At this point the automation is something I am exploring. I don't think it would be practical from what I have seen so far to have it do too many things. However, it looks like the places where .ETF files store text and lyrics have been rather static, so if I can be successful with one version, it might work on other versions. Obviously, with a file format that changes as frequently as Finale's, it is a rather risky venture to invest too much effort in modifying Finale files outside the system. However, Finale has not provided users with any practical way of addressing text boxes (note that they are numbered in the text editing box if you open them with nothing highlighted, but you can't move from one to another without using mouse clicks, as the control for selecting the boxes can't seem to respond to keyboard commands). As so much of what is in Finale's dialog boxes uses non-standard controls, automating tasks within Finale is something of a nightmare. 

Tom Leich

Hi Tom,

You might find it easier to work with MusicXML files rather than ETF files. MusicXML handles the variations in file formats from 2000 on for Windows and 2004 on for Macintosh OS X. You can use standard XML software tools rather than parsing an ever-changing ETF format. You could also handle music files where the originals come from different programs and you want to get them into Finale. For more information, see:

http://www.recordare.com/xml.html

Unfortunately Finalescript doesn't do batch read/write of MusicXML files in 2006, but this is available with our Dolet 3 for Finale plug-in.