In Finale 2010 and earlier, syllable handles only appeared on one beat at a time. In 2012, all lyric syllable handles are visible simultaneously and include beat attachment indicator lines, offering more editing flexibility. See Lyrics.
The default music spacing of music with lyrics is more intelligent:
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 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.
Finale's default display colors have changed. See Preferences-Display Colors.
Extraneous editing handles have been eliminated, leaving less ambiguity and obstruction while editing staves, systems, and groups.
Finale 2012's method of optimizing page usage by eliminating empty staves is superior to Finale 2010's in several ways:
If a Finale file from an earlier version is opened in Finale 2012 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 Preferences-Open.
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 2012. To define brackets for systems individually in Finale 2012, 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.
This plug-in is no longer necessary due to Finale's new Hide Empty Staves feature. See Staff menu and Group Attributes dialog box.
To accommodate multiple users on the same machine and to prevent permissions issues, Finale 2012 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 Preferences-Folders.
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.
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 Score Manager. See Reordering Staves.
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
Menu Changes and Additions
See Finale 2010 vs. Finale 2012 menu reference chart.
Two new check boxes have been added to Preferences-Open dialog box, "Clean Up File Data" and "Show Any File Data Clean Up Results." The former is checked by default, prompting Finale to run File Maintenance procedures automatically when opening old files. See Preferences-Open.
The Broadway Copyist Text Extended font now includes additional characters, including Ø, Æ, Œ, ¡, and ¿. See Broadway Copyist Text Extended Font Character Set.
Use the following key to identify commands that have moved or changed names since Finale 2010. New commands (as of Finale 2011), menus, and submenus are marked with an asterisk (*). "" means the menu item's name has not changed. For menu additions added in 2012, see Finale 2011 vs. Finale 2012 menu reference chart.
| Finale 2010 menu command Name | Finale 2010 menu | Finale 2012 menu | Finale 2012 menu command Name |
| Edit Lyrics | Lyrics | "" | *Lyrics Window |
| Update Groups and Brackets | Plug-ins/Scoring and Arranging | - | - |
| - | - | *Text (Lyrics tool) | *Font |
| - | - | *Text (Lyrics tool) | *Size |
| - | - | *Text (Lyrics tool) | *Style |
| - | - | *Text (Lyrics tool) | *Font Settings |
| - | - | *Text (Lyrics tool) | *Insert Hard Space |
| - | - | *Text (Lyrics tool) | *Insert Hard Hyphen |
| - | - | *Text (Lyrics tool) | *Insert Symbol |
| - | - | Expression | *Copy Expression to Staff Above |
| - | - | Expression | *Copy Expression to Staff Below |
| - | - | Expression | *Copy Expression to All Staves Above |
| - | - | Expression | *Copy Expression to All Staves Below |
| - | - | *Groups and Brackets submenu | |
| Add Group and Bracket | Staff | "" | Groups and Brackets/Add |
| Edit Group Attributes | Staff | "" | Groups and Brackets/Edit |
| Remove Group | Staff | "" | Groups and Brackets/Remove |
| - | - | Staff | *Reorder Staves |
| - | - | Staff | *Show Staff Spacing while Dragging |
| - | - | Utilities | *Add/Remove Capo Chords |
| - | - | Utilities | *Move to Previous System |
| - | - | Utilities | *Move to Next System |
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