I've been working on a score in which I decided to format using manuscript size paper. I want to be able to export as a pdf for someone who can't read Finale notation files, but the pdf always cuts it down to good ol' 8.5 x 11, thus cutting off the edges of my work. Is there any way to force it to make pdf's in the appropriate format? This is driving me nuts! Any ideas are much appreciated.

This sounds more like a PDF-printer problem than a Finale problem. Have you tried the virtual printer's settings? Mine, at least, does funny things unless you set its paper size to match the source software.

I don't use Finale, but from my notation software (Music Publisher) I copy one page at a time to the clipboard and paste it into a blank MS word document. Word automatically scales it to fit the page (8.5 X 11).

What are "virtual printer's settings?

I am likely missing something painfully obvious here.

I don't think that will work with Finale, but thanks for your input!

Depending on your platform, be sure and check at least two places - the document settings and the page setup.

Since 9x12 is a non-standard format, it may be that Finale's built-in pdf creator can't handle it, in which case you may need to export to postscript and use Acrobat.

I'm using a Mac, if that makes any difference.

"Virtual printer" was my reference to your PDF outputter, whatever software it is. When you select which printer to print to (unless your PDF outputter doesn't print via the Print menu), you click on "Preference" button (at least that's what it's called in Windows...!), and your printer settings will show up. From there you should be able to change the output paper size.

If that doesn't work, Joe's suggestion is actually implementable on Finale. Go to Graphics->Export Page. Save the files as .TIFF and open them in Word.

Good luck!

P.S. The Graphics menu is accessible through the Graphics Tool Button, which has the icon of 3D shapes and resides on the Advanced Tools Palette. If the Advanced Tools Palette isn't visible, you can call it up from the Window menu.

Ok, thanks Tar. Will experiment soon...

On a Mac, assuming you have the document itself set up correctly, open the "Page setup" dialog from the File Menu, select a custom paper size (you may need to go to "manage custom sizes" and create one.)

Then, you'll select print, Save as pdf..., and it should come out right.

This is what I do on Sibelius and it works fine.

Oh, and the page setup dialog should be the same for all applications - it isn't be Finale-specific, even though you access it from Finale's File menu.

Thanks, Kreisler. Headed to try right now.

Thanks again, it worked!!