*** The Finale List Mini-FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) *** This message contains answers to a few questions that come up very often on the Finale mailing list and is sent to the list once a month. Please keep this for future reference and think twice before actually asking one of these questions on the list.
(This file was last changed on June 1, 2002) NB. The list server program for Finale has recently changed from majordomo to mailman. As a result, the process of (un)subscribing and changing preferences has changed since April 2002. Please note that the information below may not yet be complete. Q. How do I subscribe to/unsubscribe from the list? A. At the bottom of any message from this list you'll find the url http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale. If you point your browser to this location, you'll find info for (un)subscribing and for setting options for your subscription. If you want to unsubscribe, you'll need to use your password. If you don't know your password, enter your email address at the bottom of the page and press the button next to it. On the subsequent page you'll find an option to have your password sent to your email address. Another option is through email. Your mailer may be able to automatically subscribe and unsubscribe you (Pegasus does, for example) or you can send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject "subscribe" or "unsubscribe". Note that in order to succesfully unsubscribe, you'll need to send this from the same email address that you subscribed from. Q. How do I tell the list server I want to switch to the digest version? A. Go to the finale list url http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale. Enter your email address at the bottom of the screen and click the button to edit your subscription options. There you will find an option for receiving either digests or individual messages. You'll need your password for this, see the previous answer. Q. Is there a message archive for this list? A. Yes, you can find them through http://mail.shsu.edu/pipermail/finale/ (the first link on the finale list webpage, see above). There are monthly archives and messages can be indexed by date, author, thread and subject. The archives go back until 1998 (the older archives seem to be the result of wrongly configured email clients). Since the majordomo list server is not functioning any more, there is currently no known method for retrieving older archives. Q. Why do people tell me to "send plain text messages"? What are they and how do I do that? A. According to internet standards, email messages should contain only plain text, not HTML or RTF formatted text. Many email programs can't properly display such formatted messages. Also, they take longer to download, which may increase telephone costs for many list members. Therefore you are requested to only send plain text messages to this list. Unfortunately, some email programs default to sending HTML email, for example Outlook (Express) and AOL. You'll have to edit your mailer options to change it's mail format from HTML to plain text. The website at http://expita.com/nomime.html explains how to accomplish this in many popular email applications. Q. I'd like people to look at my score/example as an illustration to my query. Is it okay to attach it to my message? A. No, please don't do that! The best way is to put it on a web page and send a link to that page to the list, so people can decide for themselves if they want to download it. If that's not possible for you, ask people to send you a message, so you can send them the attachment in a private email. Q. Can I send a feature request or bug report to this list? A. No, that won't help. This list is neither maintained by Coda, nor monitored. Although some Coda staff members are subscribed to this list personally, don't count on any questions making it from this list to Coda. If you have a question or bug report for Coda, send it to the appropriate email address (winsupport or macsupport) at codamusic.com. However, it may be a good idea to mention a possible bug on this list, just to make sure that it actually *is* a bug and not simply a mistake on your part. Q. Where do I find tutorials for and other info about using Finale? A. The free Finale tutorials by Harold Owen are highly recommended. They are available for Finale 97 through the latest, 2002, for both Mac and Windows. You can get these through his website at http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~hjowen. If you're looking for another great source of information, take a look at the Finale Productivity Tips at http://www.finaletips.nu. You'll find tips, plugins and a lot of links to other useful sites. Q. What do these acronyms TAN, OT, RTFM etc, stand for? A. TAN = tangential, meaning the message is only partially related to Finale. OT = off topic, the message is not related to Finale at all. You are kindly requested to put these in the subject line if your question isn't really about Finale, so that list members who only want to read Finale-related mail can easily filter them out. RTFM = read the finale manual, meaning that the answer to your question should have been clear to you if you had taken the time to look it up in the manual before asking on this list. For a list with other email acronyms and their meaning, look at http://www.ucc.ie/acronyms/ Q. What is all this talk about politics/classic car maintenance/inflation? I thought this list was supposed to be about Finale? A. Sure, if you have a Finale question, ask and ye shall be answered (hopefully). The list members love to help you with Finale questions if they can, but sometimes indulge in completely off-topic discussions. This is actually a long standing tradition on the Finale list and these discussions will usually disappear all by themselves, especially when some interesting Finale questions come up. If you don't like these discussions, feel free to setup a filter in your mail application to filter out TAN and OT messages. Q. What does it mean to use "Tie Mover" or "TGTools" or all these other things I can't find in Finale? A. These are plugins that are made by independent developers, many of them members of this list. Some are commercial, some are shareware and many are even freeware. Take a look at http://www.finaletips.nu to find out what these do and how to get them. Many Finale users find at least a few of these plugins invaluable. Q. I want to use Finale for a living. How do I charge my clients? A. Most list members choose one of these: either charge by the hour or charge a per-page fee. In both cases, you'll need to figure out how much you need per hour to pay the rent and have something to eat. You'll also have to figure out how much time it takes you on average to do one page. When you know these numbers, you'll know what to charge in both cases. And especially: be sure to have a good idea about the difficulty and amount of work when you take on a job and don't be afraid to ask for more if you need to. A lead sheet will probably cost you less time than a completely graphical score, so never accept a job until you have an idea about it's difficulty! Q. My English is very bad, is it okay if I post my message in Spanish/Japanese/Swahili? A. Well, there's no rule against it, since this list is not *officially* English-only. However, you will diminish your chances to a useful answer drastically by not posting in English and if you do it often, some list members might become annoyed. But if it's really difficult for you to explain your problem in a foreign language, go ahead and try it in your mother tongue. ================= Disclaimer: these anwers do not necessarily reflect the personal opinion of the FAQ-maintainer, and flaming about them is therefore not appreciated. However, feel free to send corrections for any inaccuracies and/or omissions to the maintainer, preferably through the list. _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
