Handbook for MuseScore 3
This handbook is for MuseScore version 3.0 and above. It is maintained and translated by the MuseScore community. Find out how you can help (If you are using MuseScore 2.x, you can still access the old handbook)..
STOP PRESS!: A new Handbook is being written to accompany the release of MuseScore 4. If you want to contribute see here for details.
Getting started
This chapter helps you to install and run MuseScore for the first time. It will introduce you to the various learning and help resources.
- Learning MuseScore
- Get Support
- Installation
MuseScore exists for various different operating systems, like Windows, macOS, as well as many Linux distributions, and several BSD variants.
Find the instructions for the system you use below. - Initial preferences
- Language, translations, and extensions
- Checking for updates
Basics
The previous →"Getting started" chapter guided you through the installation process.
This chapter shows you how to set up a new score using the MuseScore Wizard, and how to enter and edit basic music notation. The various parts of the program window are described—toolbars, Inspector, palettes etc.—as well as viewing and navigation options.
- Create a new score
- Note input
- Edit mode
- Palettes
- Workspaces
- Inspector
- Measure operations
- Voices
- Copy and paste
- Selection modes
- Undo and redo
- Viewing and navigation
- Concert pitch
- Share scores online
- Open/Save/Export/Print
Notation
In the previous →"Basics" chapter you learned how to enter notes and interact with the palettes. The "Notation" chapter describes the different types of notation in more detail, including more advanced music notation.
- Note input (→Basics)
- Palettes (→Basics)
- Workspaces (→Basics)
- Barlines
- Clefs
- Key signatures
- Time signatures
- Accidentals
- Arpeggios and glissandi
- Articulations and ornaments
- Bends
- Beams
- Brackets
- Breaths and pauses
- Grace notes
- Hairpins
- Lines
- Measure rests
- Octave lines
- Slurs
- Ties
- Tremolo
- Tuplets
- Repeats and jumps
- Voltas (1st and 2nd time endings)
- Transposition
- Drum notation
- Tablature
See also →Advanced topics.
Sound and playback
MuseScore has "Sound and playback" capabilities built-in. This chapter covers the playback controls and ways to extend the instrument sounds.
- Mid-staff instrument changes
- Mixer
- Piano Roll Editor NEW
- Play mode
- Soundfonts and SFZ files
- Swing
- Synthesizer
- Tempo
- Dynamics
- Capo playback NEW
- Playback: Chord symbols / Nashville numbers NEW
Text
Many score elements in MuseScore are based on text, either alone (e.g., staff text, dynamics, tempo, fingering, lyrics, etc.) or in combination with lines (e.g., voltas, octave lines, guitar barre lines, etc.).
This chapter covers some of the different classes of text MuseScore supports, and formatting options.
- Text basics
- Text editing
- Text styles and properties
- Staff and system text
- Chord symbols (incl. Nashville Number System, and Roman Numeral Analysis)
- Fingering
- Lyrics
- Rehearsal marks
Other types of text are covered in other chapters:
- Tempo (→Sound and playback)
- Dynamics —p, mf, etc. (→Sound and playback)
- Swing (→Sound and playback)
- Mid-staff instrument changes (→Sound and playback)
- Repeats and jumps —DC, Fine, Coda, etc. (→Notation)
- Figured bass (→Advanced topics)
- Frame text —in vertical, horizontal or text frames (→Formatting)
- Headers and footers —different from standard text objects (→Formatting)
- Lines (→Notation)
Formatting
- Layout and formatting (overview)
- Page settings
- Breaks and spacers
- Frames
- Images
- Image capture
- Align elements
Advanced topics
- Accessibility
- Albums disabled in 3.x, expected back in 4.x
- Automatic placement
- Cross-staff notation
- Custom palettes (→Basics)
- Early music features
- Figured bass
- File formats
- Fretboard diagrams
- Layer (experimental)
- Master palette
- MIDI import
- Note input modes
- Notehead schemes
- Noteheads
- Parts
- Plugins
- Preferences
- Recovered files
- Score properties
- Score comparison NEW
- Staff / Part properties
- Staff Type Change
- Timeline NEW
- Tools
Support
This chapter describes how to find help using MuseScore: the best places to look, the best way to ask a question on the forums, and tips for reporting a bug.