JW Lua Scripts for Finale®

Most of the files are available for free, but use them at your own risk.
Please save your Finale document before using the plugins!
Most of the scripts were only tested very shortly and JW Lua is also still in beta state.
Should you notice any problems, please tell us and we will try to fix the bugs if possible.

1.) Make Longa

Converts two tied double whole notes within a measure to a longa note and four tied double whole notes to a maxima note. Make sure the whole notes are in the same measure (and not tied over the barline).
It uses the longa/maxima noteheads from the free Fughetta font as default and the rest symbols from Bravura.
But it's possible to change the symbol and font.
Simply adjust: FontName, FontSize, CustomChar and RestDisplacement in the first lines of the script.
Attention: Finale doesn't support the duration of maxima notes (=32768 EDUs),
so internally they will have the length of longa notes (=16384). This might effect the music spacing and/or playback.
Download Make Longa (v0.6 2017-06-09) (New version with support for longa and maxima rests) Make Longa Plugin for Finale

Mensural Notation with November2 and Make Longa Plugin

Mensural notation with the November2 "Renaissance" template and the Make Longa plugin.

2.) Shift Dot on Dotted 8th notes (in Jazz font)

Fixes the bug that the augmentation dot on dotted 8th notes in Jazz font appears too far to the right.
Download (External script by Harald Schollmeyer)
Move Dots Plugin for Finale

3.) Change noteheads

Changes all noteheads in a selected region to a new font, size and/or symbol.
Affects all or one layer, all durations or one.
Download

3.) Splits the time signature (new v1.24 2018-01-20)

This plugin halves the time signature (e.g. 4/2 to 2/2; or 5/4 to 3/4 and 2/4) and maintains the barline and key signature settings.
Halve time signature

Download Script

Video "Time Signature Split": How to set it up for splitting for example 13/8 to 6/8 and 7/8.

Video "Time Signature Split": Both default and real whole rests are supported.

4.) Brass fingerings

Automatically adds fingerings for brass instruments (trumpet, trombone, etc.).
Download (External script by Harald Schollmeyer)
Brass Fingerings Plugin for Finale

5.) Show an expression only at the beginning of a staff system

...and hide all other occurences.
Download (External script by Harald Schollmeyer)

6.) Whole Note Tremolo Alignment

Centers Maestro's tremolo on whole notes
Download

7.) Single Note Spacing

Reduces the measure width in a measure that only contains one long note (e.g. in the final bar).
Download (External script by Harald Schollmeyer)

8.) Multi-measure Rests on Two Staff Groups

Merges the two multi-measure rest numbers on two staff groups to a single number.
Make sure to remove the line 'finaleplugin.MaxFinaleVersion = "2014"' before running the script on Fin25 - otherwise it won't work.
Download (External script by Charles O. Lawrence)
Multi-Measure Rest on Two Staff Groups

9.) Add Quarter Note in 5/4 Measures

Adds a tied quarter note to whole notes in 5/4 measures
Add Quarter Note in 5/4

Download

10.) Replace Text in all Text Blocks

It can replace fix text inserts like title, arranger or accidental with a new text string.
Attention: the original insert strings are removed. So if you want to change for example the title string later, you must call the plugin again. Otherwise it won't update.
Example: To add an accidental to a title you replace "^title()" with "Title Text in C^sharp()".
If you want to change it again, replace e.g. "Title Text in C^sharp()" with "Title Text2 in F^flat()".
The list of Finale's internal tag names can be found here.

Download

11.) Add Rectangle to Measures (Aleatoric Boxes)

Download (External script by Harald Schollmeyer)
Rectangle around Measures

(Source: Harald Schollmeyer on http://finaleforum.superflexible.net)

12.) Fix Measure Numbers in Multiple Measure Regions When Inserting Measures

Instructions can be found here.
Download (External Script by Charles Lawrence)

13.) Split multi-measure rests

Download

14.) Change gap between chord symbol and all suffixes on all chords

This Lua file is included in the commercial
Elbsound Music Fonts Package and in the Elbsound Text Fonts Package only.

15.) Remove all page breaks

Removes all page breaks in score and/or parts.
Download

16.) Find Expression

List all expression occurences in a score.
Download

17.) Remove Hidden Text at the End of Expressions

Removes hidden text at the end of all expressions which improves centered placement, enclosure sizes or collision issues. This Lua file is included in the commercial Elbsound Music Fonts Package.

18.) Delete Corrupt Expression Definitions

Especially in older Finale documents deleteexprdef are sometimes corrupt expressions somewhere in the memory of Finale that the Expression Designer dialog doesn't list.
But they still exist. This script reveals all these expression definitions in the Expression Designer dialog.
By clicking on Document->Data Check->File Maintenance afterwards Finale deletes the corrupt expression definitions completely.
In some cases you have to repeat this process several times.

Note: Corrupt Finale documents are a risky thing. Elbsound.studio can't be held liable for any damages that this does to your Finale document. Use this script your own risk!
Download

19.) Change Top Staff Margin to Staff System Top Margin

Writes the top staff margin value into to the staff system top margin and sets the top staff margin to 0.
Download

20.) Fix Slur Playback / Fix Smartshape Flags

This plugin fixes playback issues by resetting the smart shape flag of Finale's measure object.
Download

21.) More JW Lua scripts on external sites

Finale Lua website.
Nick Mazuk's scripts on his website.
Nick Mazuk's GitHub repository of JW Lua scripts: here
Jari Williamsson, the developer of JW Lua, also offers a few scripts on his website.

Many JW Lua scripts written by Chris can be found here in the French Finale forum.
Here is the index of Chris' scripts: (Download requires free registration for the French forum!)
Chords
French Chords as Text Expressions

Display
Repeat barline before a key signature change
Big Time Signatures in the score.

Miscellaneous
Adding beat markings
Vertical copy of slurs and crescendos
Creating an enclosure around a measure, with a title
Exporting the audio with the metronome click
Printing multiple documents
Guitar picking symbols
Numbering the pages with an incrementation of 2
Reinitialization of baselines
Reorganizing lyrics
4 bar repeat
Showing the clef in all measures
Midi File export, even partial

Graphics
Add annotations, "post-it" style
Piano diagrams
Merging 2 shapes
Shapes: wavy lines and loops

Layout
Copy Layout, even between files
Layout in columns
4 hand piano layout
Different number of measures per system

Notes
Center whole notes
Adding the note names
Stemless notes, regularly spaced, independently from their values
Positioning of the grace notes-appoggiatura in tab
Rhythmic figures on top of a staff
Unisons half/eight notes in 2 layers
Enharmonic changes

Staves
Reinitializing the position of staff and group names

For more sophisticated JW Lua scripts like the Perfect Layout plugin see the Finale plugins section

All scripts require a recent installation of Jari Williamsson's JW Lua plugin for Finale from http://finaletips.nu.

Getting started with JW Lua
Learning to code with JW Lua (Part 1)
Learning to code with JW Lua (Part 2)
How to work with JW Lua
JW Lua Documentation
Downloading the JW Lua Documentation
Documentation for Finale PDK development