Finale Forum

Hello! I'm working on an orchestra score and I put extra space above the strings. When I optimize out the staff right above the strings, the extra space goes away. Is there any way to fix this globally without having to manually add space for each system? Thanks!

Finale 2014.5
Windows 7

That does seem like unfortunate behavior.

If you always want extra space above the strings, you could add an empty staff there and check "Force-hide staff: cutaway" and perhaps uncheck "Allow hiding when empty."

But maybe someone will know how to do it without resorting to such shenanigans.

Optimization was the old term. Now, with the Staff Tool, it's merely hiding staves.

Regardless, once you've hidden the staff in the systems where hiding is needed, select the top staff of the String group (while in the Staff Tool). Then, from the Staff Tool Menu, choose Respace Staves. Since only the staff selected will be affected, enter the precise distance for the Space Above the Staff in the appropriate box and click okay. Now all the systems will have that spacing--even the ones where the staff above was hidden.

Zuill

Excellent! Requires a little delay of gratification, though. You can also doubleclick-drag the top string staff handle at that point instead of Respace Staves to do it visually.

Thank you everyone!

It was not a problem fixing, I was just hoping there would an automatic global fix.

I think Zuill's solution is the closest you will get to a global fix.