Finale has a very useful feature for automating the display of text called Text Inserts. These text inserts, which are a type of placeholder text sometimes referred to as Wildcards or Tokens, use the information from the fields in File > File Info to display text on the page.
One advantage of using a Text Insert is that you only need to type the actual text into the Finale file in one location – File > File Info. Anywhere the wildcard appears, the text is dynamically updated instantly.
Titles are a good place where these inserts can be useful: typically, you’ll want the title to display nice and large on the Title Page of the piece, but frequently you *also* want the title to display as a header or footer on subsequent pages. The inserts allow you to enter the text in one place and displaying it in more than one place on the score.
Text Inserts are selected in Finale from the Text Menu:
Let’s see how this works with the Title text insert. Before you create a title insert, go to File > File Info and enter your Title in the title field so that it becomes visible as soon as you enter the title wildcard.
- Select the Text Tool
- Double click on the page at the place where you would want the title
- With the cursor flashing, select Text>Inserts>Title
- If there is nothing in the Title field of File>File Info, you will see placeholder text: “[Title]”
- As soon as you do step #3, the actual title appears on the page:
Double click on the text to select it all, and change the font, size and location to taste.
ENTER ONCE, DISPLAY ANYWHERE
Now that you have a title on the title page, how do you make it appear on subsequent pages as a header? Simple.
Go to page 2 of your score. With the Text Tool selected, double click on the page the same way you did on the title page.
When the cursor comes up, select the Title text insert from the Inserts menu. As before, double click on the text to select it all, and change the font, size and location and page range to taste.
Now that you’ve created a wildcard for the Title, it’s really simple to create other text inserts that correspond to the various fields in File Info.
In Finale 2011 and earlier, you enter Title, Composer, Copyright and other related data into File > File Info. In Finale 2012 and later, this is located in the File Info tab of the Score Manager. (CMND-K on Mac, CNTRL-K on Windows).
TOTAL PAGES & PART NAMES
One very useful insert is Total Pages. It’s very handy to be able to see the total number of each part’s pages at a glance when printing. Use the Text Tool to create a Total Pages insert in the upper left hand corner of the title page, and in Text Style, choose “Hidden” so it doesn’t print. You’ll still be able to see it on the page. You can also use this to create page numbering which is “page 1 of X”. Page number insert, “of” Total Pages insert. Simple.
Another useful insert is “Part / Score Name”. This displays the current part name (or score name) wherever it is placed. So, you can have a large Instrument Name at the top left of the title page, and then a smaller, centered header with the instrument name on subsequent pages. It’s totally up to you.
THE ACCIDENTAL INSERT
If you want to display a proper “Flat” or “Sharp” character in a block of text, for instance a footnote, simply select the desired insert from the menu as you type. Note that this works with the Text Tool specifically. (e.g. use the key shortcut CNTRL-SHIFT-F (CMND-SHIFT-F) for the flat character where you are creating regular instrument names in Staff Attributes, Managed Parts etc.)
MORE…
More information on Finale’s text Inserts is available in this blog post.
There are some other useful wildcards in Finale for displaying the date and time and so forth. You’ll find more information on Inserts in the Finale Manual.