Placeholder dialog box

How to get there

1. Choose Window > Advanced Tools Palette. Choose the Mirror tool .
2. Double-click a measure with notes in it. (Or, if you’ve already created a Placeholder—and its Placeholder icon is visible—click the measure.)

What it does

This dialog box creates pickup measures. In other words, it creates an invisible "placeholder" of a rhythmic duration you specify at the beginning of the measure. Any existing notes in the measure slide to the right side of the measure, thus becoming pickup notes.

(Finale provides a second method of creating a pickup measure if it’s the first measure in your score. See Pickup Measure)

• Placeholder for Frame (#). This indicator identifies the frame (one measure on one staff) you clicked.
• Rest for __. Finale multiplies the number in this text box by whatever durational value you’ve selected (see below). At the beginning of the measure, Finale inserts "placeholders" (hidden rests) of the resulting duration, pushing any existing notes to the right (to become pickup notes).

  For example, if you want to create a pickup in 4/4 consisting of three eighth notes, you need to create a "rest" the equivalent of five eighth notes to precede them. Enter 5 in the text box and select Eighth(s) from the list of durations (see below).

• Half(s) • Dotted Quarter(s) • Quarter(s) • etc. Select one of these durational values, which is then multiplied by the number in the Rest for text box. In this way you indicate how many placeholders of the specified duration you want Finale to insert before the pickup notes.
• Delete. If you entered this dialog box by clicking an existing pickup measure (identified by a Placeholder icon), you can restore it to "normal" measure status by clicking Delete.
• OK • Cancel. Click OK to confirm your placeholder definition. If you’re creating a new placeholder, the Set Placeholder dialog box is displayed, asking whether this is to be a pickup measure in every staff, or just the staff you clicked. Click the appropriate response. You then return to the score, where Finale displays a Placeholder icon on the pickup measure to help you identify it. Click Cancel if you decide not to create (or change) a pickup measure.

You can modify your placeholder settings at any time by clicking any measure displaying a placeholder icon.

See also:

Mirror Tool