To access the Preferences, choose
The "Preferences" submenu and the "Document Options" command have been removed from the Finale 2012 menu. To open Document Options, choose Document > Document Options. See Finale 2012 menu.
Several File menu commands have been moved into new Import and Export submenus, as well as new commands added to 2012b. See File menu.
Undefined text inserts, such as those that appear in the first page header after finishing the Setup Wizard, are now gray in color, indicating they will not print. You can update these inserts directly in the score using the Text tool. See Text Inserts.
The ability to include staff transpositions in Staff Styles has been restored (allowing Staff Styles to be an alternative method for creating mid-score instrument changes). See Staff Styles dialog box.
You can now concentrate the list of families and Instruments to include only those of a certain type, such as Orchestral, Choral, or Jazz. See Setup Wizard and ScoreManager.
The Score Manager window can now be resized. See ScoreManager.
The following updates have been made to Finale's menus. For a side-by-side comparison with Finale 2011, see Finale 2011 vs. Finale 2012 menu reference chart.
Many functions previously available under the Staff menu are now handled by the ScoreManager, including New Staves, New Staves (with Setup Wizard), Delete Staves, Delete Staves and Reposition, and Reorder Staves.
Show PostScript Preview has been removed from the Show submenu.
The Instrument List has been replaced with the ScoreManager.
The Auto-Detect Input Devices check box has been added to the MIDI Setup dialog box.
The Channel controls have been removed from the Mixer. To assign channels, use the ScoreManager.
Send Patches Before Play has been renamed Send Patches to MIDI Device on Playback and moved to the Playback/Record Options dialog box (from the former Instrument List). See Playback/Record Options dialog box.
The default value for "Space Pages More Than _ Full" has been changed from 25% to 60%.
Several former 'staff attributes' are now part of Finale 2012's new instrument paradigm, including the staff name, transposition, and clef. These settings have been moved to the ScoreManager.
These items have moved from the Staff Attributes dialog box to the ScoreManager:
The Note Shapes menu command is no longer under the Notation Style
The Staff Styles dialog box includes Staff Name and Abbreviated Staff Name commands, in addition to the options in the Staff Attributes dialog box. See Staff Styles dialog box.
The Set Font button has been removed from the "Fret Numbers" section of the Tablature Staff Attributes dialog box. The font for tablature fret numbers is now set in the Notation
Finale now includes a new Instrument paradigm that establishes a relationship between all attributes of score instruments, including staff attributes and sound assignments, and also facilitates mid-score Instrument changes. As you add, remove, or change instruments, Finale updates group brackets for instrument families automatically. See Instruments.
The file "Instruments.txt" is no longer included with your Finale installation. Finale's internal default instrument definitions cannot be changed. All visual aspects of Instruments in a document can be changed in the ScoreManager.
In Finale 2011 and before, the Tablature and Percussion Notation Styles were set to an Independent Notehead Font in the Staff Attributes dialog box. For Tablature, this font could be changed in Document Options-Fonts, but was not dynamic (i.e. it only applied to tablature staves added after the setting had been changed). In Finale 2012, percussion and tablature staves use the font selected for "Tablature" and "Percussion Noteheads" under the Noteheads
To assign non-General MIDI sounds to score Instruments, in the ScoreManager, click the drop-down arrow in a slot under the Sound column and choose Edit Patch. See Establishing MIDI sound settings for a score Instrument. (MIDI "instruments" as defined in Finale 2011 and before, and accompanying instrument libraries, are not available in Finale 2012).
Staff Styles used for instrument changes/instrument doubling, such as transposition, notehead style, and number staff lines have been removed. This functionality has been added to the Utilities menu (Utilities > Change Instruments). See Adding mid-score instrument changes.
The following items related to Staff Styles have changed
Use the following key to identify commands that have moved or changed names since Finale 2011. New commands, menus, and submenus are marked with an asterisk (*). "" means the menu item's name has not changed.
| Finale 2011 menu command name | Finale 2011 menu | Finale 2012 menu | Finale 2012 menu command name |
| File Info | File Info | "" | (see File Info tab of ScoreManager) |
| Open Finale Worksheet | File | "" | Open Worksheets & Repertoire |
| - | - | Utilities | *Instrument Change |
|
|
MIDI/Audio/Instrument Setup | MIDI/Audio |
|
| - | - | MIDI/Audio | *Sound Map Priority |
| - | - | MIDI/Audio | *Reassign Playback Sounds |
| - | Instrument Setup (submenu) | - | - |
| Instrument List | MIDI/Audio/Instrument Setup | Window | ScoreManager |
| Instrument List | Window | "" | ScoreManager |
| Staff | New Staves | - | - (see ScoreManager) |
| Staff | New Staves (with Setup Wizard) | - | - (see ScoreManager) |
| Staff | Delete Staves | - | - (see ScoreManager) |
| Staff | Delete Staves and Reposition | - | - (see ScoreManager) |
| Staff | Reorder Staves | - | - (see ScoreManager) |
| - | - | Utilities/Check Notation/Check Notation | *Reset All Groups & Brackets |
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