So, since the last time I talked about MU4, it's been rolled out to millions of people
(They're calling it a stable release, but that's debatable). I've also had more time to explore the limitations of this new program, which I'll talk about below! I've also provided some template files for you to use and/or play around with

In case you missed it,
here's the link to my previous findings on MU4. In it, I mostly discussed the different features of MU4 and Finale, comparing them side by side and explaining what's possible, what's not, and what can be worked around. However, it's not super in depth and only really talks about hypotheticals.
This time around, I've gone and actually done all of the things I talked about, and much more:
1) The staff spaceFinale displays sizes in your preferred units system™, whereas MuseScore uses a mix of both units systems and 'staff spaces', i.e. the distance between two staff lines. The latter system is often more helpful in context, but makes converting sizes and standardising them quite tedious. The first step was to define MU4's staff space, and thus its staff size, which turned out to be more difficult than expected. I don't remember exactly how I calculated it, but it seems to hold up when compared to Finale, so yeah.
Based on the NSM 2019 Template file, a staff space in MuseScore is equal to 0.067 inches (There are exceptions).
2) Transferring engraving settingsThe next step was to copy as many settings as possible from Finale's Document Options to MuseScore's Style window, again based on of the NSM Finale template. Most of this worked without any issues, but there were a few relevant points that weren't directly convertable:
- There is currently no way to precisely change the distance between a beam's primary and secondary/tertiary components. MU4 offers a 'regular' and 'wide' setting, but both are marginally off from the desired size. This may be resolved in a future update.
- There is no way to automatically place a courtesy clef on the left side of a repeat barline, MuseScore's engraving system places it to the right. Thankfully, MU4's spacing system allows for a workaround, which isn't too complicated but does take a fair amount of messing with.
- Aside from choosing between the traditional and straight options, flags in MuseScore are currently not customisable. That said, I can't make out a visual difference between the flags of either notation program, so Finale's settings seem to partain to spacing, which I will touch on later.
- MuseScore doesn't allow for customisable automatic placement of grace notes, so this isn't set to the Finale Standard, and would need to be manually tweaked each time.
- Rests in multi-layered measures appear one staff space higher/lower in MuseScore than in Finale, with no customisable default for the former. Again, an easy manual fix and something that often has to be done manually in Finale as well.
- Finale's lyrics system offers more advanced automisation, but MuseScore's holds up just fine on its own and can be manually adjusted as needed. The placement system has been improved since v3 and takes up less space.
- Tuplets are less automatically customisable in than in MuseScore than in Finale, but MU4's system is good enough and allows for easy manual adjusting.
- Finale allows you to shape and customise the piano brace, whereas MuseScore only lets you reposition it. This is probably the most noticeable visual inconsistency between the two programs, and one that I'm not expecting a fix for.
MuseScore places the brace within the margins, while Finale places it outside. Worth keeping in mind for the margin settings, which I'll touch on later.- MuseScore doesn't automatically break voltas, and the relatively clean workaround from MU3 is not yet integrated in MU4, meaning you have to workaround the workaround which is far less clean. I'm expecting the old workaround to work again in a future release. They also aren't right aligned the way Finale defaults to, so that would have to be done manually each time (though I don't really like the Finale way of doing this, the MuseScore way is more legible).
3) Page MarginsUsing milimeters allows for more precise input, so the values are as follows:
Top 12.7, Bottom 12.7, Right 12.7, Left 8.46 12.7.
Due to having to accomodate for the brace, the left margin is set a little lower than the others (my calculations never added up because the notation systems use different levels of padding, so this number is purely experimental). Consequently, text aligned to the center or to the left will need to be manually adjusted (Left +6sp, Center +3sp).
Alternatively you could ignore all of that and set the left margin to 12.7 as well, and just deal with the brace being placed on the wrong side of the margin. Opening MuseScore again a day later, and it works.. differently? The brace is currently outside of the margins (v1.2) so no need for weird adjustments now...The setting I recommend for the first system indent is 10sp (changeable under Style/Score).
4) Slurs, ties and other things- MU4 has a completely redone system for automatically placing slurs and ties, now it places them in regard to accidentals, other ties, and barlines. However, they are still less curved than in Finale and than is usually desired, so they will frequently need manually adjusting (quite buggy atm tho). Additionally, I couldn't find the value in Finale for the slur's thickness, so the current thickness in the MuseScore templates may be a little off.
- I already talked about ottavas in my previous analysis, but there's still some things to keep in mind:
- Text and line don't align nicely, and there is no way to change this default. You will have to fix this every time under Properties/Ottava/Text and mess with the vertical height values.
- The hook for Ottava Bassas is flipped the wrong way (the style settings don't allow negative input) so you will have to go to Properties/Ottava/Style and add a minus to hook height.
- Parentheses don't hug the ottava as nicely as in Finale (same with BPM text), and there isn't really a fix for that at the moment.
- Things like tempo and repeat markings are aligned to the barline and not to the first note in the measure, and will need to be adjusted each time (setting default values misplaced a bunch of other stuff). If you add an expression to your BPM marking, that should be size 12 and bold (the rest should stay 10pt/regular). Recommended values for first BPM: horizontal 3.5, vertical -3.
Page numbers currently need a workaround to have their font size change (one of the more questionable points of the Formatting Guidelines, that I suspect often goes unenforced), but this is due to a bug that will probably be resolved at some point. Update (v1.3): I found another workaround, which is automatic and more reliable.- MuseScore also currently displays the repeat dots a little too low, which just means needing to adjust that each time you add a repeat (this issue is already fixed, just hasn't been rolled out yet)
- Staff spacers' staff space is double that of the regular one, so halve all the values.
5) Downloads n templates n stuffHere's an example of the template compared to the real thing:
Finale v
MU4 (template v1.1)The template file is best kept under "*/MuseScore 4/Templates", where it will then show up under "Create from Template/My Templates". The Style file is best kept under "*/MuseScore 4/Styles", where it can be loaded by right clicking on a sheet's page, or from "Format/Load Style".
The style file is more lightweight and contains engraving rules and some page settings. It has the advantage that it can be applied to an existing sheet at any time. The template file on the other hand contains more detailed elements and is easier to make new sheets from. It doesn't include formatted composer/arranger text or a pre-positioned BPM marking, so if you want those you should create your sheet from within (a copy of) the template file itself.
Template itself:
[v1.4 (template)] [v1.4 (style)]Older versions:
[v1.3 (template)] [v1.3 (style)] [v1.2 (template)] [v1.2 (style)] [v1.1 (template)] [v1.1 (style)]Changelog:
- v1.4 (12/23/22): Overhauled text positioning system, various other engraving adjustments
- v1.3 (12/22/22): Page numbers are now automatically the correct size
- v1.2 (12/20/22): Improved page margins + accompanying text positions, cleaned up the sheet's metadata to allow for a smoother import
- v1.1 (12/19/22): Incorporation of staff size, page settings & engraving settings
- v1.0 (10/25/22): Basic formatting adjustments and use of Finale Maestro music font