Finale Forum

I know the procedure on how to move staff or systems independently. Click staff tool, click the squar associated with the staff/system you want to move, hold alt down and move the selection. I can't get it to work for me. Others have told me it works for them. I tried it in ver. 2014, still dosen't work. I'm at a loss.

With Alt, only the one staff moves. Without it, the selected staff and all below it in that system move.

Nick, hold down Alt, then click and drag.

I haven't used it except to test it.

I'm not sure why it isn't working for Nick. Hold down Alt, keep it held down, and drag the little staff handle with the mouse.

motet wrote:I haven't used it except to test it.

I'm not sure why it isn't working for Nick. Hold down Alt, keep it held down, and drag the little staff handle with the mouse.

That's exactly what I do. I even tried it on Finale 2014 and still doesn't work. I have nothing exotic on my system.

Are these new files, or ones created pre-2011, when staff optimization was a thing? And the ALT key works elsewhere, like changing clef/time/key in Simple Entry?
And you're doing it in Page View?

BuonTempi wrote:Are these new files, or ones created pre-2011, when staff optimization was a thing? And the ALT key works elsewhere, like changing clef/time/key in Simple Entry?
And you're doing it in Page View?

New files in Finale 25.2. By the way, I have macOS Sierra if that makes any difference.

I wonder if Sierra might be part of the problem. I'm still on El Capitan, and it works for me.

I am on Sierra, and v25.2 works for me.

NickG,

I think that we need more info.

Let us be scientific:

1) Are you trying in Page View, or in Scroll View?

2) You can also respace staves via the command
Staff menu > Staff Usage…
Does that work for you?

3) Please specify the steps you've already taken, so that we can rule out things.
Have you tried trashing your preferences file? Tested a brand new user account?

Does Alt/Option dragging work for other things? (It allows expressions to be moved to different beats, for example.)

motet wrote:Does Alt/Option dragging work for other things? (It allows expressions to be moved to different beats, for example.)

Holding Alt/Options moves expressions but keep them locked to original beat.
Without Alt/Options I can move expressions to other beats.

I guess it's a setting which way that works. But it sounds like you are Alt-dragging correctly. It's a mystery why the other command doesn't work. Are you sure you're trying to move the staff in the Staff tool (sounds like you are, but I thought I'd double check).

In any case, you could do forget about this and do two moves as I said above.

Peter Thomsen wrote:I am on Sierra, and v25.2 works for me.

NickG,

I think that we need more info.

Let us be scientific:

1) Are you trying in Page View, or in Scroll View?

2) You can also respace staves via the command
Staff menu > Staff Usage…
Does that work for you?

3) Please specify the steps you've already taken, so that we can rule out things.
Have you tried trashing your preferences file? Tested a brand new user account?

1. Page View
2. Yes that works. It also moves the staves below.
3. a) Trashed prefs.
b) Unplugged Wacom tablet.

motet wrote:I guess it's a setting which way that works. But it sounds like you are Alt-dragging correctly. It's a mystery why the other command doesn't work. Are you sure you're trying to move the staff in the Staff tool (sounds like you are, but I thought I'd double check).

In any case, you could do forget about this and do two moves as I said above.

I click once on the red inner square.

Put cursor there, hold down Alt, and hold down the mouse button and drag. Or, click to turn it red, then use up- or down-arrow keys with Alt held down.

motet wrote:Put cursor there, hold down Alt, and hold down the mouse button and drag. Or, click to turn it red, then use up- or down-arrow keys with Alt held down.

Did it both ways. Still no good.

Nick,
Could you post one of your documents for us to play with? To post a .mus file here, it must be compressed (zipped) and cannot exceed 100 kb in size.

miker wrote:Nick,
Could you post one of your documents for us to play with? To post a .mus file here, it must be compressed (zipped) and cannot exceed 100 kb in size.

It's a 2 page doc. After zip it's it's 110kb

Can you cut it down to get it under 100kb?

Zuill

zuill wrote:Can you cut it down to get it under 100kb?

Zuill

Ok.

Create a new document with three empty staves and see if it happens there.

zuill wrote:Can you cut it down to get it under 100kb?

Zuill

I made a test doc. This contains the same problems we are discussing.

This only has 2 staves. I think we have been comparing apples and oranges all this time. Everything works as it should in this file.

Zuill

I wonder if Nick is trying to move the top staff. It appears that moving the top staff handle moves the system, Alt or not.

zuill wrote:This only has 2 staves. I think we have been comparing apples and oranges all this time. Everything works as it should in this file.

Zuill

Are you saying that the top stave cannot move independently using Alt?

motet wrote:I wonder if Nick is trying to move the top staff. It appears that moving the top staff handle moves the system, Alt or not.

Correct.