Staff & System Spacing gone Berserk. Help!

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ernesto1956
Posts: 47
Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2009 4:50 am
Finale Version: 2009 Mac OS 10.4
Operating System: Windows

Post by ernesto1956 » Sat Sep 13, 2014 3:58 pm

Finale PrintMusic 2009 for Mac OS 10.4

Am doing a score for SATB plus piano and 2-3 percussion parts. I am making use of page optimization where appropriate to hide empty staves on some pages for a better fit and look.

I began by using a page size of 8.5x11. After doing a few pages, I saved the file, duplicated it, and then decided to change the page size to 11x14 for a better look. This improved the spacing between notes overall, but then I wanted to fine-tune the spacing between systems and between staves. This is where the trouble began.

I would spend quite a bit of time on an individual page (let's say, page 1) getting everything looking the way I wanted. Then somewhere in the process of working on page 4, something would happen to screw everything up I'd already fixed, including pages 1, 2, and 3. The result is a total mess.

See the image I have on a Dropbox link here:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/341 ... igmess.jpg

Everything is jumbled. So my questions are:

(1) Is there a way to get back to some kind of default spacing where everything is in order even though the spacing isn't optimal?

(2) Once a page is spaced the way I like it, is it possible to LOCK the page in that spacing so that subsequent page fixes do not affect the locked page(s)? I am not talking about locking the number of measures in a system...I know how to do that. What I want is to do is lock the spacing of everything on a given page so that the page stays the way it is while I work on subsequent pages.

About the only idea I've come up with on my own is to do the following: fix a given page, print it to a PDF; then fix another page and convert that to a PDF, and so on until all pages are fixed and saved to PDFs. Of course, none of these pages would be editable, but you get the idea. I need a better solution.
Finale PM 2009...Mac OS 10.4.11


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Peter Thomsen
Posts: 6601
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2003 6:47 pm
Finale Version: Finale v27.4
Operating System: Mac

Post by Peter Thomsen » Sat Sep 13, 2014 4:40 pm

Oh dear, oh dear, what a terrible mess.

Disclaimer:
I know the “full Finale”, but I do not know PrintMusic.
The features I am going to describe, may or may not be available in PrintMusic.
Basically, all the siblings in the “Finale family” - PrintMusic, SongWriter, NotePad - are the “full Finale” in reduced versions where some features have been removed.

ernesto1956 wrote:…(1) Is there a way to get back to some kind of default spacing where everything is in order even though the spacing isn't optimal?…
What you call “some kind of default spacing”, is a document specific setting, saved in the document:
(full Finale) Document menu > Page Format > Score…
When creating new pages in the score, the program uses the settings in Page Format for Score.

In the “full Finale” the Page Layout Tool has a Page Layout menu with the command “Redefine Pages”.
The command Redefine Pages will revert the layout to the settings in Page Format for Score, thus removing all custom layout.

ernesto1956 wrote:…2) Once a page is spaced the way I like it, is it possible to LOCK the page in that spacing so that subsequent page fixes do not affect the locked page(s)? I am not talking about locking the number of measures in a system...I know how to do that. What I want is to do is lock the spacing of everything on a given page so that the page stays the way it is while I work on subsequent pages…
My first guess would be that the culprit is a document setting for multimeasure rests:
(full Finale) Document menu > Document Options > Multimeasure Rests
You should de-select the option “Update Automatically”.

“Update Automatically” is only useful to you during the initial phase where you enter music via Scroll View.
When you are in Scroll View, you can access all measures in all staves, regardless of the layout in Page View.
You can enter music into multimeasure rests, and the option “Update Automatically” will automatically break the multimeasure rests as needed.

You have no need for “Update Automatically” when you have finished entering music, and are working on the layout.
Unfortunately “Update Automatically” will re-set the widths of ALL measures (not just multimeasure rests) to the default widths, thus destroying custom measure widths done by you.
Which is the reason why I recommend that you de-select “Update Automatically”.

I do not know of a way to lock a page, sorry.
However, I do not experience your problem, probably because I know how to avoid it.


NB:
There is a different problem if you do it “the other way around”:
First edit later pages, and next go back to edit previous pages.
But according to your description you do not work in that way???
Mac OS X 12.6.9 (Monterey), Finale user since 1996

ernesto1956
Posts: 47
Joined: Thu Jul 02, 2009 4:50 am
Finale Version: 2009 Mac OS 10.4
Operating System: Windows

Post by ernesto1956 » Sun Sep 14, 2014 2:28 am

I am not having a problem with the width of measures. I can lock the desired number of measures into a system and the system will not re-flow horizontally.

The problem is vertical. I begin with page 1 using the Page Layout tool and with the mouse I grab the various handles on the staves and move them up or down until page 1 is fixed. Then I go on to page 2.

After I fix page 2, page 1 has changed, and not for the better. The staves have moved, and I don't understand what moving the staves on page 2 has to do with page 1 since I am moving forward and away from page 1.
Finale PM 2009...Mac OS 10.4.11

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Peter Thomsen
Posts: 6601
Joined: Fri Jul 25, 2003 6:47 pm
Finale Version: Finale v27.4
Operating System: Mac

Post by Peter Thomsen » Sun Sep 14, 2014 2:48 am

In order to give the best possible help I think that we need to see an actual (small) .mus sample document (not a graphic file).

Before you can attach a .mus document in this forum, you must compress it, e. g. as a .zip file.
And the file size must not be more than max. 100 KB.

To reduce the file size you can…
- clear the music and lyrics,
- delete the items in selection dialog boxes, like Articulation Selection and Expression Selection,
- open the Lyrics window, and delete the lyrics,
- delete some measures.
We only need to see the empty staves.
Mac OS X 12.6.9 (Monterey), Finale user since 1996

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miker
Posts: 5993
Joined: Fri Mar 13, 2009 4:28 pm
Finale Version: Finale 27.4
Operating System: Mac

Post by miker » Sun Sep 14, 2014 1:27 pm

Go to Page Layout, and Check Allow Individual Staff Spacing.

Now, you will have two handles at the left end of each staff. The top handle moves staves in all systems. The bottom handle moves the staff in THAT SYSTEM ONLY.
Finale 27 | SmartScorePro 64
Mac OS 13.2.1 Ventura
Copyist for Barbershop Harmony Society

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