Page turns

A number of tools are at your disposal for adjusting the layout of your music to avoid awkward page turns. In Finale, this is often a two-step process—first, you arrange the measures (usually with a goal of placing rest measures at the end of a system). Second, you may have to move some systems from one page to another, so that the nearest rest measures fall at the bottom of a page.

To move individual measures from line to line, see Measure layout. To move systems from page to page, see below. To seek and reconfigure your score to avoid awkward page turns automatically, try the Smart Page Turns plug-in. See Smart Page Turns.

To push a system onto the next page

1. Click the Page Layout Tool  .
2. Go to the page you want to change.  
3. Select the handle for the system you want to appear on the next page.  
4. From the Page Layout Menu, choose Insert Page Break. Finale places the system at the top of the next page and displays a non-printing Page Break icon .

To fit an additional system onto one page

1. Click the Page Layout Tool  .  
2. Go to the page to which you want to add a system. Each system has a pair of handles (at diagonally opposite corners). In order to “pull” a system from the following page, you’re going to reduce the space beneath each system on this page.
3. Drag the lower–right handle of the first system slightly upward. If this step didn't solve the problem, drag the second system’s lower-right handle slightly upward, too (preferably by the same amount—watch the number boxes in Edit System Margins dialog box if you wish; they show how much you’re dragging each system – See Edit System Margins dialog box). Move the handles until the system is pulled up.

If, despite all your efforts, it looks like the next system simply won’t fit without overlapping the existing systems, you’ll have to resort to one of the global system-fitting options (see Page layout—To change the distance between systems, or reduce the music (Reducing/Enlarging).

4. From the Edit Menu, choose Update Layout.