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[Finale] Customize the “Document Styles” in the Setup Wizard to your liking

In the previous article, I introduced how to customize Finale's “Default Document”' to your liking. You can also customize the “Document Styles” in the Setup Wizard in the same way.


For example, if you want to customize the Document Styles for "1_出版譜風(Kousaku)” in the Setup Wizard, open the following file in Finale and edit it.


[Mac]

Macintosh HD/Users/(Username)/Library/Application Support/MakeMusic/Finale 27/Music Files/Document Styles/1_出版譜風(Kousaku).musx

[Windows]

C:\Users\(Username)\AppData\Roaming\MakeMusic\Finale 27\Music Files\Document Styles\1_出版譜風(Kousaku).musx


(In the case of Windows, the AppData folder is invisible, so before proceeding, change the setting to display invisible files on the Windows side. Also, as with customizing the Default Document, the file format should be the Finale template file (.ftmx ).)


Please note that "Document Styles” files are opened via the Setup Wizard and are treated differently from "Default Document” that are opened directly, so there are restrictions on customization.


For example, even if you set OFF for “Display Rests in Empty Measures” in the Staff Attribute dialog box introduced in the previous article, it will be ON in the file opened by the Setup Wizard, therefore your customized setting will not take effect.


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By the way, this "Document Styles” and the "Default Files” folder that stores the Default Document files are originally located in the specified root hierarchy. When you open the Setup Wizard or "Default Document” for the first time after installing Finale, these folders are automatically copied to the user hierarchy.


Even if you manually delete these files that were copied to the user hierarchy, after restarting Finale and opening the Setup Wizard or Default Document, the original files placed in the root hierarchy will be copied to the user hierarchy again.


Knowing this property allows you to customize the Document Styles, not only the file content but also the display on the Setup Wizard.


For example, in the Mac version of Finale v25 and v26, due to the specifications of the program, “手書き風 (Handwritten Style)”, which was in the second position on the first screen of the Setup Wizard before 2014, may be placed at the top depending on the macOS version.

As a result, even if you wanted to create a “出版譜風 (Engraved Style)” score, if you forgot to switch the Document Styles on the first screen, you end up with having a score in “手書き風 (Handwritten Style)”.


If you mainly write scores in “出版譜風 (Engraved Style)”, create a new folder called “手書き風 (Handwritten Style)” in the folder below in the root hierarchy, and move “手書き風.musx” into it.


/Library/Application Support/MakeMusic/Finale 26 (or 25)/Music Files/Document Styles

Then, delete "手書き風.musx” in the following folder in the user hierarchy and try restarting Finale.


Macintosh HD/Users/(username)/Library/Application Support/MakeMusic/Finale 26 (or 25)/Music Files/Document Styles

By doing this, the next time you open the Setup Wizard, “出版譜風 (Engraved Style)” will be placed at the top, and you can avoid the troubles mentioned above.


(If you want to write a “手書き風 (Handwritten Style)” score, select the “手書き風 (Handwritten Style)” that has been moved to the “手書き風 (Handwritten Style)” folder.)

This specification has been improved in v27, and the order of the Document Styles on the Setup Wizard can now be controlled by the file names.


Therefore, for example, if you want to use the Finale Maestro as the main music font, you can name the Document Styles files in the root hierarchy “1_出版譜風(Finale_Maestro).musx” and “2_出版譜風(Kousaku).musx”, delete the files in the user hierarchy, and restart Finale. Then you can save yourself the trouble of selecting this as the Document Styles every time.


Or, even more easily, you can simply add one more Document Styles file set to your liking, with the name such as “0_出版譜風(Finale_Maestro)2” to the folder in the user hierarchy as shown below.


[Windows]

C:\Users\(Username)\AppData\Roaming\MakeMusic\Finale 27\Music Files\Document Styles\0_出版譜風(Finale_Maestro)2.ftmx


(Again, in the case of Windows, the AppData folder is invisible, so before proceeding, change the setting to display invisible files on the Windows side. Also, as with customizing the Default Document, the file format should be the Finale template file (.ftmx ).)


Similarly, for Mac, place the files in the hierarchy mentioned at the beginning of this article as follows.


[Mac]

Macintosh HD/Users/(Username)/Library/Application Support/MakeMusic/Finale 27/Music Files/Document Styles/0_出版譜風(Finale_Maestro)2.musx


As a result, this "0_" will be placed at the top of the Setup Wizard, ahead of "1_" and "2_", and will be selected with the highest priority.


As mentioned above, you can restore the user level files by simply deleting and restarting, and you can also restore the root level files to their initial state by overwrite-installing Finale.


Even if you fail, you can try again, so I think you can try various customizations by trial and error.

【Announcement】

The finale intensive course is being held in parallel on Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings. Click on the banner below for details. (Lecture is given in Japanese. ) 

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