This version of Finale (2004 &2004b) has so many bugs, and such unstable behavior, that I fervently hope the programmers are hard at work repairing the damage.
I am working on a G5 Mac in OS 10.3.4
Here is a partial list of things that go wrong:
Upon quitting either version of Finale, all preferences are lost and must be reconstructed from the default settings (a great inconvenience), with the exception of a programmed tool set, which returns when it is selected form the view menu.
The program hangs up and crashes soon after opening. Re-opening it usually stabilizes it, but not always.
Strange icons appear in the tool pallet covering the selected tool instead of highlighting it. This is sometimes the Finale "f" icon, but sometimes another arbitrary one. This only happens after Finale has been open for a while, and it sometimes temporarily disappears when opening new documents only to return in a while.
Selecting a view percentage in program options for new documents does not result in that percentage automatically appearing in a new document.
There is consistent, bizarre, and annoying message bar behavior. (This particular thing can be duplicated at will.) You choose not to show the message bar in "program options - new," it shows anyway, but the view menu indicates that it's not showing, you choose "show message bar" and the message bar disappears, only to re-appear in a few moments. Then you choose "hide message bar" and, if you're lucky, it stays hidden until you quit and re-start Finale, in which case this, and other settings are lost.
Before you ask, Yes, I save preferences, and I have tried trashing existing preferences and starting over, just in case there's something corrupting the preference files.
I must keep both 2004 and 2004b (who knows what conflicts this might be causing) because of the corrupt mm rest shape problems in 2004b (see below) which render it useless for printing.
Common keyboard commands sometimes stop working - command S and command W refuse to work until the actions have been initiated from the file menu with the mouse. Then they return to normal functioning, at least for a while. But this behavior returns with any newly opened file.
Those are the things I can remember right now while I am taking time out from my work to write about them. There may be others that I am forgetting at the moment. In any case, the combination of annoying and time consuming misbehavior that seems built in to this version is frustrating, to say the least, and the responses I have received from tech support recently seem to have a acquired a dismissive tone (maybe my imagination - but no suggestions I've gotten have helped in the least).
I will copy this message to the Finale List in the hope that it may stimulate others to either support my complaints or to help solve these problems.
Please work on this.
Sincerely,
Chuck
Try moving the Finale preferences from the Hard Drive>Users>>yourusername>>Library>>Preferences (Finale 2004 preferences) into your Finale 2004b folder.
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I hope this helps!
Brian
Customer Support Representative
MakeMusic!, Inc.
Please include all previous correspondence relating to this issue in your reply.
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-----Original Message-----
From: Chuck Israels [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Thursday, June 10, 2004 11:09 PM
To: MacSupport
Subject: Saving different prefs for 2K4 and 2K4b
Hi Folks,
Because of a problem printing from FinMac 2K4b (described in earlier correspondence - corrupted multi measure rest shapes), I need to print from 2K4 (which prints the same files with no problems). That's OK, except that when I return to 2K4b to work on other things, I find my preferences gone. Is there a way to save them so that I can get them back without having to reconstruct them?
Are the programmers working on fixing the various bugs in this version? I am able to work around most of them, but this is surely the most problematic version in my memory. I know there were big issues in porting over to OS X, but it took so long, and claim was that the delay was the result of a desire to come out with a reliable product. I wish the wait seemed to be worth the delay.
Chuck
<x-tad-smaller>Chuck Israels</x-tad-smaller>
<x-tad-smaller> 230 North Garden Terrace</x-tad-smaller>
<x-tad-smaller> Bellingham, WA 98225-5836</x-tad-smaller>
<x-tad-smaller> phone (360) 671-3402</x-tad-smaller>
<x-tad-smaller> fax (360) 676-6055</x-tad-smaller>
<x-tad-smaller> www.chuckisraels.com</x-tad-smaller>Chuck Israels
230 North Garden Terrace
Bellingham, WA 98225-5836
phone (360) 671-3402
fax (360) 676-6055
www.chuckisraels.com
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