Document Styles

 

Finale allows you to reuse all document settings from any existing document by designating it as it as a Document Style. A Document Style is basically a model document whose settings can be duplicated while designing a new score in the Setup Wizard. When you designate a file as a Document Style, you are telling Finale you would like to use its articulations, expressions, fonts, Score Lists, staff styles, page layout and all other document options and libraries along side the instrumentation and other settings you specify in the Setup Wizard. For a list of all document-specific settings, see Document Settings and Program Settings.

To use Document Styles

  1. From the File Menu, choose New, then Document with Setup Wizard. The first page of the Setup Wizard appears.
  2. If you would like to begin with a preset ensemble, select it in the left list box. Choose None to design the instrumentation from scratch when you advance to the next page. The next page of the Setup Wizard also allows you to edit the ensemble chosen here, as well as save new custom ensembles.
  3. Choose the desired Document Style from the list box on the right. Note that an * (asterisk) appears next to the Document Style assigned to the ensemble you have selected. You can change an ensemble's default Document Style by selecting a different Document Style and clicking the "Always Use This Document Style with This Ensemble" button. The Document Styles listed here include all files that appear in the Finale/Document Styles folder on your hard drive. Finale already includes a variety of Document Styles to choose from. To create a customized Document Style, see "To create a Document Style" below.
  4. Complete the Setup Wizard. The new document opens based on your settings.

To create a Document Style

  1. Open a document that most closely matches the desired document settings. For example, you may use the Setup Wizard to begin with an existing Document Style or one provided with Finale. To begin with an empty document, choose File > New > Document Without Libraries. Save a file in the Finale/Document Styles folder to use it as a Document Style. The next time you open the Setup Wizard, the file will be listed as a document style.
  2. Load libraries and change any document-specific settings as desired. See Finale Libraries and Document Settings and Program Settings.
  3. Save the file in the Finale/Document Syles folder. You can save as a regular .MUS file or .FTM. Next time you open the Document Setup Wizard, the file name of this document will appear in the list of Document Styles.

Once opened, a description of each document style included with Finale can be found in the File Info dialog box. Here, you can reference the Document Style's libraries, text inserts, staff spacing, cover pages, and other distinctive settings. When you edit one of Finale's Document Styles you can log your changes here for future reference.

If a file with music is used as a Document Style, the Setup Wizard strips out all of the musical information including staves and entries before generating the new document. Page-attached text and graphics, however, are retained as part of the Document Style.

 

See also:

Setup Wizard

 

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