Text Search and Replace dialog box

How to get there

Choose Edit > Text Search and Replace.

What it does

With this plug-in, search and replace text in the form of Text Expressions, Lyrics, Text Blocks, Repeat Text, File Info, Smart Shapes, Staff/Group Names, and Style Names.

  • Search this text. Enter existing text you want to search for in this text box.
  • Replace with this text. Enter the new text in this text box.
  • Use Style. Click Use Style to open the Font dialog box where you can change the font, size, and style for existing, or replaced text.
  • Replace All. Click Replace All to search for every occurrence of the text entered in the Search this text box, and replace it with the text entered in the Replace with this text box.
  • Search Everywhere • Text Expressions • File Info • Staff Names • Staff Style Names • Group Names • Articulations • Smart Shapes • Lyrics • Text Blocks • Repeat Texts. Check Search Everywhere to search all text in the document, or check these boxes to specify the type of text to search. Note that Search and Replace for Articulations supports single characters only or a style-only search (with nothing specified in the 'Search for' and 'Replace with' text boxes).
  • Match Case. Check Match Case to only find a match for text that matches the case of the word entered in the Search for this text box.
  • Whole Words Only. Check Whole Words Only to only search for the precise word entered in the Search this text box, and ignore longer words containing the same text.
  • All Open Documents. Check to search and replace text in all open documents.

Tip: All Text Search and Replace features are also available in FinaleScript. For a complete tutorial written for beginners through advanced users, see Using FinaleScript.

Text Search and Replace Syntax

The following syntax may be used in 'Search for' and 'Replace with' for specific matches:

Sequence Character
copyright symbol
^c copyright text
^C composer
^T title
^d description
^# or ^s sharp
^b flat
^n natural
^S double sharp
^B double flat
^l line feed
^t tab
^^ caret
<n> Unicode character*

*Unicode characters must be converted from their hexadecimal codepoints to the decimal equivalent. For example, the inverted exclamation mark (¡), located at U+00A1, would be represented here as <161>, and the trademark sign (™), located at U+2122, would be represented as <8482>. Finale supports the entire Unicode Basic Multilingual Plane with the exception of the null character (U+0001 through U+FFFF, or <1> through <65535>).