To make your Finale last as long as possible
- tarokoike
- Apr 28
- 8 min read
Updated: 11 hours ago
There are about four months left until August 26, 2025, the end date of technical support for the English version of Finale, as stated in the “Finale Sunset FAQ” published by MakeMusic, the developer of Finale, at the end of August 2024.
“Effective August 26th, 2025, you will no longer be able to receive Finale technical support from MakeMusic.”
For the Japanese version of Finale, the link to the technical support inquiry form has already been removed from the support homepage, and today, April 28, 2025, it was officially announced that the following services related to MakeMusic products will be completely terminated on August 25, 2025:
License activation/deactivation
Provision of online user manuals
Registration of Finale-related products
Download of installers, updates, and Japanese manuals
Posting of FAQs
All support related to the above
For this reason, I still recommend that you switch to other professional products such as Sibelius or Dorico, but since file transfer via MusicXML can sometimes be not easy, users will want to keep Finale in a usable state for as long as possible.
In this article, I would like to summarize the points to keep in mind when preserving Finale for the long term from the perspective of technical support, in line with the circumstances of the Japanese version of Finale, which has slightly different specifications from the original English version.
[Table of Contents]
1. Do not update the OS
The most important thing to note is to “maintain the computer on which you want to preserve Finale as it is and not update the OS”.
The computer on which you want to preserve Finale (hereinafter referred to as the “Finale-dedicated computer”) must of course meet the system requirements for that version of Finale, and when a new version of the OS is available, it is very important not to update the OS unless it’s absolutely necessary.
In particular, with Mac, there are more cases where applications you have been using malfunction due to macOS updates than with Windows, so it is safe to avoid unnecessary macOS updates, not just for Finale, in general. ※
※For application developers, dealing with the new versions of macOS that are released almost every year is a headache, and Finale is no exception. The circumstances around this are detailed in the following article.
▼[macOS] Application development and OS compatibility
For Mac, the final version of Finale v27 seems to work without any major issues on the current OS, macOS 15 Sequoir, which is currently outside the operating environment, but it is unclear what will happen with the next macOS update.
▼macOS Sequoia Compatability Thread (Real world experiences only)
If you only have one Mac and you absolutely need to update your macOS due to compatibility with other applications, you may need to look for a Mac dedicated to Finale on the used market that has a macOS that meets the operating environment of Finale v27. ※
In the case of Windows, from past experience, there are fewer cases where applications are incompatible with the new OS compared to Mac, and I suspect that even if Windows 12 is released in the future, Finale v27 will probably work there.
However, in any case, if you want to make sure you keep Finale, it is important to maintain an OS that meets the operating environment, whether it is Mac or Windows.
※By the way, for maintenance of old Mac products, we recommend the Mac repair specialty store “愛Mac” in Shibuya, Tokyo. (If you are in Japan!)
(Back to Table of Contents)
2. Do not connect Finale-dedicated computers to the Internet
Please note that the above-mentioned “do not update the OS” includes not only major updates such as Windows 10 to 11, but also minor updates such as Windows Update, which are provided more frequently.
Generally, users have the option to update their computer's OS or not, but as long as the computer is connected to the Internet, minor updates may be applied automatically from time to time, such as the Windows Update mentioned before.
Since development of Finale has ended, it is important to note that fixes will not be provided for any problems that may occur on new OSs, including Windows Update, that will be provided in the future.
It is safe to operate Finale-dedicated computers in an environment that is not connected to the Internet, whether Mac or Windows, so that automatic updates such as Windows Update are not applied. ※
※Finale can be used even if the license is deactivated, but files cannot be saved or printed in that state. Therefore, Finale-dedicated computers must remain authorized.
Basically, Finale's license will not be deactivated automatically unless the user does so themselves. However, especially with the Windows versions of Finale v25 and v26, there have been rare cases where the license authorization was suddenly canceled.
This is thought to be due in part to Windows Update, which is automatically performed when starting up or shutting down the computer.
(Back to Table of Contents)
3. Obtain the Finale installer, etc.
We strongly recommend that you obtain the Finale installer in case a problem occurs with the Finale you are saving and a clean install is required.
If you are a legitimate user of the Japanese version of Finale and have a product registered with Genelec Japan, Inc., you can download this by logging into the MyPage and going to the “Owned Products/Product Registration” page until August 25, 2025.
▼Log in to Genelec Japan Inc.. MUSIC EcoSystems MyPage
The Finale v27 installer is about 3.5GB in size, but it is a good idea to copy it to an external storage device or burn it to a disc to permanently store it in an unobtrusive location.
In the “あなたへのおすすめ (Recommended for you)” section, there are download links for items other than the installer. I recommend that you download the “Finale 2x オフライン用ユーザー・マニュアル (Finale 2x Offline User Manual)” from there.
The Finale user manual can be viewed on the Internet, but this is a local version of the same manual, so if you download it, you can view the user manual even when you are not connected to the Internet.
The offline user manual has been provided for Finale v25 and later versions, and is the same for v27 and v26, and the file size is about 2.2GB.
As for the updater, all the Finale installers that can be downloaded at present are the final versions of each version (i.e. v27.4 for v27), so there is basically no need to obtain the updater, but since this is a small file of about 300MB, you could obtain it as well if you want.
Please note that the Finale Japanese version updater cannot be applied to the Finale English version. (It may cause problems due to Japanese and English files being mixed.)
(Back to Table of Contents)
4. Keep the English version of Finale available as well
As mentioned above, it has been decided that the activation/deactivation of the Japanese version of Finale will end on August 25, 2025. As a result, after August 26, the Japanese version of Finale will no longer be possible to deactivate, or activate a license after a new installation, and therefore it will no longer be possible to switch to a new computer after purchasing a new computer, as was previously possible. ※
※ If you do not activate your license, Finale will function as a so-called free trial version, and you will be able to use all of its features for 30 days after a new installation, but will no longer be able to print or save (including exporting to MusicXML, etc.). If you deactivate your license on a computer more than 30 days after installing Finale, it will immediately be unable to print or save.
Therefore, even if it is after August 26, 2025, if you obtain a new computer that meets the operating environment for Finale v27, install the Japanese version of Finale v27 on it, and export all of your Finale files in MusicXML within 30 days, you will be able to transfer them to other software such as Sibelius or Dorico.
This will also apply to the English version of Finale after MakeMusic's license activation service for the English version of Finale ends in the future.
Therefore, if you want to newly activate a Finale license after August 26th, for example if you purchase a new computer, the only way is to purchase the Dorico crossgrade version, and then obtain the final version of Finale, v27 English version, from MakeMusic and use it while the Japanese version of Finale no longer works. ※
※The Dorico crossgrade version is currently on sale for 20,900 yen, and can be purchased not only by users of the Japanese version of Finale v27, but also by users of Finale versions prior to v26, and even PrintMusic users. Please note that it is unclear how long this sale will last, so we would recommend you to purchase it as soon as possible.
I’ve heard that some people wants to obtain Finale v27 Japanese version, however as detailed in a previous article, the original English version of Finale has been tested the most and is therefore more reliable than the localized Japanese version, so I think you are lucky in a sense to have this opportunity to get the English version of Finale.
The user interface of the English version of Finale is almost the same as the Japanese version, except for a slight difference in the order of the menus, so anyone who has used the Japanese version extensively should be able to get used to using it quickly, even if they are not good at English.
Different versions of Finale are separate products programmatically and can be launched and used simultaneously in the same environment. Therefore, when you come across a word you don't understand in the English version of v27, you can immediately look it up, if you keep the Japanese version of v26 or earlier running in the background.
The only problem with using the English version of Finale is that the English version of Finale is not set up to use the Japanese version of Finale's music notation font, Kousaku, so garbled characters may appear when opening files created with the Japanese version of Finale, but a workaround for this issue is explained in the article below.
▼“What’s New on Finale 27.4” & How to use files created with the Japanese version of Finale
Since the English version of Finale is a version directly managed by MakeMusic, the developer, it is not only highly reliable, but also has a long-term license authorization service that will probably be available for the longest time into the future, and therefore will be the longest-lived language version of Finale. ※
※According to the "Finale Sunset FAQ" by MakeMusic, the developer of Finale, the deadline for the provision of the license authorization service for the English version of Finale, which was originally set for August 25, 2025, has been postponed indefinitely due to subsequent user feedback, and it now states that “Finale authorization will remain active for the foreseeable future”.
Even if you are somehow able to obtain the Japanese version of Finale v27 now, new license activations will no longer be possible after August 26, 2025, so the Japanese version of Finale v27 will reach the end of its life when the computer on which it is installed and activated breaks down.
Therefore, if possible, I highly recommend that you purchase the Dorico crossgrade version while the sale is still on, and obtain the English version of Finale v27, in order to preserve not only the Japanese version but also the English version of Finale.
(Back to Table of Contents)
5. If a problem occurs with the preserved Finale
If any problems arise with the preserved Finale in the future, our company MTS is able to provide the same technical level of support for both the Japanese and English versions, based on our past experience in providing Finale technical support.
However, as we are an independent entity not affiliated with the developers or distributors of Finale, the support we can provide is subject to a fee, and unfortunately we cannot guarantee that all problems will be resolved.
If you encounter a problem, we recommend that you first follow the theory and try to solve it yourself by first deleting the initial settings file and then performing a clean install.
▼General-purpose troubleshooting method: Delete (rebuild) the preference file
▼General-purpose troubleshooting method: Reinstallation
(Back to Table of Contents)
