Staff menu

Expanded Staff menu

How to get there

Choose the Staff tool icon . The Staff menu appears.

What it does

Use the Staff menu to add or insert blank instrument staves, remove existing staves, position staff names, change the settings for a selected staff, adjust staves vertically, redraw barlines and brackets after changing the top-to-bottom order of staves, and set the spacing between staves. See Staves. You can also create groups and define their characteristics, delete groups, choose a bracket and alternate barlines for a group, and change which staves belong to a group. See Staff groups.

New Blank Staves. Choose this command to display the New Staves dialog box, where you can add new blank staves below the existing staves in your score. If you have a staff selected, new blank staves are inserted above the selected staff.

Noteman says: Only delete staves if you want them permanently removed. To temporarily remove a staff, such as an ossia staff, hide the staff using the Force Hide Staff checkbox in the Staff Attributes dialog box. See Hiding Staves—To hide staves for ossia measures or special playback.

Delete Staves • Delete Staves and Reposition. Select the staff or staves that you want to be removed, then choose either command. Choose Delete Staves to remove the selected staves and leave the remaining staves in their current positions. Choose Delete Staves and Reposition to remove the selected staves and reposition any staves that were below the deleted staves. Finale moves the remaining staves up to the position of the top staff that was deleted.
These commands are only available when one or more staves are selected while viewing the score. See Manage Parts dialog box to add or delete staves from parts.
Reorder Staves. Choose this command to display the Reorder Staves dialog box, where you can change the order of staves and groups in the score.
Edit Staff Attributes. Choose this command to display the Staff Attributes dialog box, which lists the properties for the selected staff or the first staff if no staff is selected. Using this dialog box, you can change various settings for this staff throughout the score.
Respace Staves. Choose this command to display the Respace Staves dialog box, in which you can restore all the staves in your score to uniform vertical spacing, or, if they weren't evenly spaced to begin with, you can preserve the gap between staves and make all gaps proportionally larger or smaller. See To space existing staves evenly.
Staff Usage. Choose this command to display the Staff Usage dialog box, in which you can specify the exact vertical position of a staff or staves in the score. You can also see whether the changes will affect the entire score or, in Page View, whether the change will affect all staff systems or a single staff system.
Define Staff Styles. Choose this command to display the Staff Styles dialog box, where you can create and edit sets of staff attributes that can be saved and applied to parts of a staff at different points. When any of the attributes of the Staff Style is changed (such as the staff name or transposition), all areas of the document where that Staff Style is applied are also changed. See Staff Styles.
Apply Staff Style To. Use this submenu to apply a Staff Style to the currently visible part/score, or the full score and parts. See Apply Staff Style To submenu.
Clear Staff Styles From. Use this submenu to clear a Staff Style from the score and all parts, or just the score/just the parts. See Clear Staff Styles From submenu.
Use Selected Staff Style for Score and Parts. Choose this command to apply the Staff Style(s) of the currently selected region in the score to the corresponding parts or vice versa.
Show Staff Styles. Choose this command to show (or hide) the bar above measures that indicate where Staff Style has been applied. You can double-click on the bar to edit the staff style.
Show Staff Style Names. Choose this command to show (or hide) the name of the Staff Style in the bar above measures that indicate where Staff Style has been applied. This command is only available when Show Staff Styles is checked.
Groups and Brackets. Use this submenu to add, edit, and remove staff groups and brackets. See Groups and Brackets submenu.
Set Default Name Positions. Use this submenu to set the default positions for staff and group names in your score. See Set Default Name Positions submenu.
Position Names. Use this submenu to set the individual positions for selectedA small square which appears on currently "selectable" elements in the score. Handles allow you to select, edit and adjust musical elements in the score. staff and group names in your score. See Position Names submenu.
Show Default Staff Names • Show Default Group Names. Choose these commands to show or hide Finale's default names for unnamed staves and groups on-screen. When selected, the default names appear on the screen, enclosed in square brackets. When not selected, default staff names and their handlesA small square which appears on currently "selectable" elements in the score. Handles allow you to select, edit and adjust musical elements in the score. are hidden on-screen for unnamed staves, and group names (but not handles) are hidden on-screen.
Default names can help you identify staff handles. They will not appear in printed copies of the score; only staff names that you enter appear in your printed music.
Show Staff Spacing While Dragging. Choose this command to display the space between staves while dragging them.

The value, which measures the distance between the top staff line of each staff and the top staff line of the staff above it, appears using the measurement unit selected under Finale > Measurement Units. Uncheck this option to hide this value while dragging staves.

Noteman says: Starting in Finale 2012, Staff System Optimization was replaced with Hide Empty Staves.

Hide Empty Staves. Choose this command to hide all empty staves in a selected region. Hidden staves are displayed as dashed horizontal lines. See Hiding empty staves.
Show Empty Staves. Choose this command to show all empty staves in a selected region. To show staves in individual systems, right/CONTROL-click the handleA small square which appears on currently "selectable" elements in the score. Handles allow you to select, edit and adjust musical elements in the score. on the dashed line that represents the hidden staff and choose the staff you would like to show (or choose Show All to show all hidden staves).