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Finale 2011 Interface Changes

Lyric syllable handles

In Finale 2010 and earlier, syllable handles only appeared on one beat at a time. In 2011, all lyric syllable handles are visible simultaneously and include beat attachment indicator lines, offering more editing flexibility. See Lyrics.

Lyric Spacing

The default music spacing of music with lyrics is more intelligent:

Excessive space at the beginning of measures has been removed. See To align syllables at the beginning of measures.
When one lyric is sung on several notes, the first note no longer receives unnecessary space.
Overall the appearance of music attached to lyrics has been improved, and the lyrics themselves are better spaced.
Punctuation, at the beginning or end of a lyric, can now be ignored for better alignment and centering. See "Ignore Syllable Edge Punctuation" in Document Options-Lyrics.
While adjusting syllables, the top lyric handle has been removed, but clicking a note will select all syllables attached to that note for easy editing en masse.

New Lyrics Tool Text menu (with Hard Space and Hard Hyphen)

A new Text menu appears when you select the Lyrics Tool that can be used for editing lyrics in the score or Lyrics window. You can now add 'hard spaces' and 'hard hyphens' using this new menu. See Text menu (Lyrics Tool).

Word extensions

Word extensions now appear instantly while entering lyrics. The option Create Automatically When Notes Follow Without Lyrics in the Word Extensions dialog box has been renamed Only Create on Lyrics with Underscores (_). There is no change in functionality.

New display colors

Finale's default display colors have changed. See Program Options-Display Colors.

Fewer staff and group handles

Extraneous editing handles have been eliminated, leaving less ambiguity and obstruction while editing staves, systems, and groups.

"Staff system optimization" paradigm replaced with new "hide empty staves" functionality

Finale 2011's method of optimizing page usage by eliminating empty staves is superior to Finale 2010's in several ways:

Music nudged across systems into hidden staves now always displays. Previously, music added in Scroll View, or moved across systems, could be hidden when viewed in Page View due to Staff System Optimization.
Hiding empty staves is now easier. See To hide empty staves.
A dashed line appears within systems, indicating the location of hidden staves. The handle of this line can be used to show empty staves. See To show empty staves.
Staves containing notes can be 'forced' to hide using a staff attribute for the whole staff (see To hide staves for ossia measures or special playback) or for specific systems (see To hide staves with music from specific systems).
Dragging or nudging staves vertically within individual systems can be done at any time with the Staff tool. Selected staves can be nudged with the up and down arrow keys. (Press Ctrl+up and down arrows to move measures to the previous/next system).
Dragging the top staff of the first system adjusts the distance between the top staff and the top system margin. Dragging the top staff of any other system adjusts the distance between systems. See To move staves.

If a Finale file from an earlier version is opened in Finale 2011 that includes notes hidden due to optimization, Finale displays the Hidden Notes Found dialog box, which allows you to reveal hidden notes. If you choose to leave notes hidden, Finale applies a staff style to the measures so that they will be 'force' hidden. Hidden note conversion settings can also be configured in Program Options-Open.

Groups and brackets

Staff groups are now assigned to measure regions. In files converted from Finale 2010 or earlier, brackets on optimized systems that have been manually edited will be individually defined when the file is opened in Finale 2011. To define brackets for systems individually in Finale 2011, see To modify brackets on a system-by-system basis.

To remove groups and brackets from selected regions, select a region of measures, then choose Staff > Groups & Brackets > Remove. See Staff/Groups and Brackets/Remove.

The Update Groups and Brackets plug-in has been removed

This plug-in is no longer necessary due to Finale's new Hide Empty Staves feature. See Staff menu and Group Attributes dialog box.

Folder reorganization

To accommodate multiple users on the same machine and to prevent permissions issues, Finale 2011 now installs application-specific files to different locations on your hard drive. Refer to Finale Installation Details to identify the new locations for Finale's various components. See also Program Options-Folders.

Staff Usage and Respace Staves

The Staff Usage List dialog box no longer measures the distance from the top of the window in Scroll View. It always lists the distance between the staff and the top of the previous staff for that system (Page View). Or, it lists the "global" distance between the staff and the previous staff (Scroll View). Staff spacing between Scroll View and Page View are not related. Finale now uses positive values to indicate space between staves. (If a negative value is entered, Finale will convert it to positive automatically). The Respace Staves dialog box now applies to all selected systems (instead of the whole score). You can also use this dialog box to apply the staff spacing in Scroll View to Page View.

Staff ordering and Sort Staves

Sort Staves has been removed from the Staff Menu. Staff sorting is now completely automatic. Staves can no longer be dragged out of order. To reorder staves, use the Reorder Staves dialog box.

Changes to Accommodate the new Finale AlphaNotes font

An AlphaNotes notehead character can be assigned to a pitch for the whole score or a staff (in the Document Options-Notes and Rests dialog box, and Note Shapes dialog box, respectively). Click the At Pitch drop-down menu and choose a pitch letter to assign the selected notehead character to a specific pitch (in any octave). See Also Finale AlphaNotes Font.

Menu Additions

The following menu items have been added (in addition to the items under the new Lyrics Tool Text menu):

Menu Changes

The following menu items have been changed:

Lyrics/Edit Lyrics has been replaced with Lyrics/Lyrics window.
Adding, editing, and removing groups and brackets is now accomplished using the Groups and Brackets submenu of the Staff menu.
Plug-ins/Scoring and Arranging/Update Groups and Brackets has been removed.

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