposition the remaining staves.

Note: This will remove the optimized staff from the system regardless of whether it contains music.

Drag a staff handle in Scroll View (when Special Part Extraction is not selected in the Document Menu) to adjust the staff’s position in Scroll View and every staff system in Page View.
Drag a staff handle in Scroll View (when Special Part Extraction is selected in the Document Menu) to adjust the staff’s position in Scroll View only. The placement of staves remains unchanged in Page View. (When you choose Special Part Extraction from the Document Menu, Finale removes the checkmark by the command, and displays the full score using the new positioning in Scroll View.)
Drag a staff handle in Page View (when Special Part Extraction is not selected in the Document Menu) to adjust the staff’s position in every staff system in Page View and the position of the staff in Scroll View. When the top staff is adjusted, Finale adjusts the distance between staves, as well as staff systems.

Note: If two handles appear on a staff, drag the top handle

Drag a staff handle in Page View (when Special Part Extraction is selected in the Document Menu) to adjust the staff’s position in every staff system in Page View; leave the position of the staff unchanged in Scroll View. Finale adjusts the distance between staves, as well as staff systems.

Note: If two handles appear on a staff, drag the top handle

Drag the bottom staff handle in Page View to Adjust the staff’s position only in the current staff system (drag the top handle to adjust the position of the staff in all staff systems in Page View).

Note: If a staff system has been optimized using the Page Layout Tool, two handles will appear on each staff in the optimized staff system.

Hold down backspace while clicking on a staff with Staff Styles or on the Style Bar to remove the selected Staff Style from the selected region.
Double-click on a Staff Style bar to display the selected Staff Styles dialog box.

Group handles:

Group handles always appear on existing groups of staves in the score, even if you did not enter a group name.

Click a group handle, or drag-enclose group handles to select a group (or groups of staves).

Click a group handle, or drag-enclose group handles to select a group (or groups).
Shift-click a group handle to add the group to the selection. If a group is already selected, Shift-click to remove the group from the selection.
Double-click a group handle, or right-click the handle and select Edit Group Attributes from the contextual menu to edit the group’s attributes. The Group Attributes dialog box appears.
Ctrl-click a group handle, or right-click the handle and select Edit Full Group Name or Edit Abbreviated Group Name from the contextual menu to edit a group name. The Edit Text window appears.
Ctrl-shift-click a group handle, or right-click the handle and select Position Full Group Name or Position Abbreviated Group Name from the contextual menu to position a group name. The Position Full Group Name or Position Abbreviated Group Name dialog box appears.
Press backspace for selected groups to revert the position of the group names to their default position.
Press delete for selected groups, or right-click the handle and select Delete Group from the contextual menu to remove the selected group definitions.
Drag a group handle to adjust the position of a group name.

Staff name handles:

Staff name handles appear on existing staves in the score only if you have entered a staff name, or if Finale's default staff name appears for an unnamed staff.

Click a staff name handle, or drag-enclose staff name handles to select a staff name (or names).
Shift-click a full or abbreviated staff name handle to add the staff name to the selection. If a staff name is already selected, Shift-click to remove the staff name from the selection.
Double-click a full or abbreviated staff name handle, or right-click the handle and select Edit Staff Attributes from the contextual menu to edit the staff’s attributes. The Staff Attributes dialog box appears.
Ctrl-double-click a full or abbreviated staff name handle, or right-click the handle and select Edit Full Staff Name or Edit Abbreviated Staff Name from the contextual menu to edit a full or abbreviated staff name. The Edit Text window appears for the selected name.
Ctrl-shift-click a full or abbreviated staff name handle, or right-click the handle and select Position Full Staff Name or Position Abbreviated Staff Name from the contextual menu to Position the selected staff name. The Position Full Staff Name or Position Abbreviated Staff Name dialog box appears.
Press backspace for a selected staff name handle to revert the position of the full or abbreviated staff name to its default position.
Drag a full or abbreviated staff name handle to adjust the position of the selected staff name.

Bracket handles:

Two bracket handles appear on each bracket on a group, even if you did not enter a group name.

Click a bracket handle, or drag-enclose several bracket handles to select a bracket (or brackets).

Click a bracket handle, or drag-enclose several bracket handles to select a bracket (or brackets).
Shift-click a bracket handle to add the bracket to the selection. If a bracket is already selected, Shift-click to remove the bracket from the selection.
Double-click a bracket handle, or right-click the handle and select Edit Group Attributes from the contextual menu to edit a group. The Group Attributes dialog box appears.
Press delete for selected brackets, or right-click the handle and select Delete Bracket from the contextual menu to remove the selected brackets of the selected group definition.
Press backspace for selected brackets to revert the selected brackets to their default length.
Drag a bracket handle vertically to make a bracket taller or shorter.
Drag a bracket handle horizontally to move a bracket closer to or away from bracketed staves.