does anyone know if the number of bars/measures on a page can be controlled in either Finale or Sibelius?

i might need to buy one of them for helping someone doing notation work with the restricted page layout requirements. just wonder which one has such a capacity?

Finale allows you to restrict the number of measures per system. THis would allow you to predetermine the number of bars per page. It also allows you to respace the music to fit the real estate available. I'm sure Sibelius has similar features as page layout is an important feature of these types of programs. You're not clear what your restricting factors are or what you're trying to accomplish.

In Sibelius there's a plugin which does exactly what you need, called "Unify Layout" (in "Others", I have the German version so I don't know what it's really called in English). You can adjust the number of bars per system and the number of systems per page.

thanks for responses! you've been very helpful. i just need to make a decision on which one to buy. which one is better, in term of convenience and ease of use?

Steve, it's about 'number of bars per page' requirement (for now). i know Finale Notepad cannot do that. if the full version can do it, that's great.

And don't forget technical support. I don't know if Sibelius has any live customer support, but Finale does.

The page layout features I use most often in Sibelius are those that freeze measures into a single system, system breaks, and page breaks. You can also set margins, spacing, etc... It's pretty flexible.

thanks everyone! you've been great help! i'll make a decision soon...

signa, even my ancient (13 years old!!) version of Finale can do that, so I'm sure the latest versions can. (Notepad is useless, for my purposes)

Signa - you can do all that with Finale's 2009 Print Music program. First download Notepad for free off Finale's site. Then upgrade to the Print Music and you'll get $10 off. Total cost will be $90 and it will do 98% of what the full-blown version does. Alternatively, there's academic versions available if you qualify.