To
optimize all (or specified) systems
- Click the Page Layout Tool .
- From the Page Layout menu, choose Optimize
Staff Systems. A dialog box appears, letting you specify the range
of systems to be optimized. If you only want to optimize some of the systems,
enter their numbers in the boxes. You could also drag-select the systems
to optimize before entering the Optimize Staff Systems dialog box, and
Finale will display your selected systems. To optimize the entire score,
click on Whole Document.
- Check Optimize Staff Systems and any additional
features below. See Staff
System Optimization dialog box for details.
- Click OK (or press enter).
When Finale’s done, look at the staves in Page View. You’ll see that every
staff remaining in each system has music on it, because the empty staves
have been hidden.
- Update the layout using Update Layout in the
Edit menu. Finale has locked in the optimized staff configuration.
If you return to Scroll View and add some music to a staff in a system
that no longer appears in Page View (because it’s been optimized), the
staff won’t reappear. If you want to edit, reformat, enlarge, or reduce
your music, remove optimization before you do it, and reapply optimization
when you’re finished. For this reason, it’s best to optimize just before
printing, after the piece has been formatted, proofread, and given its
final layout.