Finale Forum

I've got a screen-refresh bug that's been driving me nuts. I brought the problem up here a while ago, but unfortunately we couldn't come up with any fix or work-around for it. I've tried my score on 2014.5 and 26 so far; both have the problem. So... recently I got interested in seeing if there was some older version of Finale that perhaps didn't have the bug.

Would anyone have an older Finale I could try out? I would compensate you (cheerfully) for your software. This would be for Windows. Note, as far as I know, current Finale files can be transferred only as far back as Finale 2012...

Nothing suitable on eBay right now... (only Finale's that have no product keys.)

thanks,
Garry

Don't buy a copy of Finale that "comes with an authorization key". There is no such thing. You install the software, then authorize it online directly with Make Music. You might want to contact them and ask if they will still authorize an earlier version of Finale. They will charge you an upgrade fee if you've never purchased that particular version.

N.

A few things:

You won’t be able to download Finale before 2012. You’ll need a CD or disk image for the earlier version. MakeMusic has indicated that you can’t get this from them but they don’t seem to have a problem with you obtaining it elsewhere. I probably have my 2009 and 2011 CDs somewhere—there are ways to get the disk image to you (Dropbox, GoogleDrive, FTP etc.) if you want. I skipped 2010.

As reported earlier, you’ll need to get a license from MakeMusic for the earlier version in order to use it. You have to go back to 1998 (or 2000?) to find a version that predates the License Manager. Dirty little secret: UPGRADE unlocks those versions—at least it did on the Mac.

You don’t want a version earlier than 2009. The free Dolet 7 plugin for 2009–2014.5 will enhance the MusicXML functionality and make it easier to import files created in later versions of Finale.
https://www.musicxml.com/dolet-plugin/d ... or-finale/

When you upgrade, the older versions are not eligible to be given away--it's all the same license. So you'd need to find someone who's abandoned Finale entirely.

What's the screen-refresh bug again? I couldn't find it by searching your old posts. Better to get to the bottom of that, if possible.

I doubt that your "bug" has something to do with specific versions of Finale.
If you could re-explain the problem, you could get some help...

Hi All - I was indeed thinking I was going to have to buy a full authorizable/register-able copy of an older Finale copy in order to test for the bug. But now... do I remember that lack of an authorization code still allows you to run Finale -- just not save? That would be sufficient for doing a playback test: I would just need the distribution DVD. We should be able to work something out.

thanks for all the replies!

[[ As for what the bug was --- for those who are interested --- I have been putting together a fairly large book of "fiddle tunes". It's a single Finale file, and within it I've been using Layers instead of Parts, for what I thought would be simplicity. So I have melody, harmony, piano, and "utility" Layers. Printing is working OK, but I also want to do "screen capture" of the tunes being played back by Finale and post the captures on Youtube, as playalong videos. To do that, there's a wonderful Swiss-Army-knife of a program called "ffmpeg" that can do a good screen-capture of the Finale playback, and even automatically chop the capture up into individual tunes.

Cool.

In the first incarnation, there will be about 500 videos.

Problem is... during the playback of the book, after each page flip, Finale picks a new-and-different set of Layers to display when refreshing the screen. The choice it makes is completely random. In other words, I cannot get Finale to give me a correct playback of the whole book.

I have a work-around, but it's not pretty....
]]

So, you're using "show active layer only" during playback?

Do you want the other layers to sound during playback? If not, try going into Document options / Layers, and turning off playback for the others. Just a wild shot.

The other thing would be to use the "voices" feature in making parts, wherein you can choose a particular layer for the part. Then play back the part.

Hi Mike,

I need to open a bunch of Finale 1998 (for PC) files from my teacher (deceased) who never upgraded beyond 1998, because newer versions (back in 2002-4) of Finale (apparently) messed up his formatting. He used Finale for every aspect of his publishing, including a good deal of text.

I think your post is relevant to me, and I want to make sure that I'm understanding the following correctly.

MikeHalloran wrote: ...you’ll need to get a license from MakeMusic for the earlier version in order to use it. You have to go back to 1998 (or 2000?) to find a version that predates the License Manager. Dirty little secret: UPGRADE unlocks those versions—at least it did on the Mac.

I have Finale 2008 for Mac. What is the "upgrade" that unlocks earlier versions like 1998? Where can I find it?

Otherwise, am I stuck looking for a copy of Finale 1998 on disc? If so, how would I go about getting a license? Or wouldn't I need to?

Thank you very much!

Cheers,
Dan

If you have Finale 2008, you can open those old files using that. As a matter of fact, you may have more success with 2008 as opposed to a later or the latest Finale.

There is a chance some of these old files have become corrupted, in which case you're out of luck. But give it a try and see what happens.

N.

N Grossingink wrote:If you have Finale 2008, you can open those old files using that. As a matter of fact, you may have more success with 2008 as opposed to a later or the latest Finale.

Thanks N!

I've tried that again and, after a bit of poking around, found the problem: I just had to switch from Studio View to Page View.

My next hurdle is that the slurs and flags (e.g., on 8th notes) are missing. And upon further investigation, it's with any file in my version of Finale 2008, regardless of whether it was created with Finale 1998 or 2008. Is this a known issue and, if so, doesn't anyone have a fix for it? I've read a bit on another thread re. .fan files.

Additional info: It is just on my Mac. On a Windows machine there is no problem.

Thanks,
Dan

Nobodaddy wrote:

N Grossingink wrote:If you have Finale 2008, you can open those old files using that. As a matter of fact, you may have more success with 2008 as opposed to a later or the latest Finale.

Thanks N!

I've tried that again and, after a bit of poking around, found the problem: I just had to switch from Studio View to Page View.

My next hurdle is that the slurs and flags (e.g., on 8th notes) are missing. And upon further investigation, it's with any file in my version of Finale 2008, regardless of whether it was created with Finale 1998 or 2008. Is this a known issue and, if so, doesn't anyone have a fix for it? I've read a bit on another thread re. .fan files.

Thanks,
Dan

If your old files used the included fonts, .fan is not an issue.

Finale fonts have changed over the years. Switching to one of the current fonts usually fixes this. If not, there’s a another way around and I can find and post it.

I can still read the files I created on my Mac Plus in 1989 but I’ve had to do some font conversion over the years to do so.

MikeHalloran wrote:
If your old files used the included fonts, .fan is not an issue.

Finale fonts have changed over the years. Switching to one of the current fonts usually fixes this. If not, there’s a another way around and I can find and post it.

I can still read the files I created on my Mac Plus in 1989 but I’ve had to do some font conversion over the years to do so.

Thanks Mike!

I think I will bite the bullet and purchase the latest version of Finale. The issue doesn't occur with the demo version I've installed.

Cheers,
Dan

I have question for Mike on this thread. I read your tutorial on deleting and reinstalling all finale fonts to correct missing character issues but it hasn't solved my problem. I have opened an older file from around 2002 that used GoldenAge. It opens with the missing character questions marks everywhere, but even when I change default music font to Maestro, for example, it doesn't change anything. However if I copy all the information and paste into a new file, all the information is there and appears normally. But I'd like to clean up the corrupted older files somehow so I don't have to reformat everything. Any suggestions?

What is the "upgrade" that unlocks earlier versions like 1998? Where can I find it?

If you have the disk, type the word UPGRADE when the serial number is requested. I don't recall when that stopped working.

I only tried it on Mac when I was sent a disk with no key code. The only thing on the front of the disk was the word, UPGRADE so I thought, "naw...." and was quite surprised by the result. It worked for a number of years but that was a long time ago now.

I have opened an older file from around 2002 that used GoldenAge.

What version of Finale do you use now?'

You can send the file to me mike (a) halloranmusic.com and I'll be glad to take a look.

I have a complete set of Finale 2009 in original box with quick reference guide, 1 DVD for Windows and Macintosh.
I also have Finale 2010 upgrade with quick reference guide, 2 DVDs for Windows and Macintosh.
All in very good condition.
These were my sons who now has published music on Alfred Publishing as does his brother.
If there is any interest in these please let me know. I would be glad to answer any questions.

.

I've got or had every version of Finale sine there was a Finale. With exception of the versions I no longer use and gave to a few favorite music students. I have no idea why I kept all those. I have a lot of other old ancient software too. Must be a habit.

Would you sell an older version? The earlier the better.
I haven’t used Finale since about 2007 so I have some catching up to do.. I’m usually only needing to write for vocals, rhythm section, and a few horns..
I was pretty proficient at one time.

If you have a Mac you’d like to sell I’d certainly appreciate it.

Thanks!

I don't think you can legally do that and still run a newer version. You have the same license code for all versions. Seems like there are plenty of people who have defected to Sibelius or Dorico, though, but this isn't the place to find them.

If you have a Mac you’d like to sell I’d certainly appreciate it.

Do you use Macintosh? Your profile says you do. What OS X are you using? That will determine which older Finale version you can use.

"I haven’t used Finale since about 2007 so I have some catching up to do."

I don't think you will find Finale 27 so much different and the transition pretty easy. Being on a Mac and probably a pretty up-to-date Mac, OS wise, Finale 27 is probably the best way to go.

IMHO, Finale 27 is the best Finale ever. I have removed all older versions. No use for them as I see it. I used to keep 2014.5 and 26.3 but I see no reason to keep them available. On a Windows machine I suspect you could have every Finale there is/was still installed and working. I doubt that is possible with a Mac, however.