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Document Options-Barlines dialog box

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How to get there

Choose Document > Document Options and select Barlines.

What it does

The Barlines options provide global settings that allow you to tailor barlines to a consistent appearance and placement in your score, without having to edit each barline individually. You can fine-tune the appearance of barlines by separately specifying the thicknesses of the thin and heavy lines, by setting line spacings for thin, thick and final barlines, and by defining the dash length and dash spacing for dashed barlines. You can also direct Finale to display or hide left barlines on single and multiple staves, and place final barlines through all staves at the end of each system or at the end of the piece.

Display All Barlines. When selected, Finale displays all barlines in your score. Note that barlines hidden by Staff Attributes or Staff Styles will remain hidden.
Close Barline at End of Each System. Select this checkbox if you want Finale to ignore the regular staff grouping at the end of each staff system, and draw the barline you selected for the end of each staff system through all the staves.
Close Barline at End of Piece. Select this checkbox if you want Finale to ignore the regular staff grouping in the last measure, and draw the barline you selected for the last measure of the piece through all the staves.
Final Barline at End of Piece. Select this checkbox if you want Finale to automatically place a final barline at the end of the piece. Even if you add or delete measures, the last measure will always have a final barline.
Left Barlines: Display on Single Staves • Display on Multiple Staves • Default Style is Normal Barline • Default Style is Previous Measure’s Right Barline. You can control whether Finale draws the left barline on a single staff, or on all staves in each staff system in the piece. Select the Single Staves option to have Finale draw barlines in each staff system that contains only a single staff, such as a solo line. If this is not selected left barlines will not display on a single staff no matter which left barline style is selected. Select the Multiple Staves option to draw the left barline in staff systems that contain two or more staves, such as a piano part. If you want Finale to display every left barline on every staff system, select both check boxes. Deselect both options if you want to hide every left barline on every staff system. These options are useful when you prepare a score for creating parts. Before extracting parts, select the Multiple Staves option so that the left barline is drawn through the staves in each system, and deselect the Single Staves option. Finale will know to omit the left barline on each part. You can also set the default for the left barline style, whether it will be a normal barline, or if it will follow from the previous measure. For example, if you have a double barline in the previous measure and would like to start the next measure at the start of the system with a double barline, select Default Style is Previous Measure’s Right Barline. If you prefer a different style of left barline, you can override the defaults using the left barline settings in the Measure tool.
Heavy Line Thickness. This setting defines the line thickness of the heavy line used for the Final and Solid barlines. Enter a value (in measurement units) for the desired heavy line thickness. Finale’s default thickness is .042 inches (three points).
Thin Line Thickness. This setting defines the thickness of the thin line used for barlines. Enter a value (in measurement units) for the thin line thickness. Finale’s default value for thin line thickness is .008 inches.
Space Between Double Barlines. This setting defines the amount of distance between the two lines used for double barlines. The default distance is one half-space. Enter a larger value (in measurement units) to move the two lines farther apart and increase the space between the lines. Enter a smaller value (in measurement units) to bring the lines closer together.
Space Between Final Barlines. This setting controls the distance between the two lines used for final barlines. The default distance is one half-space. Enter a larger value (in measurement units) to move the two lines farther apart and increase the distance. Enter a smaller value (in measurement units) to move the lines closer together.
Dash Length. This setting controls the length of the dash used for dashed barlines. The default value is .0625 inches (4.5 points). Enter a larger value (in measurement units) to lengthen the dash. Enter a smaller value to shorten the dash.
Dash Space. This setting controls the space between dashes used for dashed barlines. The default value is .0625 inches (4.5 points). Enter a larger value (in measurement units) to widen the gap between dashes. Enter a smaller value to narrow the gap between dashes.