Lyrics Tool

This tool lets you create, edit, and move lyrics in your score. You can create many different sets of lyrics (which you might use, for example, in a hymn with several verses); you can move the baseline (the imaginary line upon which the bottoms of the words align) up or down independently for each set of lyrics. When you click this tool, the Lyrics menu appears; it contains all the commands you need to create lyrics in your score. See Lyrics for more information.

Click a staff to tell Finale the staff to which you want lyrics attached.
In Type Into Score, use the up and DOWN ARROWs to move to the previous or next verse, chorus or section.
In Type Into Score mode or Click Assignment mode, drag the positioning triangles at the left edge of the screen to specify the vertical position of the baseline for the lyric set you’re inserting. For a full discussion of these triangles and their functions, see Lyrics.

Note. View the Using the positioning triangles QuickStart Video for a demonstration of how to use the positioning triangles.

In Type Into Score mode, click near the first note to indicate which note you want to attach a syllable to. Then type the lyrics normally.
In Type Into Score mode, click near a note to select (highlight) the syllable attached to it. Anything you now type replaces the highlighted syllable.
In Click Assignment mode, click near the first note to attach the first syllable in the Lyric window. (If the note is in Voice 2, SHIFT-click.)
In Click Assignment mode, CTRL-click near the first note to tell Finale to assign all subsequent syllables in the lyric set displayed in the Lyrics window. Finale attaches one syllable at a time to subsequent notes in the melody, automatically skipping over rests and tied notes. (Finale only assigns lyrics to the notes in the current layer, as identified by the pressed Layer push button in the lower-left corner of the window.)
In Edit Word Extensions mode, click near the sustained syllable to display a handle at the end of the syllable. (If the note is in Voice 2, SHIFT-click.) Drag this handle to the right to draw a word extension underline (indicating that the syllable is sustained through more than one note). Click this handle and press DELETE to remove the word extension.
In Adjust Syllables mode, click a handle and drag or nudge to move it. (If the syllable is assigned to a note in Voice 2, SHIFT-click.) Select it and press BACKSPACE to restore it to its original position; select it and press DELETE to remove it from the score. Select several vertically-aligned handles (by SHIFT-clicking or drag-enclosing) and choose alignment and justification options from the Alignment and Justification submenus. Adjusting the align/justify settings of one handle affects all syllables attached to that note. See Lyrics menu.
In Clone Lyric mode, click one measure, SHIFT-click another measure, drag-enclose several measures, or click to the left of the staff to select one measure, additional measures, a group of measures, or the entire staff at once. Drag the first selected measure so that it’s superimposed on the first target measure to copy the lyrics from the selected measures to the target measures. Cloning duplicates the assignments and keeps the Lyrics window uncluttered, but changes made to one lyric will apply to all "clones." (In contrast, copying lyrics duplicates them in the Lyrics window and allows each copy to be edited independently.)
In Shify Lyrics mode, click near the first syllable you want shifted to shift that syllable and subsequent syllables one note to the right or left (automatically skipping rests and tied notes).

With Adjust Syllables selected in the Lyrics menu, right-click the handle closest to a syllable. A contextual menu will be displayed where you can select various items.

Lyric handles

Menu item	What it does
Clear Manual Positioning	Changes the alignment of the syllables back to Finale’s global setting
Align Default	Changes the alignment of the syllables back to Finale’s global setting, allowing syllables to "float"
Align Center	Changes the alignment of the syllables to centered under the note
Align Left	Changes the alignment of the syllables to the left under the note
Align Right	Changes the alignment of the syllables to the right under the note
Justify Default	Changes the justification of the syllables back to Finale’s global setting
Justify Center	Changes the justification of the syllables to centered relative to each other
Justify Left	Changes the justification of the syllables to the left relative to each other
Justify Right	Changes the justification of the syllables to the right relative to each other
Include Lyric Number	Places the number of the verse/chorus/section to the left of the syllable. See To number lyrics.
Unlink in All Parts	Unlinks the syllable positioning between the score and parts
Relink in All Parts	Relinks the syllable positioning between the score and parts

Lyrics tool

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