Resources for arrangers transitioning from Finale notation software. If you’re switching to Dorico, see the Dorico page for help.

Finale availability ended August 25, 2024

• Farewell, Finale – MakeMusic
• Finale’s Coda – Scoring Notes podcast, August 31, 2024
• MakeMusic ends development and availability of Finale; partners with Steinberg to sell Dorico directly [updated] – Scoring Notes blog, August 26, 2024
• The Death of Finale – Selling Sheet Music podcast, August 27, 2024
• The Final Finale – Jason Loffredo, Conquering Finale, August 26, 2024

Finale technical support ended August 25, 2025

• What happens after Finale technical support ends? – from MakeMusic
• Windows resources – User Manual | Quick Reference Guide
• Mac resources – User Manual | Quick Reference Guide
• User Manuals, Finale 2009 to 2026

Articles from Scoring Notes – Philip Rothman and Jason Loffredo

Crossgrades are still available

• Steinberg (Dorico) – The Dorico crossgrade is still available, and customers who purchase it will receive a free copy of Finale 27.4, the last version of Finale. If you have an older version of Finale, this is an excellent chance to get two upgrades for a deeply discounted price. Purchase from the MakeMusic site.
• Avid (Sibelius) – Discounted crossgrade on Finale to Sibelius Ultimate. See also: How to Migrate from Finale to Sibelius – Sibelius Blog, August 29, 2024
• MuseScore Studio is free. See MuseScore Studio is dedicated to supporting Finale users – Musescore blog, August 29, 2024

Finale Fonts

All of Finale’s fonts are now available to download and install.

• MakeMusic Fonts and Licensing Information
• Download and install all Finale fonts on Mac and Windows – Scoring Notes blog, January 21, 2025

Convert Finale Files to MusicXML

• Exporting MusicXML Files from Finale – from MakeMusic
• Jason Loffredo, Farewell, Finale – Last video in the Conquering Finale series. Start at 17:36 for advice on converting to MusicXML
• Handout from a class I taught on MusicXML conversion

As of July 2025, Music XML 4.0 is the latest version, and Finale 27.4 supports MusicXML 4.0. From the Scoring Notes post “Leaving Finale Behind”: The bottom line is that Finale is frozen on MusicXML 4.0, and Finale is the software that potentially will stop functioning after future OS updates, and currently Finale is the only program that has the encoder that will translate a .mus or .musx file into a .musicxml or .mxl file. So we really can’t recommend enough that you start exporting your Finale files to MusicXML as soon as you can. There’s no harm in doing it now, and there’s zero advantage to waiting.

Finale is no longer sold, updated, or supported. Have you migrated your files yet? Don’t lose your creative work!