Margins

There are two kinds of margins in Finale: page margins and system margins. Both can be set either from a menu or with the Page Layout Tool. For information on system margins, see Systems.

To change page margins

1. Click the Page Layout Tool  .
2. First set the range of the pages to affect in the Page Margins submenu of the Page Layout Menu.
3. Drag the handles at the edge of the page margins. You can also enter values directly into the number boxes of the Edit Page Margins dialog box. See Edit Page Margins dialog box for more information.
4. From the Edit Menu, choose Update Layout. This command re-calculates the layout of measures, based on the new margins.

To change default page margins numerically

Note: The changes you’ll be making with these instructions establish the page margins for pages yet to be created. To apply them to existing pages, see the final two steps.

1. From the Document Menu, choose Page Format, then Score. The Page Format for Score dialog box appears.
2. Enter new values in the Page Margins boxes. These numbers are the distances from the edge of the page; thus if the page size changes, the margins remain at the same distance from the page edge. These measurements are always positive and measure the absolute distance from the edge of the page.
3. Click OK (or press return). The changes you’ve made will affect only new pages added to the piece by Finale, unless you perform one of the following additional steps.
4. To apply the new margin settings to one existing page, click the Page Layout Tool  ; and go to the page you want to change; Click on the Page Layout Menu and choose Redefine Pages, then Current Page.
5. To apply the new margins to all existing pages, click on the Page Layout Menu, choose Redefine Pages, then Redefine All Pages.