MuseScore works on many different computer systems including, Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.

Windows

You can get the Windows installer from the Download page of the MuseScore website. Click on the link to start the download. Your Internet browser will confirm that you want to download this file. Click "Save File".

When the download finishes double click on the file to start the installation. Windows may open a security window and ask you to confirm before running the software. Click "Run" to continue.

The installer recommends that you close all other applications before continuing. After you close the other applications click "Next" to continue.

The setup wizard displays the terms of the free software license which you may review. Click "I Agree" to continue.

Next it confirms the location for installing MuseScore. If you are installing a newer version of MuseScore but still want to keep the old version on your computer then you should change the folder. Otherwise click "Next" to continue.

Next it confirms the name for the MuseScore folder that appears in the Windows Start menu list of programs. Click "Install" to continue.

Give the setup wizard a few minutes to install the necessary files and configurations. When it is done click "Finish" to exit the installer. If you wish, you may now delete the installer file you downloaded.

Start MuseScore

To start MuseScore choose Start → All Programs → MuseScore → MuseScore.

After several seconds MuseScore will open up to the demo score. Feel free to experiment with the demo score and get the feel of the program. Next you may want to create new score .

Advanced users: Silent or unattended install

You can install MuseScore silently with the following command
MuseScore-X.Y.exe /S /D=C:\Program Files\MuseScore
You can uninstall with
cd C:\Program Files\MuseScore
Uninstall.exe /S

Mac OS X

Install

You will find the Mac dmg file on the Download page of the MuseScore website. Click on the link to start the download. When download is finished, the dmg file is automatically mounted on your desktop as "MuseScore-X.Y" and the installer appears.

Drag the MuseScore icon and drop it to the Applications folder icon. If you are not logged in as an administrator, Mac OS X will ask for a password: click "Authenticate" and enter your password to let Mac OS X copy MuseScore into your Application folder.
You can now launch MuseScore from Applications or SpotLight.

Uninstall

Just delete MuseScore from Applications folder.

Linux

Please see the Download page for instructions pertaining to MuseScore on Linux. Packages are provided for Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora and PCLinuxOS. Other distributions will require you to build the application from source. For instructions specific to Fedora see below.

Fedora

1. Import the GPG key:

   su
   rpm --import http://prereleases.musescore.org/linux/Fedora/RPM-GPG-KEY-Seve

2. Go to the download page of the MuseScore website. Click on the link for the stable Fedora download and choose the correct rpm package for your architecture
3. Depending on your architecture, use one of the two sets of commands to install MuseScore
   • if for arch i386

     su
     yum localinstall musescore-X.Y-1.fc10.i386.rpm

   • or if for arch x86_64
     

     su
     yum localinstall musescore-X.Y-1.fc10.x86_64.rpm

If you have difficulty with sound, see Fedora 11 and sound .

External links

• How to change the language in MuseScore
• How to install MuseScore without administrator rights (on Windows)
• How to run MuseScore as Administrator on Windows

From the main menu choose File → New.... This opens the new score wizard.

Title, composer and other information

Enter the title, composer, or any other information as shown above. Windows users please be aware that currently, using characters in the Title field which are restricted by your file system such as : or / may result in you being unable to save your work due to a bug. This is fixed as of version 1.3. If you wish to use characters like this in your title, then edit your title after score creation.

Notice the two options at the bottom:

• Create new score from template
• Create new score from scratch

The first option offers a list of ready-made score templates in the next screen. The second option gives you the full choice of instruments in the next screen. Templates are discussed in more detail below, but for now, choose "Create new score from scratch."

Click "Next" to continue.

Instruments and voice parts

The instrument window is divided into two columns. The first column lists instruments or voice parts to choose from. The second column, while initially empty, will soon contain a list of the instruments for your new score.

The instrument list in the first column is categorized into instrument families. Double click a category to show the full list of instruments in each family. Select an instrument and click "Add". The instrument you selected now appears in the second column. You can add more instruments or voice parts, if needed.

The order of the instruments in the second column determines the order they appear in the score. To change the order, click on an instrument name and use the "Up" or "Down" buttons to move it higher or lower. When you are done, click "Next".

Key signature

The wizard asks for a key signature. Select the key signature you need and click "Next" to continue.

Time signature, pickup, and number of measures

Set the time signature to the numbers you want. If your piece begins with a pickup, then mark the "Pickup measure" checkbox and adjust pickup time signature to indicate the actual duration of the first measure.

If you know approximately how many measures you need, you can specify that here. Otherwise, you can add, or delete measures later.

Click "Finish" to create your new score.

Adjustments to score after creation

You can change any settings specified during the new score wizard, even after you start working on the score.

• To add or delete measures or create a pickup see Measure operations
• To change any text see Text editing . To add a missing Title (or other text item) use the menu Create → Text → Title (or other text item)
• To add, delete, or change the order of instruments use the menu Create → Instruments....

See also: Key signature , time signature , clef .

Templates

The first screen of the new score wizard has an option to "Create new score from template" (see Title and other text above for details). To create a score using this method, select the template option and click "Next" to continue.

The next screen shows a list of templates. Select a template and click "Next". Continue and finish the new score wizard as usual.

The template files are normal MuseScore files stored in the template folder. You can create your own templates by saving MuseScore files to the template folder.
On Windows, the template folder is usually located at C:\Program Files\MuseScore\templates or in the 64-bit versions at C:\Program Files (x86)\MuseScore\templates
On Linux, look under /usr/share/mscore-xxx if you installed from the package manager. If you compiled mscore on Linux yourself, then look under /usr/local/share/mscore-xxx.
On Mac, look under /Applications/MuseScore.app/Contents/Resources/templates

External links

• Video tutorial: Score Setup

Adding notes and rests to a staff requires four basic steps:

1. Select your starting position for note entry
2. Select Note Entry mode
3. Select the duration of the note (or rest) you want to enter
4. Enter the pitch (or rest) using keyboard shortcut, mouse or a MIDI keyboard

To add notes that overlap in time, but start or end at different times, see Voices . For chords, continue reading here.

Step 1: Starting position

First, select a note, or rest on the score as your starting position for note entry. Note entry in MuseScore replaces the existing notes or rests in a measure with your new notes (i.e. overwrites rather than inserts). However, you can insert new measures at any point (see measure operations , "Insert"), or use copy and paste to move a passage of notes.

Step 2: Note Entry mode

The "N" button on the Note Entry toolbar indicates whether you are in Note Entry mode or not. Besides clicking the button, you can also use the following keyboard shortcuts:

• N: Enter Note Entry mode
• N or Esc: Leave Note Entry mode

Step 3: Duration of the note (or rest)

After entering Note Entry mode, select the duration you need from the Note Entry toolbar, or use the corresponding keyboard shortcut.

The keyboard shortcuts for selecting the duration are:

• 1: 64th (hemidemisemiquaver)
• 2: 32nd (demisemiquaver)
• 3: 16th (semiquaver)
• 4: Eighth (quaver)
• 5: Quarter (crotchet)
• 6: Half (minim)
• 7: Whole (semibreve)
• 8: Double whole (breve)
• 9: Longa
• 0: Rest
• .: A period (dot) changes the selected duration into a dotted note/rest

Step 4: Enter pitch

For all instruments (except unpitched percussion), you can add note pitches using the mouse by clicking directly on the staff. (For instructions specific to percussion see Drum notation ). However, you may find it quicker to use a MIDI keyboard (see below), or your alphabetical computer keyboard. The following examples use the latter.

Enter pitches by typing the corresponding letter on your keyboard:
C D E F G A B C

0 (Zero) creates a rest: for example C D 0 E. Notice that the duration you select for the notes (quarter/crotchet notes in this example) also determines the duration of the rest (quarter/crotchet rest).

During note entry, MuseScore automatically advances in the score. If you want to add a chord note to your previous entry, hold Shift⇑ and enter a note name: C D Shift⇑+F Shift⇑+A E F

To create chords with notes of different durations, see voices .

If you want to create a dotted note, press .. For example 5 . C 4 D E F G A

When you type a note on the keyboard, MuseScore chooses the octave closest to the previous note entered. To shift your note up or down by an octave, use the following keyboard shortcuts:

• Ctrl+↑ (Mac: ⌘+↑): Increase the pitch of a note by one octave.
• Ctrl+↓ (Mac: ⌘+↓): Decrease the pitch of a note by one octave.

Other useful editing keyboard shortcuts available in Note Entry Mode:

• ↑ (Up): Increase the pitch of a note by a semitone (uses sharps).
• ↓ (Down): Decrease the pitch of a note by a semitone (uses flats).
• R: Duplicate the last entered note
• Q: Halve the duration of the last entered note
• W: Double the duration of the last entered note
• Backspace: Undo last entered note
• X: Flip direction of note stem
• Shift⇑+X: Move note head to opposite side of stem

MIDI keyboard

You can also insert pitches using a MIDI keyboard.

1. Connect your MIDI keyboard to the computer and switch your keyboard on
2. Start MuseScore
3. Create a new score
4. Click to select the rest in measure 1 to indicate where you want note entry to begin
5. Press N to begin Note Entry mode
6. Select a note duration such as 5 for quarter notes (crotchets), as described above
7. Press a note on your MIDI keyboard, and notice that the pitch is added to your score

Note: The MIDI keyboard enters one note or chord at a time. This mode of note entry (often called "step-time entry") is fast and reliable. Some notation software try to interpret "real-time entry", in which the musician plays a passage and the software tries to produce notation. However, the results are generally unreliable. MuseScore focuses on more reliable forms of note entry.

If you have multiple MIDI devices connected to your computer, you may need to tell MuseScore which one is the MIDI keyboard. Go to Edit → Preferences... (Mac: MuseScore → Preferences...). In the preferences dialog, click on the I/O tab and select your device under the section labeled "Choose PortMidi input device".

Coloring of notes out of an instrument's range

Notes within the playable range of an instrument or voice part appear appear black, whilst notes extending beyond the normal range of an instrument, are marked red. For some instruments, the range depends on the skills of the musician (such as string, wind, or voice). For these instruments, notes outside the range of an early amateur appear dark yellow, and notes outside the typical range of a professional appear red.

The colors are informational and appear on the computer screen but do not appear on printed copies of your scores. To disable note colors, choose Edit → Preferences... (Mac: MuseScore → Preferences...), click on the Note Entry tab, and unmark "Color notes outside of usable pitch range".

See also

• Drum notation
• Voices

External links

• Video tutorial: Note entry basics
• Video tutorial: Note Entry with a MIDI Keyboard and Playback
• How to enter a chord
• How to span a stem over two staves
• How to enter a rest

Copy and paste is useful tool for repetitious music, or for shifting a section of music by a beat or two.

Copy

1. Click on the first note of your selection.
2. Shift⇑+click on the last note of your selection. A blue rectangle highlights the region you selected.
3. From the menu choose Edit → Copy or press Ctrl+C

Paste

1. Click on the note or measure that you want your pasted selection to begin.
2. From the menu, choose Edit → Paste or press Ctrl+V

Quick repetition

1. Select a note or measure.
2. Press R and MuseScore duplicates the selected object.

External links

• Video tutorial: Lyrics, Copying & Dynamics

Many elements in the score can be edited in Edit Mode :

• Double Click: Starts Edit Mode
• Esc: Ends Edit Mode

Some elements show handles in edit mode, which can be moved by mouse dragging or keyboard commands.

Slur in Edit Mode:

Available keyboard commands:

• ←: Moves handle left one Space (the distance between two staff lines)
• →: Moves handle right one Space
• ↑: Moves handle up one Space
• ↓: Moves handle down one Space
• Ctrl+← (Mac: ⌘+←): Moves handle left 0.1 Space
• Ctrl+→ (Mac: ⌘+→): Moves handle right 0.1 Space
• Ctrl+↑ (Mac: ⌘+↑): Moves handle up 0.1 Space
• Ctrl+↓ (Mac: ⌘+↓): Moves handle down 0.1 Space
• Alt+←: Moves handle left 0.01 Space
• Alt+→: Moves handle right 0.01 Space
• Alt+↑: Moves handle up 0.01 Space
• Alt+↓: Moves handle down 0.01 Space
• Shift⇑+←: Moves handle's tick anchor left
• Shift⇑+→: Moves handle's tick anchor right
• Tab: Goes to next handle

If you need to move score elements manually, double-click it and use the directional keys.

See also

• Text editing
• Slur
• Bracket
• Line
• Beam

Append

To add a measure to the end of the piece, press Ctrl+B (Mac: ⌘+B), or from the menu choose Create → Measures → Append Measure. To add multiple measures, press Ctrl+Shift⇑+B (Mac: ⌘+Shift⇑+B) or use the menu Create → Measures → Append Measures....

Insert

Select a measure, then press Ins or use the menu Create → Measures → Insert Measure to insert a new empty measure before the selected one. To insert multiple measures, press Ctrl+Ins or use the menu Create → Measures → Insert Measures....

Delete

Select the measure, then press Ctrl+Del (Mac: ⌘+Fn+Backspace).

Properties

To edit the properties of a measure, right-click on an empty part of the measure and select Measure Properties....

Staves

The Visible property allows you to show or hide the notes and staff lines for the current measure. The Stemless property allows you to show or hide all note stems for the current measure. Notes that normally have a stem such as half notes (minums) and quarter notes (crotchets) only show the note head when marked as stemless.

Duration

The Nominal duration is the time signature that is displayed on the score. You can change the Actual duration of a measure to anything regardless of the time signature displayed on the score. Normally, the nominal and actual duration of a measure is identical. However, a measure (e.g. pickup, anacrusis) can have an actual duration that is shorter.

In the figure below, the quarter note (crotchet) pickup has a nominal measure duration of 4/4, but an actual duration of 1/4. The measures in the middle have both nominal and actual durations of 4/4. The complimentary measure with only a dotted half note (dotted minim) at the end has an actual duration of 3/4.

Irregular

An "irregular" measure is not counted in the measure numbering. Normally a pickup measure is marked as "irregular".

Add to measure number

You can also use the "add to measure no." option to influence the measure numbering. You can enter positive or negative numbers here. Please note that this affects subsequent measures. A value of "-1" has the same effect as marking a measure irregular.

Layout stretch

You can increase, or decrease horizontal space between notes with this option.

Repeat count

If the measure is the end of a repeat , you can define how often it is played.

Break multi-measure rests

This property separates a Measure rests at the start of the selected measure. This option should be checked before you turn on the "Create multi-measure rests" option in Style → Edit General Style.

Multi-measures are automatically broken at important breaks, such as rehearsal marks, time changes, double bar lines, irregular measures etc.

Numbering

MuseScore automatically numbers the first measure of each system, but more numbering options are possible. From the main menu, choose Style → Edit Style. In the left pane, choose "Numbers". In the bottom half of the right pane is the "Measure Numbers" ("Bar Numbers") section.

Mark the checkbox next to the "Measure Numbers" ("Bar Numbers") to turn on automatic measure numbers.
Mark "show first" if you want the first measure numbered.
Mark "all staffs" if you want numbers on all staffs. Otherwise, only the top staff of each system shows measure numbers.
Choose to show numbers on "every system" which numbers the first measure of each line, or show numbers by "interval" and specify the size of the interval. For example, an interval of 1 numbers every measure; an interval of 5 numbers every fifth measure.

External links

• How to delete measures
• How to span a measure over multiple systems
• How to get scores without time signature

You can show, or hide the palette using the menu Display → Palette (or use the shortcut F9).

Add symbols to your music

You can drag-and-drop palette symbols onto score elements.

Double clicking a palette symbol is equivalent to drag-and-dropping it to each of the selected elements on the score.

For example, you can quickly add tenuto marks to a group of notes:

1. Select notes
2. In the Articulations/Ornaments palette, double-click on the tenuto symbol.

Edit palettes

You can also add or remove palette symbols.

1. Click on the palette title and hold your click down for one second.
2. From the menu select Enable Editing.
3. Drag symbols in the palette to add.
4. Drag symbols out, or highlight it with a right click and select Delete Contents to delete it.
5. When you finish editing the palette click and hold on the palette title and deselect Enable Editing to prevent accidental changes in the future.

MuseScore has unlimited undo/redo functions.

The standard shortcuts are:

• Undo Ctrl+Z (Mac: ⌘+Z)
• Redo Ctrl+Shift⇑+Z or Ctrl+Y (Mac: ⌘+Shift⇑+Z)

Or use the toolbar buttons:

MuseScore supports a wide variety of file formats, which allows you to share and publish scores in the format that best meets your needs. You can import files via File → Open... and export via File → Save As.... In addition to the formats detailed below, you can save and share your scores on the web at MuseScore.com File → Save Online.... See Share scores online .

MuseScore native format

Compressed MuseScore format (*.mscz)

MSCZ is the standard MuseScore file format and recommended for most uses. A score saved in this format takes up very little disk space, but preserves all the necessary information. The format is a ZIP-compressed version of .mscx files and includes images.

MuseScore format (*.mscx)

MSCX is the uncompressed version of the MuseScore file format. A score saved in this format will not lose any information, except images. It is recommended if you need to manually edit the file format using a text editor. Previous versions of MuseScore used the MSC file extension. However, MSC conflicts with a file extension used by Microsoft Windows and is blocked by some email providers. The new MSCX file extension supersedes the old MSC file extension, due to the problems outlined above.

Note about fonts: MuseScore does not embed fonts in the file. If you want to share a MuseScore file with other parties, choose a font for your text that the other parties have installed. When a computer does not have the fonts specified in the file, MuseScore uses a fallback font. Of course, the fallback font has a different appearance.

MuseScore backup files

MuseScore Backup File (.*.mscz, or .*.mscx,)

Backup files are created automatically and saved in the same folder as your normal MuseScore file. The backup file adds a period to the beginning of the file name (.) and a comma (,) to the end (for example, if your normal file is called "untitled.mscz", then the backup copy is called ".untitled.mscz,"). The backup copy contains the previously saved version of the MuseScore file and can be important if your normal copy becomes corrupted, or you need to look at an older version of your score. To open a MuseScore backup file, you need to rename the file by removing the period and comma. Since it is stored in the same folder as your normal MuseScore file, you also need to give it a unique name (for example, you might change the file name ".untitled.mscz," to "untitled-backup1.mscz").

In order to see the MuseScore backup files, you may need to change your view settings to "show hidden files". See also How to recover a backup copy of a score .

View and print (Export only)

PDF (*.pdf)

Portable Document Format (PDF) is ideal for sharing your sheet music with others who do not need to edit the music. Most computer users already have a PDF viewer on their computer, so they will not need to install any extra software to see your score.

PostScript (*.ps)

PostScript (PS) is popular as a page description language used in professional printing.

PNG (*.png)

Portable Network Graphics (PNG) is a bitmap image format widely supported by software on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. The image format is particularly popular on the web. Multi-page scores export a PNG file for every page. MuseScore creates images as they would appear on the printed page. If you want to create images that show screen-only items, such as frame boxes, invisible notes, and out-of-range note colors, then go to Edit → Preferences... (Mac: MuseScore → Preferences...) click on the Export tab and mark "Screenshot function" check box.

SVG (*.svg)

Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) can be opened by most web browsers (except Internet Explorer before version 9) and most vector graphics software. However, most SVG software don't support embedded fonts, so the appropriate MuseScore fonts must be installed to view these files correctly.

Listen (Export only)

WAV Audio (*.wav)

WAV (Waveform Audio Format) is an uncompressed sound format developed by Microsoft and IBM, but widely supported by software for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. This is an ideal format for creating CDs, since no sound quality is lost in the process of saving the file. However, the large file sizes make it difficult to share via email, or the web.

FLAC Audio (*.flac)

Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC) is compressed audio format. FLAC files are approximately half the size of uncompressed audio and just as good quality. Windows and Mac OS do not have built-in support for FLAC, but software such as VLC media player can play FLAC files on any operating system.

Ogg Vorbis (*.ogg)

Ogg Vorbis is intended as a patent-free replacement for the popular MP3 audio format. Like MP3, Ogg Vorbis files are relatively small (often a tenth of uncompressed audio), but some sound quality is lost. Windows and Mac OS do not have built-in support for Ogg Vorbis. However, software such as VLC media player and Firefox can play Ogg files on any operating system.

MP3 (*.mp3) (2.0+)

MP3 files are relatively small (often a tenth of uncompressed audio), but some sound quality is lost. To be able to create MP3 files, an additional DLL, lame_enc.dll, needs to be installed and MuseScore needs to get told about its location.

Share with other music software

MusicXML (*.xml)

MusicXML is the universal standard for sheet music and can be used by most of the currently available scorewriters including Sibelius, Finale, and more than 100 others. It is the recommended format for sharing your sheet music between different scorewriters.

Compressed MusicXML (*.mxl)

Compressed MusicXML creates smaller files than regular MusicXML. Compressed MusicXML is a newer standard and not as widely supported by other scorewriters at this time.

MIDI (*.mid, *.midi, *.kar)

Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) is a format widely supported by sequencers and music notation software. However, MIDI files are designed for playback, and not score layout. Therefore, they do not contain information about formatting, pitch spelling, voicing, ornaments, articulations, repeats, or key signatures, among other things. To share files between different music notation software, use MusicXML. If you are only interested in playback, use MIDI.

LilyPond (*.ly) (Export only)

LY files can be opened by LilyPond , a free scorewriter. However, LilyPond export is currently incomplete and experimental.

MuseData (*.md) (Import only)

MuseData is a format developed by Walter B. Hewlett beginning in 1983 as an early means of sharing music notation between software. It has since been eclipsed by MusicXML, but several thousand scores in this format are still available on the web.

Capella (*.cap) (Import only)

CAP files are created by the scorewriter, "Capella". MuseScore imports these files fairly accurately (only version 2000 (3.0) or later, importing scores from 2.x doesn't work, the *.all format from 1.x versions is not supported at all) .

Bagpipe Music Writer (*.bww) (Import only)

BWW files are created by the niche scorewriter, "Bagpipe Music Writer".

BB (*.mgu, *.sgu) (Import only)

BB files are created by the music arranging software, "Band-in-a-Box". MuseScore includes experimental support for BB import.

Overture (*.ove) (Import only)

OVE files are created by the scorewriter, "Overture". This format is mainly popular in Chinese-language environments, such as Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan. This is experimental.

Go to http://musescore.com/sheetmusic to view other scores from MuseScore.

You can save and share your scores online at MuseScore.com. You can choose to save a score privately for personal access from any computer, or choose to share the score publicly for friends and band members to view, or download. MuseScore.com lets you view and playback scores in your web browser, and even lets you synchronize your score with a YouTube video. For use outside of a web browser, you can download the score in a variety of formats (including PDF, MIDI, MP3, MusicXML, and the original MuseScore file).

Create an account

1. Visit MuseScore.com and click on Create new account
2. Pick a username and enter a valid email and press "Create New Account"
3. Wait a few minutes for an email from MuseScore.com support. If no email arrives, check your spam folder
4. Click the link in the email and visit your user profile to change your password

Share a score directly from MuseScore

You can directly save a score online from File → Save Online.... First time users will have to authenticate.

First time authentication

1. Go to File → Save Online...
2. Once you understand the prompt regarding permission, click OK - this will open your browser and MuseScore.com
   
3. If you are not logged in, enter your username and password
4. Click "Allow Access"
5. Go back to MuseScore, and press "OK". If your browser doesn't open, you can copy/paste the URL into the address bar of your browser
   
6. MuseScore is now linked to your account on MuseScore.com

Save online

After your first authentication, or when you go to File → Save Online..., MuseScore asks some information about your scores

1. The title is the title of the score. You can change it
2. The description will end up next to your scores.
3. You can choose to make your score public and everybody on MuseScore.com will see it or private and only you will be able to see the score.
4. Choose a license. By using a Creative Commons licence, you allow people to use your scores under certain restrictions.
5. You can add tags to help finding your scores on MuseScore.com. Don't forget to use a comma to separate the tags.

Upload a score on MuseScore.com

You can also upload a score directly on MuseScore.com.

1. Click the Upload link on MuseScore.com
2. You have the same options as with the Save Online menu
3. You have also access to more information such as Genre

Note: Should you reach the five score upload limit, you can still upload score directly from MuseScore, but only the last five are visible. If you wish to continue uploading via the web, upgrade to a Pro Account first.

Edit a score on MuseScore.com

If you want to make changes to one of your scores on MuseScore.com, edit the MuseScore file on your own computer and follow the steps below.

1. Go to the score page on MuseScore.com
2. Click the edit link
3. In the form, you can change the score file, you can also change all the score info, such as title, description, etc...

External links

• How to delete a score saved on MuseScore.com

Accidentals can be set, or changed by dragging an accidental symbol from the accidental palette to a note in the score.

If you only want to change the pitch of a note, you can also select the note and press:

• ↑: Increase the pitch of a note by one semitone (favors sharps).
• ↓: Decrease the pitch of a note by one semitone (favors flats).
• Ctrl+↑: Increase the pitch of a note by one octave.
• Ctrl+↓: Decrease the pitch of a note by one octave.

You can change an existing accidental into a cautionary accidental (enclosed in parentheses), drag the parentheses from the accidental palette onto to the existing accidental (not the note head). To remove parentheses, select the accidental and press Del.

If you later change the pitch with cursor keys, manual settings to the accidental are removed.

The menu function Notes → Pitch spell tries to guess the right accidentals for the whole score.

External links

• Accidental on Wikipedia

Arpeggios are set by dragging an arpeggio symbol from the Arpeggio & Glissando palette to a note of a chord.

To change the length of the arpeggio, double-click the arpeggio and drag the handle up or down.

Glissandi are set by dragging a glissando symbol from the Arpeggio & Glissando palette to the first of two consecutive notes on the same staff.

Edit or delete the text of a glissando by right-clicking it and select "Glissando Properties" in menu. If there isn't enough room between two notes, MuseScore will not display the text.

External links

• Arpeggio on Wikipedia
• Glissando on Wikipedia

Change bar line type

Bar lines are changed by dragging a bar line symbol from the bar line palette to a bar line in the score.

To hide a bar line entirely, right-click on the line and choose Set Invisible.

Create grand staff

To extend bar lines over multiple staves, double-click on a bar line to edit it (see Edit mode ).

Click and drag the blue square down to the next staff.

Staff bar lines updates appear when you leave edit mode.

See also

• Measure operations

Beams are set automatically, but the automatic setting can be overridden manually. Drag a beam symbol from the beam palette to a note in order to change its beam behavior.

You can also first select a note, and then double-click the appropriate symbol in the beam palette.

Start a beam at this note.

Do not end a beam at this note.

Do not beam this note.

 'A'   = (back to) Automatic mode: the mode MuseScore chooses on note entry, dependent on current time signature.

To change the beam angle or the distance of the beam to the notes (i.e. the length of the stems), double click on the beam to put it into Edit mode , with the right end handle being selected. Up/down arrow will now change the angle. Selecting left end handle and using the up/down arrow keys will lengthen/shorten the stems. Hit Esc to get out of edit mode, once done with the changes.

To move a beam from above to below the notes, or vice-versa, flip the direction of the stems by using the button along the second top row (before the voice indicators) that shows a note with stems attached above and below or use the X key.

See also

• Cross staff beaming
• Edit Mode
• Note Entry

Links

• How to add a beam over a rest
• How to place beam between notes

Delete

Select the bracket and press Del

Add

Drag a bracket symbol from the bracket palette to an empty space in the first measure of a system.

Change

Drag a bracket symbol from the bracket palette to an bracket in the score.

Edit

Double-click on a bracket to enter edit mode . In edit mode, you can drag the height of a bracket to span arbitrary staves of a system.

Horizontal offset

If you need to move a bracket further left or right, then double-click the bracket to enter edit mode, and press Shift⇑+← or Shift⇑+→.

To place a breath symbol, drag it from the breath palette to a note in the score. The breath symbol is placed after the note.

Breath symbol in score:

Caesura (informally called tram lines or railroad tracks) work the same way.

Clefs are created, or changed by dragging a clef symbol from the clef palette to a measure or another clef. Use F9 (Mac: ⌥+⌘+K) to show or hide the palette sidebar.

Add

Drag a clef from the palette onto an empty part of a measure. This creates a clef at the beginning of the measure. Drag a clef to a particular note to create a mid-measure clef. If the measure is not the first measure in the staff, it is drawn smaller.

Remove

Select a clef and press Del.

Note: Changing a clef does not change the pitch of any note. Instead, the notes move to preserve pitch.

Example drum notation

Notation for drumsets often include simultaneous upstem and downstem notes. If you are unfamiliar with editing multiple voices in a single staff, see voices for an overview. See below for instructions specific to percussion notation.

MIDI keyboard

The easiest way to add drum notation to your score is via MIDI keyboard. Most MIDI keyboard have percussion markings above each key. If you press the key for high hat, then MuseScore will add the correct notation to the score. MuseScore automatically takes care of the stem direction and type of note head.

Computer keyboard

Only a few drum-instruments are mapped to shortcut by default. You can add more with right click on the staff → Edit drumset...

• c for Bass-Drum
• d for Ride

External links

• Drum Parts [video]
• Editing the Drum Palette in MuseScore 1.1 [video]
• Saving Drumset Changes in MuseScore 1.1 [video]
• Guide to Drum and Percussion Notation

Short grace notes (Acciaccatura) appear as small notes with a stroke through the stem. Long grace notes (Appoggiatura) have no stroke. Both are placed before the normal-sized main note.

Instructions

Create a grace note by dragging a grace note symbol from the Grace Notes palette to a regular note on the score. It's also possible to create a grace note by selecting a notehead and double-clicking a grace note symbol from the Grace Notes palette .

To add more than one grace note, drag successive grace notes on the notehead.

To add a chord of grace notes, enter the first one and select it, then use Shift⇑+ note names (C, D, E etc...)

If you want to change the duration of a previously created grace note, select it and choose a duration from the toolbar or enter with one of the keys 1 ... 9 (see Note Entry ).

External links

• Grace note, Appoggiatura, and Acciaccatura at Wikipedia

Hairpins are line objects. To create a hairpin, select a note to mark the start point.

• H: Creates a crescendo hairpin
• Shift⇑+H: Creates a diminuendo hairpin (decrescendo)

You can also create hairpins by dragging a hairpin symbol from the line palette to a note head.

1. H creates a crescendo hairpin:
   
2. Double click switches to edit mode :
   
3. Shift⇑+→ moves end anchor:
   
4. → moves end point:
   

Key signatures are created, or changed by dragging a key symbol from the key palette to a measure, or existing key signature.

F9 (Mac: ⌥+⌘+K) toggles the palette window.

Change

Drag a key from the palette onto a key in the score.

Add

Drag a key from the palette onto an empty part of a measure. This creates a key at the beginning of the measure.

Remove

Select a key and press Del.

The lines palette like other palette , works via "drag-and-drop". Use the mouse to drag the item from the palette and drop it onto the score.

Change length

If you change the length of a line using the mouse, the anchor positions (the notes or measures they apply to) do not change. Therefore, the following method is recommended for adjusting the start or end points of a line.

1. If you are in note entry mode then press N to leave note entry
2. Double click the line that you want to change
3. Move the handles using the following shortcuts
   • Shift⇑+→ to move the anchor right by one note (or measure)
   • Shift⇑+← to move the anchor left by one note (or measure)
4. If you need to change the length visually without changing the notes, or measures that the line is anchored to, then use the following shortcuts:
   • → to move the handle right by one unit
   • ← to move the anchor left by one unit

See also

• Hairpin
• Volta

Full-measure rest

When an entire measure is devoid of notes, a full-measure (full-bar) rest is used.

To create a one-bar rest select a measure and press Del. All notes and rests on this measure are then replaced by a one-bar rest.

Multi-measure rest

Multi-measure (multi-bar) rests indicate a long duration of silence for an instrument and are frequently used in ensemble sheet music.

Instructions

1. From the menu choose Style → Edit General Style (in versions 0.9.5 and earlier it is called Style → Edit Style)
2. Click on the "Score" tab if it is not already selected
3. Add a check mark next to "Create Multi Measure Rests"

The start and end of simple repeats can be defined by setting appropriate bar line . For instructions on first and second ending measures, see volta .

Playback

To hear repeats during playback, make sure the "Play Repeats" button on the toolbar is selected. Likewise, you can turn off repeats during playback by deselecting the button.

In the last measure of a repeat, you can set the measure operations "Repeat Count" to define the number of played repeats.

Repeat symbols and text

Text and symbols related to repeats are located in the Repeats palette :

To add an object from the Repeats palette, drag it onto (not above) the desired measure. The object then appears above that measure in your score.

Jumps

Jumps generally consist of three parts:

• Jump to tag
• play up to tag
• continue at tag

Tags are names you give to certain measure position. Two tags ("start", "end") denote the start and end of the score and don't need to get added explicitly.

Examples:

At the jump instruction Da Capo the playback jumps to the start and plays the entire score again (up to the implict end tag).

At the jump instruction Da Capo al Fine the playback jumps to the start and plays the score up to the tag Fine .

Dal Segno al Fine (or D.S. al Fine) jumps to the Segno tag and then plays up to the tag Fine

Dal Segno al Coda jumps to the Segno tag and then plays up the first Coda tag. Playback then continues at the second Coda tag. The properties of jumps can get set via a right-click at the D.S. al Coda tag.

See also

• Volta

External links

• Video tutorial: Codas
• How to separate a coda from the rest of the score

A slur is a curved line between two or more notes that indicates they are to be played without separation. If you mean to join two notes of the same pitch, see Tie

First Method

1. Leave note entry and select the first note:
   
2. S creates a slur:
   
3. Shift⇑+→ moves the slur end to the next note:
   
4. X flips the slur direction:
   
5. Esc ends Slur Edit mode:
   

Second Method

1. Leave note entry and select the first note.
2. Ctrl-select (resp. ⌘-select on a Mac) or Shift⇑-select the last note.
3. Hit S.

Third Method

1. While in note entry key in the first note in the slurred section.
2. Hit S to begin the slurred section.
3. Key in the remaining notes in the slurred section.
4. Hit S to end the slurred section.

Adjustments

The boxes or handles (displayed in the images for steps 2-4 above) can be adjusted with the mouse. The two outer handles adjust the start and end of the slur. The two inner handles adjust the contour of the slur.

A slur can span several systems and pages. The start and end of a slur is anchored to a note/chord or rest. If the notes are repositioned due to changes in the layout, stretch or style, the slur also moves and adjusts in size.

This example shows a slur that spans from the bass to the treble clef. Using the mouse, select the first note of the slur, hold down the Ctrl key (resp. ⌘ key on a Mac) and select the last note for the slur, and press S to add the slur.

Note: It is not possible to change the start and end anchor notes using the mouse. Use Shift⇑ + ← or → to adjust the start and end points of a slur.

Dotted line

Dotted slurs are sometimes used in songs where the presence of a slur varies between stanzas. Dotted slurs are also used to indicate an editor's suggestion (as opposed to the composers original markings). To change an existing slur into a dotted slur, right-click on it and choose Slur Properties.... From the Slur Properties dialog, you can choose whether you want a solid or a dotted slur.

X flips the direction of a selected slur.

See also

• Tie
• Edit mode
• Note Entry

Transposition moves a selection of notes higher or lower on the staff. MuseScore supports several kinds of transposition.

1. Chromatic transposition

   Chromatic transposition moves notes up or down in semitone increments. From the main menu choose Notes → Transpose.... You can also transpose a selection of notes using the arrow keys (↑ or ↓).

2. Scalar transposition

   Scalar transposition (also known as diatonic transposition) moves notes up or down the current scale according to the key signature. You can move a single note by dragging it up or down. You can move a selection of multiple notes with Ctrl + click and drag.

Transposing instruments

Certain instruments such as B-flat trumpet or alto sax are known as transposing instruments. These instruments sound lower or higher than their written pitch. MuseScore has built-in support for transposing instruments.

The Concert Pitch button and Notes → Concert Pitch from the main menu lets you switch between concert pitch and transposing pitch. Concert pitch helps composers and arrangers because it displays every instrument in the same key, so the notes on the staff match their sounding pitches. When concert pitch is turned off, the notes on some instrument staves may not match their sounding pitches, but they are ready for an instrumentalist to play from. If you use concert pitch during your session, remember to turn off concert pitch before printing the parts.

Instrument transpositions are already set up in MuseScore. However if you want a rare instrument or transposition that is not available in MuseScore you may need to edit the instrument transposition manually. Right-click on an empty part of the instrument staff and choose Staff Properties.... At the bottom of the Staff Properties window you can select the interval of transposition, any octave shifts, and whether the interval is "Up" (sounds higher than written) or "Down" (sounds lower than written).

Links

• How to transpose

A tie is a curved line between two notes of the same pitch. If you want a curved line that spans multiple pitches, see Slur .

First method

Select first note:

+ creates a tie:

(+ key or the tie button located on the top to the right of the notes)

Second method

To create ties during Note Entry , press + after the first note of the tie.

Tied chords

To add ties between two chords, select the stem of the first chord, or Shift⇑ + click on the first chord and press +. Note Entry mode must not be enabled.

X flips the direction of a selected tie.

Time signatures are available in the main palette sidebar. You can drag and drop the time signatures onto the score (see palette for general information on working with palettes in MuseScore).

If you need a time signature not found in the sidebar palette, go to Create → Time... to create your own. You can edit the upper and lower numbers in the Create Time Signature pane. Once added, just drag and drop the time signature to the score from the window where you manufactured it. Be aware that it will not appear in the pallet.

In most cases, you'll only need to edit the first of the upper numbers. The additional upper numbers are for additive meters , which contain multiple upper numbers separated by a plus sign.

Time signatures you don't need (any longer) could get removed in the above dialog box via right-click -> "Delete Content".

Pickup measures

There are occasions when the actual duration of a measure is different from the duration specified by the time signature. Pickup measures are a common example. To change the actual duration of a measure without displaying a different time signature, see the Properties section of measure operations .

Tremolo is the rapid repetition of one note, or a rapid alternation between two or more notes. It is indicated by strokes through the stems of the notes. If the tremolo is between two or more notes, the bars are drawn between them. Tremolo symbols are also used to notate drum rolls.

The tremolo palette contains separate symbols for one note tremolos (shown with stems below) and for two note tremolos (shown with no stem below).

Tremolo can be added to the stem of a single note by selecting the notehead and then double click on the desired symbol in the tremolo palette.

In a two note tremolo, every note has the value of the whole tremolo duration. To enter a tremolo with the duration of a half note (minim), first enter two normal quarter notes (crotchets). After dragging a tremolo symbol to the first note, the note values automatically double to half notes.

Tuplets are used to write rhythms beyond the beat divisions usually permitted by the time signature. For example, triplet eighth notes (quavers) in a 4-4 time signature divide the quarter note (crotchet) beat into three instead of two.

Instructions

To create a triplet, first select a note on the score that specifies the full duration of the triplet group. For example, a group of triplet eighth notes (quavers) has a "full duration" of one quarter note (crotchet).

From the main menu, choose Notes → Tuplets → Triplet. This creates a triplet by dividing the full duration into three equal parts.

They can be further edited.

Properties

To change the display properties of a tuplet, right-click on the tuplet number and choose Tuplet Properties....

The number section of the properties dialog allows you to show one integer, a ratio of two integers, or no number at all.

In the bracket section, the "bracket" and "nothing" allow you to explicitly show, or hide the bracket. The "auto bracket" option hides the bracket for beamed notes and shows the bracket - if the tuplet includes unbeamed notes or rests.

External links

• Tuplet at Wikipedia
• How To Create Triplets in MuseScore [video]
• The User Guide to Tuplets in MuseScore [video]
• How to create triplets and other tuplets

Voices allow you to have notes on a single staff which start at the same time, yet have different durations. Voices are sometimes called 'layers' in other notation software.

Instructions

1. Start by entering the top voice (all the up-stem notes). When you enter the notes, some may have down-stems. You do not need to worry about the stem direction at this point, because they will flip automatically when you add the second voice.
   
2. If you are using a computer or MIDI keyboard to enter notes (instead of the mouse), use the ← key to move your cursor back to the beginning of the staff (or measure)
3. Click on "Voice 2" button
4. Enter all the bottom voice notes (all the down-stem notes). When you are finished, it should look like this:
   

When to use voices

• If you need stems pointing in opposite directions within a chord on a single staff
• If you need notes of different durations within a single staff, played simultaneously

Hidden spacer rests

Only the rests of voices 2/3/4 can be deleted, not those of the main voice (1 - blue), they can be only hidden.

To hide a rest, right-click on the rest and select Set Invisible. If you have Display → Show Invisible marked, the rest still shows in gray on your screen. The hidden rest will not appear if you print.

External links

• Video tutorial: How To Write Two Parts On One Staff: Voices
• How to merge/combine/implode two staves in one with two voices
• How to input multiple notes on a staff with different durations
• How to make notes in unison overlapping

Volta brackets, or first and second ending brackets are used to mark different endings for a repeat.

To place a volta bracket on the score, drag-and-drop the item from the line .

The brackets can span more than one measure. Double-click the volta to enter edit mode, and move the handles with:

• one measure right Shift⇑+→
• one measure left Shift⇑+←

These commands move the "logical" start or end of the volta bracket, which determines playback in MuseScore and layout over multiple systems. Moving the handles using the left or right arrows keys only, or using the mouse allows finer adjustments, but does not change how the repeat is played.

If you move the handles, a dashed line from the logical position to the actual position is shown

Text

You can change the text and many other properties of a volta bracket using the Line Properties dialog. Right-click on a volta bracket and choose Line Properties.... The figure below shows the volta text as "1.-5."

You can also right-click on the Volta and bring up the Volta Properties dialog. From here, you can change both the displayed Volta text (the same from the Line Properties above) and the Repeat List. If you want one volta to be played only on certain repeats and another volta on other repeats, enter the repeat times in a comma separated list. In the example below, this volta will be played during repeat 1, 2, 4, 5 and 7. Another volta will have the other ending, like 3, 6 and possibly other higher numbers like 8, 9, etc.

Playback

Sometimes a repeat plays for more than two times. In the figure above, the volta text indicates that it should play five times before it continues. If you want to change the number of times MuseScore plays a repeat, go to the measure containing the end repeat bar line and change its Repeat Count (see Measure operations for details).

External links

• Video tutorial: Repeats, 1st and 2nd time endings
• Screencast: Add alternative repeats with MuseScore

MuseScore has an integrated sequencer and synthesizer to play your score.

By pressing the Play button, you enter Play mode. In Play mode, the following commands are available:

• Seek to previous chord ←
• Seek to next chord →
• Seek to previous measure Ctrl+← (Mac: ←)
• Seek to next measure Ctrl+→ (Mac: →)
• Rewind to start of score Home (Mac: ⌘+Home)
• Toggle show play panel F11 (Mac: ⌥+⌘+P)

Press the play button again to stop and exit Play mode.

MuseScore starts playback from the place it last left off. If you select a note, MuseScore plays from there instead. The toolbar also has a rewind button to quickly return to the beginning of the score for playback.

To also play repeats, activate the Enable/Disable Repeats-Button.

Play Panel

The Play Panel offers more controls over playback, including tempo, starting position, and general volume. From the main menu, choose Display → Play Panel to open the Play Panel.

MuseScore comes with a special type of file called a SoundFont that tells MuseScore how to play each instrument sound. Some SoundFonts are custom designed for classical music - others for jazz, or pop, etc. They can vary in size - some are large and take up a lot of memory, whilst others are very small and light-weight. MuseScore 0.9.6 to 1.3 features a relatively light-weight, general-purpose SoundFont called TimGM6mb.sf2.

Overview

A SoundFont file can store any number of instrument sounds. Many SoundFonts are available on the web. Look for one that covers the 128 sounds of General MIDI (GM). If you use a SoundFont that does not conform to the General MIDI standard, others may not hear the correct instruments when you share the score, or save as MIDI.

The file size and sound quality of SoundFonts available on the web varies. Larger SoundFonts often sound better, but may be too large to run on your computer. If you find MuseScore runs slowly after installing a large SoundFont, or your computer can't keep up during playback, then look for a smaller SoundFont.

List of SoundFonts

Below are some popular GM SoundFonts of different sizes.

• Fluid R3 GM (141 MB uncompressed)
  License: MIT
• GeneralUser GS (29.8 MB uncompressed)
  Courtesy of S. Christian Collins
• Magic Sound Font, version 2.0 (67.8 MB uncompressed)
• Arachno SoundFont, version 1.0 (148MB uncompressed)
  Courtesy of Maxime Abbey
• TimGM6mb (5.7 MB uncompressed)
  License: GNU General Public License, version 2
  Courtesy of Tim Brechbill

Specialized SoundFonts

• Sonatina Symphonic Orchestra (503 MB uncompressed)
  Downloads: SoundFont | SFZ format (usable on the development version but not on MuseScore 1.3)
  License: Creative Commons Sampling Plus 1.0
• Acoustic grand piano, release 2008-09-10 (132 MB uncompressed)
  Description: Yamaha Disklavier Pro piano, sf2 format, 116 samples, 44100Hz, 16bit
  More information: http://zenvoid.org/audio/
  License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
  Courtesy of Roberto Gordo Saez
• Acoustic grand piano, old version (37.5 MB uncompressed)
  Description: Steinway & Sons, sf2 format, 13 samples, stereo, 44100Hz, 16bit (based on the University of Iowa Musical Instrument Samples )
  More information: http://zenvoid.org/audio/
  License: Public domain
  Courtesy of Roberto Gordo Saez

Compression

Since SoundFont files are large, they often are compressed into a variety of formats, including .zip, .sfArk, and .tar.gz. You need to decompress these files before they can be used.

• ZIP is standard compression format supported by most operating systems.
• sfArk is a compression format designed especially for compressing SoundFont files. Use the special sfArk software to decompress it.
• .tar.gz is a popular compression format for Linux. Windows users can use 7-zip which supports a wide variety of compression formats. Note that you need apply decompression twice: once for GZip and once for TAR.

MuseScore settings

After finding and decompressing a SoundFont, do not double-click to open it, since this does not set up MuseScore. Instead, move the file to a folder of your choice, start MuseScore, and follow the instructions below.

Troubleshooting

If the toolbar play panel is greyed out, or not visible, follow the instructions below to get your sound working again:

1. Make sure there is a check mark next to the Display → Transport menu item. You can add, or remove the check mark by clicking on the corresponding menu item. If this step does not solve your problem, continue below.
2. If the play panel disappears after changing the SoundFont, go to Edit → Preferences... → I/O tab and click OK without making any changes. After restarting MuseScore, the play panel should reappear.

If you are setting up a SoundFont for the first time, please use one of the recommended SoundFonts listed above.

If playback stutters, then your computer is not able to handle the SoundFont being used. Two solutions:

1. Reduce the amount of RAM (memory) used by MuseScore by using a smaller SoundFont. See list above for suggestions.
2. Increase the amount of RAM available for MuseScore by quitting all applications, except MuseScore. If you still have problems and a large SoundFont is important to you, consider more RAM for your computer.

Links

• How to change the SoundFont

Playback tempo can be changed via the play panel, or via tempo text in the score.

Play panel

• Display the play panel: Display → Play Panel
• Change the Beats per Minute (bpm) using the Tempo (Tmp) slider

Tempo text

• Select a note to indicate where the tempo text should be created
• From the main menu: Create → Text... → Tempo...
• Press OK to finish

Existing tempo text can be changed by double-clicking the text to enter edit mode. You can use text editing to add a quarter note or another duration for a metronome mark in the tempo text.

Beats per minute (BPM, quarter notes per minute) on existing tempo text can be adjusted by right-clicking on the text and selecting Tempo Properties...

Note: Playback of tempo text may be faster or slower than the specified BPM if the tempo setting in the play panel is not set to 100 percent.

Links

• How to create a tempo text

Mixer

The mixer allows you to change instrument sounds and adjust the volume, panning, reverberation, and chorus for each staff. From the main menu, choose Display → Mixer to show the mixer.

Mute and Solo

Use the Mute check box to quickly silence certain staves. Alternatively, use the Solo check box to silence all staves, except the staff you mark as "solo".

Dials

To turn a dial clockwise, click and drag upwards. To turn a dial counter-clockwise, click and drag downwards.

Sound

The sound drop-down menu lists every instrument supported by your current SoundFont .

Change instrument

You can change a staff to be a different instrument. The following method updates instrument sound, staff name, and staff transposition all at once.

1. Right-click on an empty part of the measure and choose Staff Properties...
2. Click on Change Instrument
3. Choose your new instrument and click OK to return to the Staff Properties dialog
4. Click OK again to return to the score

Mid-staff change

Some instruments can change sounds midway in a score. For example, strings can switch to pizzicato or tremolo and trumpet can switch to muted trumpet. The following instructions use muted trumpet as an example, but the same principles apply to pizzicato or tremolo strings.

1. Select the first note of the muted section
2. From the main menu, choose Create → Text → Staff Text
3. Type Mute (or an equivalent indication such as Con Sordino). At this point, the staff text is a visual reference and not applied during playback
4. Right-click on the staff text and select Staff Text Properties...
5. In the Staff Text Properties dialog, mark the Channel checkbox
6. In the Staff Text Properties dialog, select mute
7. Click OK to return to the score

Every note after the staff text you added now sounds muted. To return to an unmuted sound later in the piece, follow the same guidelines as above except type Open in step 3 and select normal in step 6.

Playback volume can be changed for the entire piece by the play panel, or locally by Dynamics text in the score.

Play panel

• Display the play panel: Display → Play Panel
• Change the Volume using the slider

Dynamics text

• From the Dynamics palette, click and drag a Dynamics text to a note in the score. (Alternatively you can select a note in the score and doubleclick a Dynamics text.)
• To mark crescendo and decrescendo, see hairpin
• For additional Dynamics texts press L, choose the symbol in the window that shows up now and drag it to a note in the score. You can also add it to the palette, by dragging it there, see also palette .

Adjusting playback volume for a Dynamics text

External links

• Video tutorial: Lyrics, Copying & Dynamics

Double-click on text to enter edit mode:

In text edit mode, the following commands are available:

• Ctrl+B (Mac: ⌘+B) toggles bold face
• Ctrl+I (Mac: ⌘+I) toggles italic
• Ctrl+U (Mac: ⌘+U) toggles underline
• move cursor: Home End Left Right
• Backspace remove character to the left of the cursor
• Delete remove character to the right of the cursor
• Return start new line
• F2 Insert text symbol (see below)

Symbols and special characters

You can use Text Symbols to insert quarter notes, fractions, and other special symbols or characters into your text. In the text toolbar, click on the keyboard icon , or hit F2 to open the Text Symbols palette

See also

• Chord name
• Lyrics
• Frame
• Edit mode

Each text type has a basic style. For example, title text is centered and uses a large font size, Composer text is smaller and aligned to the right. To edit text styles, go to Style → Edit Text Style....

During text editing , you can make changes that depart from basic style.

Text properties:

• Font: name of the font such as "Times New Roman" or "Arial"
• Size: the size of the font in points
• Italic, Bold, Underline: font properties
• Anchor: page, time, notehead, system, staff
• Alignment: horizontal: left, right, center; vertical: top, bottom, center
• Offset: an offset to the normal anchor position
• Offset Type: mm, space, or percent of page size

Text types:

• Title, Subtitle, Composer, Poet: anchored to page
• Fingering : Fingerings are anchored to note heads.
• Lyrics : Lyrics are anchored to a time position.
• Chord name : Chord names are also anchored to a time position.
• System text: Applies to all staves in a system.* Anchored to a time position.
• Staff text: Applies to a single staff in a system.* Anchored to a time position.

* The distinction between System and Staff text matters for ensemble scores. System text will extract to all parts. Staff text will only extract to the part to which it is anchored.

Chord names can be entered by first selecting a note and then pressing Ctrl+K (Mac: ⌘+K). This creates a chord name text object for the selected chord.

• Type Space to move to the next beat.
• Shift⇑+Space moves to the previous beat.
• Ctrl+Space (Mac: ⌘+Space) Adds a space to the chord name.
• Type Tab to move to the next measure.
• Shift⇑+Tab moves to the previous measure.

Chord names can be text editing as normal text. To add a sharp, type #. To add a flat, type b. These characters will automatically turn into proper sharp or flat signs when you move to the next chord.

Fingering can be added to notes by dragging a fingering character from the fingering palette to a note head in the score. When a note head is selected first, the fingering character can be added using a double-click. Fingerings are normal text, which can be text editing like any other text.

Links

• How to position the fingering

1. First enter notes
2. Select first note
3. From the main menu choose Create → Text → Lyrics or type Ctrl+L (Mac: ⌘+L) and type the syllable for the first note
4. Continue entering lyics:
   • Type Space at end of a word to go to the next note
   • Type a hyphen - at end of syllable to go to next note. The syllables are connected with a dash
   • Shift⇑+Space moves to the previous syllable
   • ↵ (Mac: Return) moves down to the next lyric line (Note: not the Enter key from the numeric keypad!)
   • Type ↑ to return to the above lyric line
5. Hitting Esc ends lyrics entry
6. To type a second or further lyric line repeat steps 2 and 3 above, or double-click the first syllable, hit ↵ and type the syllable for the first note, then continue at step 4

Syllables can be extended by an underline _ to notate a melisma:

Entered with: soul, Shift⇑ + _ _ _ To Esc.

Melisma over system break:

enter Ctrl+Space as the lyric for the first note of the new system, then type _.

Two syllables under a note can be joined with an elision character, also known as a "lyric slur" or "synalepha".

In the text toolbar, click on the keyboard icon , or hit F2 to open the Text Symbols palette. The synalepha is the 4th from the end (U+203F ‿ "undertie"). The synalepha will be evenly centered separating the syllables with two spaces and by inserting it after the first. For the "e͜ A" example shown above:

1. Type e
2. Insert the synalepha using the F2 palette
3. Type Ctrl+Space (Mac: ⌥+Space)
4. Type A

Note: AltGr+- leaves the dash near the syllable, as the mi- in the example.

Not all fonts include the synalepha character. To see which fonts on your computer support the synalepha, see fontlist . (Look for any font that shows a tie between "e" and "A" instead of a blank rectangle). The alignment of the character also varies between fonts.

Special characters

Lyrics can be text editing as normal text with the exception of a few characters: If you want to add a space, hyphen, or underscore to a single syllable, use the following shortcuts:

• Ctrl+Space (Mac: ⌥+Space) enters a space into the lyrics text
• Ctrl+- (Mac: ⌥+-) or AltGr+- enters a hyphen (-) into the lyrics text
• Ctrl+Shift⇑+_ (Mac: ⌥+_) enters an underscore (_) into the lyrics text
• Ctrl+↵ (Mac: ⌥+Return) or Enter (from the numeric keypad) enters a line feed into the lyrics text

See also

• Text
• Chord name

External links

• Video tutorial: Lyrics, Copying & Dynamics
• How to insert Lyrics
• How to add a block of text to a score

Page breaks or line breaks (system breaks) are applied by dragging the corresponding symbol from the breaks palette to an empty space of a measure or on a horizontal frame in the score. The break happens after the marked measure resp. frame. The green break symbols are visible on the screen, but do not appear on printouts.

Mid-measure system breaks are sometimes needed (especially for strophic hymns or lieder). For example, if you want three beats on one system and a one beat pickup on the next system, then you need to create two measures with a shortened duration. For details, see Measure operations , "Duration" and "Irregular" sections.

Spacers are used to increase the space between two adjacent staves. Drag and drop a spacer to a measure above the area that needs more vertical space. Double-click on the spacer and drag the handle using the mouse to adjust the height of the spacer.

If you want to adjust the space between staves score-wide, use the style settings. Spacers are designed for local adjustments.

Adding a break or spacer

To add a break or spacer:

1. Navigate to Layout → Breaks & Spacer...< or use the corresponding palette (see above).
2. Drag the desired break or spacer from there.
3. Drop the break or spacer in the measure you wish to affect.

Deleting a break or spacer

There are times that you may want to remove a break or spacer. To delete a break or spacer:

1. Single click the break or spacer (it will turn blue to indicate that it is selected).
2. Press the Del key.

Frames provide empty space outside of normal measures. They can also contain text or pictures. MuseScore has two kinds of frames:

Horizontal

Horizontal frames break a system. The width is adjustable and the height equals the system height. Horizontal frames can be used to separate a coda.

Vertical

Vertical frames provide empty space between or before systems. The height is adjustable and the width equals the system width. Vertical frames are used to place title, subtitle, lyricist or composer. If you create a title, a vertical frame is placed before the first measure automatically, if it is not already there.

Create a frame

Select a measure. The command to insert a frame is found in the menu Create → Measures . The frame is inserted before the selected measure.

Delete a frame

Select the frame and press Del.

Edit frame

Double click the frame to enter edit mode . A handle appears which can be used to drag the size of the frame.

Title frame in edit mode:

External links

• Page Formatting in MuseScore 1.1 - 1. Frames, Text &amp; Line Breaks [video]
• How to add a block of text to a score

You can use images to illustrate scores, or add symbols that are not included in the standard palettes.

To add an image, drag-and-drop an image file onto the score.

MuseScore supports the following image formats:

• PNG (*.png)
• JPEG files (*.jpg, but currently not *.jpeg, so rename accordingly)
• Simple SVG files (*.svg). MuseScore currently does not support SVG shading, blurring, clipping or masking.

You've finished your score and you want to print it out. However, you want improve how it looks. This handbook page describes many different ways, and how they work together.

Ways to affect layout

• Layout → Page Settings. Change global settings such as page size, how big a "space" is (under "Scaling"), and how big page margins are. Space is used in other settings (example: "5.0sp"), so changing "space" will change most other settings.
• Layout → Add More Stretch, Add Less Stretch. Stretch or squash measures you specifically select.
• Style → Edit General Style → Page. Change global settings that affect how close staves are and systems are, how much margin lyrics have, and so on.
• Style → Edit General Style → System. Fix the number of measures per system, or the measure width.
• Style → Edit General Style → Score. Change score details, such as whether there are multimeasure rests or hidden empty staves.
• Style → Edit General Style → Measure. Set measure spacing, key to controlling number of measures per line.
• Palette / Breaks & Spacer. Break a line at a particular measure, a page at a particular line, or add space between measures.
• Style → Edit General Style → Sizes. Set the proportional size of "small" and grace notes. Changing this would be unusual.

Layout / Page Settings

Scaling / Space - This is the size of the space between 2 lines of a staff. Since notes fit in that space, it also controls the size of note heads. Since music is proportional to notes, this also affects note stems, accidentals, clefs - all kinds of things. It also shows up as sp in many other settings (example: system distance "9.2sp"). So, as you change the "Space" parameter, many other settings change proportionally. For this reason, it is also sometimes called "scaling."

Changing the scaling may not change the number of systems per page because of the "page fill threshold" (see below). To see the effects of changes to scaling without interference, set the "page fill threshold" to 100%.

Note: there is also a scaling parameter in Edit → Preferences → Score → Scaling. That sets the global preference for new documents, but does not change the current score.

Layout: Add More Stretch, Add Less Stretch

You can select measures, then widen them so that fewer are on a line ("Add More Stretch"), or squash them to fit more on a line ("Add Less Stretch").

Style / Edit General Style / Page

• Music upper and lower margin - Space before and after the first and last staves on a page.
• Staff distance (Stave distance) - Space between staves within a system.
• Accolade distance (Great Stave distance) - Space between the staves of a multi-staff (multi-stave) instrument like piano.
• System distance - Space between systems.
• Lyrics upper and lower margin - Space before and after the first and last lines of lyrics.
• V-frame upper and lower margin - Margins for a vertical frame (for example, the box containing the title and composer info).
• Page fill threshold - If the page is fuller than this, system space is ignored, and everything is stretched to fill the page. So 100% prevents any stretching.
• Last system fill threshold - If the last system is larger than this percentage of the page width, the last system is stretched to fill the page width.

Percentages in a threshold are percentages of the full page height or width. So a page fill threshold of 70% means stretch of things to fill the page, if it is more than 70% full.

Style / Edit General Style / System

Style / Edit General Style / Score

Here, you can cause the creation of multi-measure rests and hide empty staves. This can affect score size greatly.

Style / Edit General Style / Measure

Set measure spacing as well as margins. The measure spacing is key to controlling number of measures per line. Changing the other settings would be unusual.

Style / Edit General Style / Bar Lines

To change the bar lines at the beginning of the stave or multiple staves

Palette / Breaks & Spacer

Using this palette, you can choose where you want page breaks or line breaks. Some people do this first, and some save it until the end, after modifying the global settings.

To put a page break, drag and drop the page break symbol to a measure. To put a line break, drag and drop the line break symbol to the last measure you want on a line. If you want the same number of measures for several systems, select them and use Plugins → Break every X measures. If some measures end up alone on the line, reduce the scaling, or use Layout → Add More Stretch, Add Less Stretch.

See also Break or spacer .

Style / Edit General Style / Sizes

Set the proportional size of "small" and grace notes. Changing this would be unusual.

Edit spacing between individual notes

You can edit the spacing between notes in your score by the following steps.

1. Double click on the note head for the note you wish to nudge
2. Press the arrow key in the direction (left or right) that you wish to nudge the note
3. Press the Esc key to finalize the process (this will re-draw the note stem).

Note: you may need to delete and then re-enter ties, as they sometimes fail to re-draw.

External links

• A video tutorial, part 1: http://musescore.org/en/node/10394
• A video tutorial, part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqTgcBZI_T4
• A post by Marc Sabatella: http://musescore.org/en/node/13138#comment-44678
• A tutorial by Nicolas Froment: http://musescore.org/en/tutorials/modified-stave-notation

In piano scores, it is common to use both staves (bass and treble clef) to write a musical phrase.

This can be entered in MuseScore as follows:

Enter all notes in one staff:

Ctrl+Shift⇑+↓ moves the selected note or chord to the next staff (Mac: ⌘+Shift⇑+↓.)

If you want to move the beam, double click the beam to show the handles. Drag the handles to adjust the layout.

See also

• Bar line for cross-staff bar lines (i.e. grand staff).

If you want to write sheet music for a Jazz ensemble, Big Band, or other group performing improvisation, you may want to use "slash notation".
To do this, you can either perform the steps below or simply use the slash notation plugin . Only use the steps below if you really cant install the plugin (possibly because you aren't allowed to install the plugin or if installation fails).
This kind of notation is used to indicate when a solist is supposed to play a solo. It looks like this:

As seen in the picture above, you can still add chord symbols and dynamics to the slashed bars.

In the current version of MuseScore, the process of creating slash notation is a bit complicated and involves the following steps:

1. Fill a whole bar with quarter notes. They should be placed on the middle line of the stave. If your meter consists of an uneven number of eighth notes, use eighths instead.
2. Select all those notes by selecting the whole bar. Then right click directly on one of the selected notes.
   In the resulting menu select the "Note Properties" entry.
3. Now you will see something like this:

   

4. You have to change some entries now.
   • Check the "stemless" checkbox on top to make the stem disappear.
   • Under "Note Properties", select "slash" as "Note Head Group".
   • Now you have to silence the note so it does not disturb playback. You can do this by selecting "user" as "velocity type" and "1" as velocity value. This step is optional, but highly recommended.
     (Note: setting the velocity to 1 makes the cursor treat it as a note. If value is 0, cursor just jumps over it during playback.)

     This is how your window should look now:

     

5. Click "OK" and you are done!

Plugins are small piece of code that add a particular feature to MuseScore. By adding a plugin, a new menu will be appended to the Plugins menu in MuseScore to accomplish a given action on the score or a part of it. Plugins are a way to let users with minimal programming skills add features to the software. To develop plugins, checkout the documentation .

Some plugins are already delivered with MuseScore. You can find more plugins in the plugin repository .

Installation

Note that some plugins may require the installation of other components (e.g. fonts...) to work. Check the plugin's documentation for more information.

Most plugins are provided as zip files, so download the plugin .zip file and uncompress it to one of the directories mentioned below.
Some are provided as a .js file, download and place into one of these directories.
Some are provided as a .txt file, download, place in one of these directories and rename it, so it ends with .js

Windows

MuseScore looks for plugins in %ProgramFiles%\MuseScore\Plugins (resp. %ProgramFiles(x86)%\MuseScore\Plugins for the 64-bit versions) and in %LOCALAPPDATA%\MusE\MuseScore\plugins on Vista and Seven or C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\MusE\MuseScore\plugins (adjusted to your language version) on XP.

Mac OS X

On Mac OS X, MuseScore looks for plugins in the MuseScore bundle in /Applications/MuseScore.app/Contents/Resources/plugins and in ~/Library/Application Support/MusE/MuseScore/plugins. To be able to move files in the app bundle, right click (Control-click) on MuseScore.app and choose "Show package contents" to reveal the Contents directory. Be careful to use Contents/Resources/plugins and not Contents/plugins.

Linux

In Linux, MuseScore looks for plugins in /usr/share/mscore-1.2/plugins and in ~/.local/share/data/MusE/MuseScore/plugins.

In any of the above cases, restart MuseScore to allow the new plugin(s) to load.
In MuseScore 2.0+ the plugin then needs to get enabled in Menu -> Edit -> Preferences -> Plugins, followed by another restart.

Prior to MuseScore 2.0 a score needs to be open for the Plugins menu to become available.

Plugins installed by default

ABC import

This plugin uses a web service (http://abc2xml.appspot.com/) to open an ABC file in MuseScore. It supports ABC 1.6. The ABC file is sent to the web service, and a MusicXML file is returned. The plugin then displays it as a new score.
An improved version is available from the plugin repository .

Break Every X Measures

This plugin enters line breaks in the interval selected by you on the selected measures or, if no measures are selected, the entire score.

Break 4

This is an older version of the Break Every X Measures plugin and was part of MuseScore 0.9.5. It may still be available in your installation.
It inserts line breaks every 4 measures on the entire score.

Chord Chart

This plugin creates a new score with all the chord names supported by MuseScore in Jazz style
Since version 1.2 it is called "Create Chord Chart", found under "Plugins -> Lead Sheet" and lets you select the chord style file to use.
An improved version is available from the plugin repository .

Color Notes

This plugin colors the note head of all notes in all staves and voices, according to the BoomWhackers convention. Each pitch has a different color. C and C# have a different color. C# and Db have the same color.
To color all the notes in black, right click on a note head -> Select -> All similar elements. Right-click again on the note head -> Color -> Pick black. You could also use the "Remove Notes Color" plugin or the improved version from the Plug-In Repository for this.

Create Score

This plugin creates a new piano score with 4 quarters C D E F. It's a good start to learn how to make a new score and add notes from a plugin.

Font Test

This plugin is identical to the Note Names plugin, but uses a different font. It is not part of MuseScore anymore, but was part of 1.0 and as such might still be available in your installation.

Note Names

This plugin displays the English name of the top note of a chord in voice 1 in the top staff above the note head (as a Staff Text )
An improved and extended version is available from the plugin repository

Remove Notes

This plugin removes the given (bottom, middle, or top) note of all 3-note chords in voice 1 of the top staff.

Save Online ...

This Plugin is not in the Plugins menu, but in the File Menu (File → Save Online...). It is a plugin nonetheless and is used to send your Score to MuseScore.com, see Share scores online for documentation.

Temperament Tuning

This plugin was part of MuseScore 0.9.6 and is the newer version of the Tuning plugin (see below). It later got moved to the plugin repository , so check its documentation there.

Test

This plugin is just a test and display a dialog box "Hello MuseScore". It's a good base to start learning plugin development. It is not part of MuseScore anymore, but was part of 1.0 and earlier and as such may still be available in your installation.
As a remnant from having installed version 0.9.6.3 and earlier, you may also find one of the same name in the Create menu (Create → Test).

Tuning

This plugin was part of MuseScore 0.9.5 and is the older version of the Temperament Tuning plugin (see above). It may still be available in your installation.
It applies a user defined tuning to all notes of all chords of voices 1-3 (but not voice 4!) of all staves.

If you have written a full ensemble score, MuseScore can create sheet music that shows only the individual part for each musician in the ensemble.

In the current version of MuseScore, the process of extracting parts from a full score involves two main steps:

1. Specifying which instruments are included in each part ("Defining the parts")
2. Actually creating the part

Defining the parts

You can define the parts at any point after creating a new score. You only need to define the parts once for each score, but you can make changes if needed. The following instructions use a string quartet as an example, but the same principles apply for any other ensemble.

1. From the main menu, choose File → Parts...

   

2. In the Parts window click New to create a "part definition"

   

3. In the right pane, type the words you want to use for the "File Name" and "Part Title"

   File Name

   The initial name used when you save the part on your computer (required)

   Part Title

   The text printed on the first page of your part, top left corner (optional)

4. Pick the instrument that you want to appear in your part by marking the relevant box in the right-hand pane. Usually, you only want one instrument per part, but sometimes you might need a part that includes more than one instrument (such as multiple percussion staves). MuseScore allows you to mark as many instruments per part as you need.

   

5. Repeat steps two through four (above) for each part as needed

   

6. Once you done, press Close to dismiss the Parts window

You have now finished defining the parts. You do not need to do this again, unless you add or remove an instrument from your full score. In the current version of MuseScore, it is not possible to split a single staff (that contains two or more voices) into separate parts. So, any instrument that you want to print out a separate part for also needs to have its own staff in the full score.

Creating the parts

You can create your parts at any time to see how they look, but it is only necessary to do it after you have finished the full score and want to print out the individual parts:

1. From the main menu, choose File → Parts... to return to the Parts window.
2. In the left pane, click to select a part that you want to create and view
3. Press Create Part and a new tab is added to the main MuseScore window containing your newly created part

Repeat steps two and three for each part that you want to view or print. If you make any changes to the full score, you can re-create a part at any time in order to show the new changes in the part.

Saving

In the current version of MuseScore, changes on a score are not linked to parts that have already been created, so any change you make on the score will also need to be made on the individual part either manually, or by recreating the part from the steps above. Also, parts are created as not-yet-saved files, so each part you just created needs to be saved as an individual file (via File → Save...) or it will be lost when closing the tab. You may wish to review it before saving to check for proper formatting.

Please use the search function of the website to see if someone has already encountered the same problem.

Before submitting your support request in the forum:

• Look for a solution in the user handbook.
• Check the How Tos, FAQs and Tutorials.

If posting in either the issue tracker (for established reports) or forum (for enquiries or discussions):

• Try to reproduce the issue with the latest nightly (not the 1.x series, as it won't receive further maintenance). You may also view the older and new version history to check whether it has been fixed/implemented already.
• Please include as much of the following information as you know and limit each issue to one report:
• Version/revision of MuseScore you are using (e.g. version 2.0, revision 2902cf6)
• Operating system being used (e.g. Windows XP SP3, Mac OS 10.7 or Ubuntu 10.10)
• If reporting a bug, describe the precise steps that lead to the problem (where do you click, what keys do you press, what do you see, etc.).

  If you are not able to reproduce the problem with the steps, it is probably not worth reporting it as the developers will not be able to reproduce (and solve) it either. Remember that the goal of a bug report is not only to show the problem, but to allow others to reproduce it easily.

See also

• How to write a good bug report: step-by-step instructions

Hardware incompatibilities

The following software is known to crash MuseScore on startup :

• Samson USB Microphone, driver name "Samson ASIO Driver", samsonasiodriver.dll. More info
• Digidesign MME Refresh Service. More info
• Windows XP SP3 + Realtek Azalia Audio Driver. More info
• Wacom tablet. More info and QTBUG-6127

Software incompatibilities

• MuseScore 1.3 performing sluggishly on Mac OS X Mavericks (version 10.9.x). A workaround.
• Maple virtual cable is known to prevent MuseScore from closing properly.
• KDE (Linux) window settings can cause the whole window to move when dragging a note. Changing the window settings of the operating system avoids the problem.

AVG Internet Security hangs MuseScore

MuseScore requires access to your internet connection with AVG. MuseScore doesn't need an internet connection to function, but if AVG blocks it, MuseScore hangs.

If AVG prompts you, Allow MuseScore and check "Save my answer as a permanent rule and do not ask me next time."

If it doesn't prompt you anymore,

1. Open the AVG user interface (right click on the AVG icon, close to your clock -> Open AVG User Interface
2. Click on Firewall
3. Click Advanced Settings
4. Click Applications
5. Find MSCORE.EXE in the list and double click it
6. Change Application Action to Allow for All

Font problem on Mac OS X

MuseScore is known to display notes as square when some fonts are damaged on MacOS X.
To troubleshoot this issue :

1. On your Mac, go to Applications -> Font Book
2. Select a font and press ⌘+A to select them all
3. Go to File -> Validate Fonts
4. If any font is reported as damaged or with minor problems, select it and delete it
5. Restart MuseScore if necessary

In this forum article , a user believes to have found the font "Adobe Jenson Pro (ajenson)" to be the culprit, regardless of not being reported as broken or problematic as per the above validation, and solved the problem by deleting that font, so this is worth checking too.

Font problem on Linux

If the default desktop environment application font is set to bold, MuseScore will not display the notes properly.
To troubleshoot this issue (gnome 2.*/MATE users):

1. Right-click on your desktop and select Change Desktop background
2. Click on Fonts tab
3. Set Regular style for Application font
4. Restart MuseScore if necessary

For GNOME 3/SHELL users

1. Open the shell and open "Advanced Settings"
2. Click on the Fonts option in the list
3. Set the default font to something non-bold
4. Restart MuseScore if necessary

Save As dialog empty on Linux

Some users reported that the Save As dialog is empty on Debian 6.0 and Lubuntu 10.10.
To troubleshoot this issue :

1. Type the following in a terminal
   which mscore
2. The command will answer with the path of mscore. Edit it with your prefered text editor and add the following line at the beginning
   export QT_NO_GLIB=1

Launch MuseScore and the problem should be solved.

Recent versions of MuseScore have the option to revert back to the standard built-in presets or "factory-settings". This can be helpful if your settings are corrupted. This is not a normal occurrence, so it is best to consult the forums first, as there maybe a way to solve your problem without resetting everything.

Warning: reverting to "factory settings" removes any changes you have made to the preferences, palettes, or window settings.

Instructions for Windows

1. If you have MuseScore open, you need to close it first (File → Quit)
2. Type Windows key+R to open the Run dialog. (The Windows key is the one with the logo for Microsoft Windows.)
3. Click Browse...
4. Look for mscore.exe on your computer. The location may vary depending on your installation, but it is probably something similar to My Computer > Local Disk > Program Files > MuseScore > bin > mscore.exe
5. Click Open to leave the Browse dialog and return to the Run dialog. The following text (or something similar) should display in the Run dialog: "C:\Program Files\MuseScore\bin\mscore.exe". (For 64-bit Windows, the location is "C:\Program Files (x86)\MuseScore\bin\mscore.exe" ).
6. Click after the quote and add a space followed by a hyphen and a capital F: -F
7. Press OK

After a few seconds, MuseScore should start and all the settings reverted to "factory settings".

For advanced users, the main preference file is located at:

• Windows Vista or later: C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Roaming\MusE\MuseScore.ini
• Windows XP or earlier: C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data\MusE\MuseScore.ini

The other preferences (palette, session...) are in:

• Windows Vista or later: C:\Users\<USERNAME>\AppData\Local\MusE\MuseScore\
• Windows XP or earlier: C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\MusE\

Instructions for Mac OS X

1. If you have MuseScore open, you need to quit the application first (File → Quit)
2. From the Open Applications/Utilities/Terminal and a Terminal session window should appear
3. Type, (or copy/paste) the following command into your terminal line (include the '/' at the front):

   /Applications/MuseScore.app/Contents/MacOS/mscore -F

This resets all MuseScore preferences to factory settings and immediately launches the MuseScore application. Note that you cannot quit the Terminal without quitting MuseScore. You can safely quit MuseScore, quit the Terminal, and then reopen MuseScore in the normal fashion, ready to continue using.
For advanced users, the main preference file is located in ~/.config/muse.org/MuseScore.ini.
The other preferences (palette, session...) are in ~/Library/Application Support/MusE/MuseScore/

Instructions for Linux (please adapt for flavors other than Ubuntu)

1. If you have MuseScore open, you need to quit the application first (File → Quit)
2. From the Ubuntu main menu, choose Applications → Accessories → Terminal. A Terminal session window should appear
3. Type, (or just copy/paste) the following command into your terminal line:

   mscore -F

This resets all MuseScore preferences to factory settings and immediately launches the MuseScore application. You can now quit Terminal, and continue using MuseScore.

For advanced users, the main MuseScore preference file is located at ~/.config/MusE/MuseScore.ini
The other preferences (palette, session...) are in ~/.local/share/data/MusE/MuseScore/

See also

• Command line options

Most keyboard shortcuts can be customized via Edit → Preferences... → Shortcuts tab (Mac: MuseScore → Preferences... → Shortcuts tab). Below is a list of some of the initial shortcut settings.

Navigation

Beginning of score: Home
Last page of score: End

Next score: Ctrl+Tab
Previous score: Shift⇑+Ctrl+Tab

Zoom in: Ctrl++ or Ctrl + mouse wheel
Zoom out: Ctrl+- or Ctrl + mouse wheel

Next page: Pg Dn or Shift⇑ + mouse wheel
Previous page: Pg Up or Shift⇑ + mouse wheel

Next measure: Ctrl+→ (Mac: ⌘+→)
Previous measure: Ctrl+← (Mac: ⌘+←)

Next note: →
Previous note: ←

Note below (within a chord or on lower staff): Alt+↓
Note above (within a chord or on higher staff): Alt+↑

Top note in chord: Ctrl+Alt+↑ (Ubuntu uses this shortcut for Workspaces instead)
Bottom note in chord: Ctrl+Alt+↓ (Ubuntu uses this shortcut for Workspaces instead)

Note entry

Begin note entry mode: N
Leave note entry mode: N or Esc

Duration

1 ... 9 selects a duration. see also note entry .

Half duration of previous note: Q
Double duration of previous note: W

Voices

Voices 1: Ctrl+I Ctrl+1 (Mac ⌘+I ⌘+1)
Voice 2: Ctrl+I Ctrl+2 (Mac ⌘+I ⌘+2)
Voice 3: Ctrl+I Ctrl+3 (Mac ⌘+I ⌘+3)
Voice 4: Ctrl+I Ctrl+4 (Mac ⌘+I ⌘+4)

Pitch

Pitches can be entered by letter name, or MIDI keyboard. See note entry for full details.

Repeat previous note: R

Raise pitch by octave: Ctrl+↑ (Mac: ⌘+↑)
Lower pitch by octave: Ctrl+↓ (Mac: ⌘+↓)

Raise pitch by semi-tone (prefer sharp): ↑
Lower pitch by semi-tone (prefer flat): ↓

Add sharp to note: (undefined due to conflicts with tie)
Add flat to note: -

Rest: 0 (zero)

Interval

Add interval above current note: Alt+[Number]
Add interval below current note: Shift⇑+[Number]

Direction

Flip direction (stem, slur, tie, tuplet bracket, etc): X
Mirror note head: Shift⇑+X

Articulations

Tie : +
Slur : S
Staccato: Shift⇑+.
Crescendo: H
Decrescendo: Shift⇑+H

Text entry

Staff text: Ctrl+T
System text: Ctrl+Shift+T
Tempo text: Ctrl+Alt+T
Chord name : Ctrl+K
Rehearsal Mark: Ctrl+M

Lyrics entry

Enter lyrics on a note: Ctrl+L
Previous lyric syllable: Shift⇑+Space (In MuseScore 1.1 and earlier: Ctrl+←)
Next lyric syllable: if the current and the next sylables are separated by a '-': -, else Space (In MuseScore 1.1 and earlier in either case: Ctrl+→)

Up to previous stanza: Ctrl+↑ (Mac: ⌘+↑)
Down to next stanza: Ctrl+↓ (Mac: ⌘+↓)

For more lyric shortcuts, see lyrics

Display

Navigator: F12 (Mac: ⌥+⌘+N)
Play Panel: F11 (Mac: ⌥+⌘+P)
Palette: F9 (Mac: ⌥+⌘+K)
Mixer: F10 (Mac: M)