|
|
| MakeMusic Forum > Public Forums > Finale - Macintosh - FORUM HAS MOVED! > Older, converted file problem with page layout | Forum Quick Jump
|
| 
the elephant
Registered Member
      
Date Joined Dec 2002
Total Posts : 70
| Posted 7/6/2005 4:17 PM (GMT -5) |   | Okay. So I have dealt with this oddity for years now, or, more correctly, since Finale had the Space Systems Evenly command added (F2K1?). I have a number of older files created in 3.7.2 and a few from 3.5 that have been converted with every version of Finale as I have upgraded. There are one or two that have something wrong with them as regards the Page Layout Tool. I have never been able to fix this problem on purpose, but have corrected it once or twice by accident. I find nothing addressing it in my online manual.
When I space the systems, once in a while a page will accept all of the systems except for the last one. In your mind, picture an instrumental duo with four systems on the first page and five on every subsequent page. One of the 5-system pages will only accept four systems BUT WILL HOLD THE SPACE OF THE MISSING SYSTEM AND NOT SPACE THE REMAINING FOUR AS IF THERE WERE ONLY FOUR ON THE PAGE. If I nudge the fifth system upwards from the following page it will still jump to the preceding page where I wish it to be. All it needs is to be spaced again. So I select Space Systems Evenly and once again it is shunted to the following page, yet the empty space is not filled. The systems are spaced as if the fifth one is still there. But it is not.
I am working on a six-stave score right now. It is a file that I created in 1998. I am placing two systems per page, which is a good fit. I have made recent changes and am reformatting the score in the manner that I now prefer. Page one will not accept the second system of two. There is more than enough space for the system to fit properly.
Why is it being pushed to the next page? This is not happening on any of the other 9 or 9 pages, so why this one? Another file does this only on page 5. I have three systems per page, but page 5 only has two. Nothing seems to fix this.
Should I just copy and paste the music staff-by-staff into a new file that is formatted to my tastes? Or can this be fixed? I have a number of files like this, and it is very irritating to have to deal with this whenever I make changes and re-space the systems.
What gives? 
I hope that this makes sense . . .
*****
Oh, and Finale has NEVER, EVER been able to remember my preferred page location when I open files. Whenever I tile or stack windows I always set the last open one to the correct position and select Save Preferences from the Save Special menu. I also have Save Preferences When Quitting selected in the Program Preferences.
This has been going on since about F2K1 or so. It has been a constant annoyance since F2K3. It happens on all four of my Macs and started in OS 8.6 (or maybe 9.1).
It slows things down every time I open a file and have to reposition the window. It happens about 50% of the time. 
Thank you for reading this!
Wade
Mama always told me to eschew obfuscation.Post Edited (the elephant) : 7/6/2005 3:25:39 PM (GMT-5) | | Back to Top | |
 |
migman
Registered Member
Date Joined Apr 2000
Total Posts : 2432
| Posted 7/6/2005 5:35 PM (GMT -5) | | | Personally, I like to set the default settings in Page Layout for Score, then apply those settings with Page Layout>Redefine Pages>All Pages, as opposed to doing what is called "local formatting" (dragging systems with the page layout tool). Your problem may be that you have added a page break to one of your systems, which the above described technique will not reset. Select the handle of a system while in the page layout tool and see if it has a page break on it. You could also have different system margin settings on your different systems. I prefer to set LRT&B to zero, and use one value for space between systems for the whole doc (Except the first system, because of the title). If you'd like to post a copy, I'll have a look at it. | | Back to Top | |
|
the elephant
Registered Member
Date Joined Dec 2002
Total Posts : 70
| Posted 7/7/2005 11:30 AM (GMT -5) | | migman said...the elephant said...
Migman, no to all of the above. I don't know about you, but I have problems dragging systems with a page break over to a previous page. Having a page break and moving systems by whatever method you like are two separate things. If you want to get the broken system back to a previous page, you don't drag it, you remove the page break.
You cannot move a system with a page break onto a previous page. Therefore, my problem, as outlined, could not exist if there was a page break on the suspect system, as I would not have been able to get it on the previous page in the first place.
the elephant said...
When I space the systems, once in a while a page will accept all of the systems except for the last one. In your mind, picture an instrumental duo with four systems on the first page and five on every subsequent page. One of the 5-system pages will only accept four systems BUT WILL HOLD THE SPACE OF THE MISSING SYSTEM AND NOT SPACE THE REMAINING FOUR AS IF THERE WERE ONLY FOUR ON THE PAGE. If I nudge the fifth system upwards from the following page it will still jump to the preceding page where I wish it to be. All it needs is to be spaced again. So I select Space Systems Evenly and once again it is shunted to the following page, yet the empty space is not filled. The systems are spaced as if the fifth one is still there. But it is not. (emphasis added.)
A page break on the suspect system would preclude my having it there in the first place. Yet it goes there just fine. It stays there if I space it by hand. And, as already stated twice, when spaced via the Space Systems Evenly command, it gets dumped to the following page while the space it once occupied stays open and the remaining systems are spaced as though the "dumped" system were still present.
It is most definitely not a page break issue.
Anyway, on most things I do not use page breaks as all, just locked systems after spacing and tweaking. I keep Show Page Layout Icons on all of the time when working with old, converted files. This allows me to see any page breaks and remove them from the file.
The point of this post was to try to learn whether there were additional methods to control page layout. There are not, as regards this particular problem. I have buggy files that have been converted upwards of eight times over the years. Something in the original file was wonky, but worked just fine in the 3.5/3.7.2 environment. It became a problem for me starting with Finale 2K1, where page layout changed so much for the better.
I have made good versions of these files via cut/paste to my current templates, but I keep them to see whether there might be something to learn from them. MM, my local colleagues, and one PM from a forum member here have convinced me that I do not have a cool, unique problem. I do not have some hidden command entered with a secret tool or Dialogue Window. I just have old, buggy files.
I made the corrections and chucked the old files to save space. The new files do not exhibit the unexplained behavior. And I tossed the old ones before anyone had requested that I post one of them. So now I have a Finale "fish tale", working files, and life is good again. I am sorry that I tossed the frustrating old files. I should have anticipated the request to post one of them. I have them on floppies or zip discs somewhere. If I locate them, I will bring this topic up again with examples.
Sorry about that!
Again, thanks.
Wade
Mama always told me to eschew obfuscation.Post Edited (the elephant) : 7/7/2005 10:47:00 AM (GMT-5) | | Back to Top | |
| Forum Information | Currently it is Saturday, September 23, 2023 1:01 PM (GMT -5)
There are a total of 403,820 posts in 58,165 threads.
In the last 3 days there were 0 new threads and 0 reply posts. View Active Threads
|
Forum powered by dotNetBB v2.42EC SP3
dotNetBB © 2000-2023 |
|
|