Finale Forum

The Staff Tool lets me globally adjust the distance between the top staff system and the top of the page, but I have had to mouse-drag all other staves below because none of the three options in the dialog window work for me, not in any combination with the four selections.

I would really be grateful to learn if any of the three options under "Space Above Each Selected Staff" in the "Respace Staves" window actually work, before wasting more of my life trying to figure out the combination (like trying to crack a safe).

Also, in the "Respace Staves" window, does MakeMusic erroneously refer to the top staff as the "Score" as it does in the Extract Parts dialog window? I am a grammarian with five languages under my belt, but I can't make sense of the instructions in the manual for exercising the options to adjust the space above selected staffs. Hopefully one of the wizards at this forum has outwitted MakeMusic and figured out the puzzle; if so, pleeeeeeease share.

Yes, it works. Notice it says "above each selected staff." Have you selected anything?

There's nothing erroneous about "Score" in either the Respace Staves dialog or the Extract Parts dialog. The Extract Parts dialog refers to parts, not staves (see Manage Parts). You can in fact extract a score.

In Respace Staves, it's asking in which part or score you want the staves respaced.

There is typically a one-to-one correspondence between staves and parts, but there doesn't have to be, so perhaps that's what's confusing you.

I resurrected my will to try the "Respace Staves" feature again, this time working with a simpler score, a drum solo. But no matter what parameters I enter in the fields under "Space Above Each Selected Staff," the spacing remains fixed when I click OK. I did unlock all systems in Utilities.

Having tried all three options from the "Respace Staves In" drop-down menu, I'm experiencing difficulty believing the feature is fully functional. I highlighted three staffs then tried again after selecting all the staffs in the document.

Now I am able to get a response when entering a value for the "Top Staff Position," but then Finale applies the value to all staff systems. That is definitely nutty: the heading should be "Top Staff Position and All Others." Well, at least entering figures in the "Top Staff Position" section does something. Motet, pardon me if my thinking is too concrete, but when you say the tool works, are you referring to the top staff position or have you actually used the tool to adjust the space between selected staffs? I apologize for being such a poor student.

It doesn't work system by system, but rather for the whole document. To increase the top margin for one system only, use the Page Layout tool.

Yes, Space Above Each Select Staff works. I don't know what you're doing wrong. Maybe somebody else can help.

Djard,

Are you talking about a 1-staff document (e. g. a piece for flute solo)?

Or are you talking about a multi-staff document (e. g. a quartet)?

The command Respace Staves is for a multi-staff document.

In a 1-staff document you can respace systems, not respace staves.

Ah, that's a good theory of what the confusion might be.

Here's how Respace Staves works. It affects every system.

It works! Now I'm really confused.

I tried a different document, so I'm guessing the file is corrupted.

Thanks for your saintly patience.