The “Fermata” (also known as the bird’s eye, hold or pause symbol) is an articulation. Finale includes this articulation automatically in any document created through the Setup Wizard, a default Finale file, or a template. To add or remove a fermata, select the appropriate icon from the Articulation toolbar.

When you insert a fermata in finale on a note, Sibelius will also insert the same type of articulation on all other instruments that contain the same note. This is a time-tested way of making sure your score and parts look correct. It can be a little confusing, though, when you are working with a score with many different instruments and rhythms.

For this reason, advanced Finale users can choose to disable the articulation stacking and collision avoidance functionality. This will allow you to use articulations as you normally would, but without the benefit of intelligent automatic positioning and other functionality that reduces the number of manual changes needed to make your scores and parts look their best.

Please note that if you do disable articulation stacking in this manner, any existing Finale v26 score containing a variety of articulations will require manual change to re-enable the articulation stacking and collision avoidance feature. Alternatively, you can open a pre-Finale v26 file in the latest version of Finale and choose to “Enable articulation stacking”. This will restore articulation positioning as it was prior to the change in articulation stacking behavior in v26.