Copying music

Note: View the Copy, paste, and other functions QuickStart Video for an overview.

Finale offers a great deal of control over copying, including options for filtering specific elements, methods for both inserting and pasting (replacing), and the ability to copy across documents. This section describes methods for copying music in Finale, and the choices you have when doing so.

Note: To move measures from one system to another or make other changes to the measure layout, see Measure layout.

For the remainder of this section, “source” refers to the original selected music, and “target” refers to the destination for the copied material. Also, unless specified otherwise, "selection" refers to a region including full or partial measures less than a stack. Any tool that allows regional selection can be used to copy music, including the Selection tool, Staff tool, Measure tool, and others. For more details, see Selecting Music.

Note: See The Selection tool for a tutorial on general mass-editing techniques, including selecting, copying, transposing, and working with measures.

Whenever you copy music, you will need to choose whether you want to copy and paste or copy and insert.

• Copying and pasting allows you to replace the music in the target region with the music from the source region. Pasting does not wipe out any measure settings, such as measure-width information, unless a stack is pasted (and Measure Settings are selected in the Edit Filter dialog box). When pasting any region other than a stack, all note attached items and many measure attached items are replaced.
• Copying and inserting allows you to introduce new beats or measures into the piece, pushing all existing music to the right. Inserting a selection nudges all subsequent music the number of beats of the inserted material on the target staves only. When inserting any region less than a stack, the inserted beats can overflow into the next measure requiring the music to be redistributed in all remaining measures of the piece. This is called Rebarring music, and Finale applies it automatically when inserting regions less than a stack. Since stacks are always full measures, all staves, inserting a stack does not rebar music, but pushes all measures to the right intact (increasing the length of the score the number of inserted measures).

After selecting a region of music, use one of the following methods to copy and paste or copy and insert.

• Copying and pasting using the clipboard. This method allows you to easily copy/cut and paste to target regions outside of the visible area, or paste the same material multiple times. See To copy and paste using the clipboard.
• Copying and pasting by dragging. This method allows you to quickly copy and paste to target regions within the visible area, and also allows you to copy and paste to target regions outside of the visible area. See To copy and paste by dragging.
• Copying and pasting stacks. This method allows you to copy and paste any number of items in the Edit Filter dialog box including measure items like key signatures, barline styles, and measure widths. See To copy and paste stacks.
• Copying and inserting using the clipboard. This method allows you to easily copy/cut and insert to target regions outside of the visible area, or insert the same material multiple times. See To copy and insert using the clipboard.
• Copying and inserting by dragging. This method allows you to quickly copy and insert to target regions within the visible area. See To copy and insert by dragging.
• Copying and inserting stacks. This method allows you to insert full measures, all staves, including any number of items in the Edit Filter dialog box. See To copy and insert stacks.

When copying across instruments, Finale automatically transposes the music to an octave within the range of the target instrument (or as close as possible). See Copying between instruments of different ranges.

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