On August 26, 2024, MakeMusic, the company that owns the Finale music notation program, announced that they have ended development of Finale. While they will provide technical support to Finale users through August, 2025, they encourage users to switch to Dorico, developed by Steinberg, the creators of Cubase and a subsidiary of Yamaha. We realize that Sweetwater has many customers who have purchased Finale from us over the years. We know that this announcement prompts lots of questions so we wrote this guide to help you understand the implications, and sketch out the method for migrating your Finale scores to Dorico or another music notation program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finale first came to market in 1989, and we know many of our customers rely on it to create their music notation. Our Finale users are encouraged by MakeMusic to migrate to Dorico, since they will not be selling or providing any further updates to Finale, Print Music, Notepad, or Songwriter after August 26, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can read the press release from MakeMusic here.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have questions, contact MakeMusic’s support team<\/a>. They provide a knowledge base and a community forum for users. Here’s a link to their FAQ about the sunset of Finale<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MakeMusic still offers the MakeMusic Cloud music lesson platform. MakeMusic also still sells the Garritan Personal Orchestra<\/a> and other Garritan virtual instrument libraries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can continue to use Finale on the Mac or Windows PC you have now, for the duration. In the future, though, you need to be aware that if you upgrade the OS on your computer, Finale might not be compatible with the new OS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have already purchased a version of Finale, MakeMusic says that you will continue to be able to download an installer from your MakeMusic account page<\/a>, and you can install and activate a copy on a new computer. However, MakeMusic\u2019s technical support for Finale users will end after August 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MakeMusic recommends that Finale users move to Steinberg Dorico.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Steinberg has provided a FAQ about switching from Finale to Dorico<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dorico cannot open Finale files, and there is no way to directly convert one document format to another. However, there is a means to get most of the information out of a Finale document and into Dorico through the use of an intermediary format called MusicXML<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MusicXML is an industry-standard format for porting music notation from one brand of notation app to another. Finale and Dorico both read and write MusicXML. You can also use MusicXML to get the notation from your Finale document into one of many other music notation apps that support MusicXML, such as Avid Sibelius and MuseScore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Export a MusicXML file from your Finale document, then open Dorico and import the MusicXML file into a new Dorico document. This will transfer most of the notation and layout of your Finale score, but will require further editing in Dorico to make your score look the same as it did in Finale. Of course, learning how to use Dorico will take an investment of your time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You will need to work through your documents one at a time. In addition to exporting a MusicXML file, you should save your work in several other formats that will be useful in the migration process. Here\u2019s an overview of what you need to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have a Finale document that is many years old, try to open it in your current version of Finale and save it in the most recent format.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With your document open in Finale, export it as a PDF file. In the Graphics<\/strong> tool, select Export Pages<\/strong> and choose Type: PDF<\/strong>. You\u2019ll need this for printing out and for reference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Export your document as a MIDI file by using File > Export > MIDI File<\/strong>. The MIDI file can be used in any sequencer or DAW.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Export an audio file using the virtual instrument library you have configured with Finale. Save it in WAV, AIFF, or MP3 format. Use File > Export > Audio File<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Go to File > MusicXML<\/strong> and save the file. Finale v27 supports MusicXML version 4.0, and it has a MusicXML Preferences dialog where you can adjust the features of an exported file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To get started, watch this Dorico tutorial video, Import MusicXML into Dorico<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCan I Still Use Finale?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Migrating Finale Documents to Dorico or Another Notation Program<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What is MusicXML?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Steps to Migrate a Finale Document to Dorico<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Update the format<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Export a PDF file<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Export a MIDI file<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Export an audio rendering<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Export a MusicXML file<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Importing a MusicXML File into Dorico<\/h3>\n\n\n\n