Frequently Asked Questions

Of course, you may give any of the versions of MuseScore on musescore.org to other people, or share it internally via a server.

MuseScore is released under the GNU GPLv2 license. To learn more about the GPL license, visit http://www.gnu.org or http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html

Yes, you can.

MuseScore does not impose any ownership or license on your work, whether it's sheet music, exported audio files or the .mscz files themselves. What you make is entirely your own creation and you decide what to do with it.

We have a thriving community who could help with your problem, or request.

Firstly though, we advise that you complete a search to see if your query has already been asked, or addressed by others. If you cannot find anything, you may post in the forum.

Whilst generally left to those with some knowledge and experience, you may also file established reports in the issue tracker, but please refrain from posting queries there.

See also Bug reports and Feature requests and How to write a good bug report: step-by-step instructions but also How to ask for support

See Playback: Chord symbols / Nashville numbers

See Voices

See How to restore sound if playback stops working

Yes, they can be installed and running in parallel on the same computer without conflict. It is possible to have for example 1.x, 2.x, 3.x, 4.x and even a Development build.

There's one issue though: only the version installed last will get started when double-clicking a score file.

There is no demo, trial or limited version of the open source MuseScore software. There is only one version, which has no limitations and can be downloaded for free from musescore.org.

This happens due to the new software notarization requirements Apple introduced with macOS 10.15 (Catalina). It got solved in the latest development builds and will be fixed in MuseScore 3.5, until then see #300830: MuseScore 3.4.2 on macOS 10.15 (Catalina) "can't be opened because Apple cannot check it for malicious software", esp. the workaround:
Access it from the Finder, in /Applications. Right Click (Ctrl+click or two-finger-tap) on it. When it asks you if you really want to, click "open".

1. See #275837: MuseScore crashes during start-up while displaying "Start center" and the Workarounds mentioned there.
   The best one being:

   1. Either reboot your PC or kill QWebEngineProcess (using Windows taskmanager)
   2. Reinstall (without starting MuseScore!), if offered take the 'Repair' option
      Finally fixed with 3.6.2

2. For 3.6(.0) also see #315529: MuseScore 3.6 crashes on open of a file with start repeat in continuous view (and the several workarounds mentioned there)
   Best fix here: update to 3.6.1 or later (taken from the download page if resp. as long as not offered by MuseScore automatically), but see also above.

3. If none of the above helps, revert to factory settings via command line.

see How to open scores from a newer Musescore 4 version with an older version

This website (musescore.org) has no payment/subscription service. You are likely talking about the Pro subscription of musescore.com (See What is the difference between MuseScore.org and MuseScore.com?).
They offer support for account and payment issues via support@musescore.com (8/24h 5/7d, regular business hours, Limassol/Zyprus time). You may also use the "Request a refund" button under "Contact us" link at the bottom of the musescore.com website.
But find more details at https://help.musescore.com/en/articles/8535913-requesting-a-refund or, for general help about musescore.com, https://help.musescore.com/

Nobody here on musescore.org and its forums can help you with your request.

See also How and where to ask for support

Desktop program

MuseScore's desktop program will work natively on Chrome OS's Linux machine called Crostini. Follow the steps described in the video:

1. Install Linux Virtual Machine called Crostini. Go to Settings -> Linux -> Turn On
2. Download Musescore AppImage package
3. Configure AppImage to run. Set chmod +x for the AppImage file
4. Run AppImage with ./ followed by the Musescore package file name
5. Install required libraries if necessary
6. Install AppImage to avoid running it from Linux command line each time
7. Enjoy!

Most likely your screen DPI is not detected correctly by MuseScore (especially if your palettes are also wrongly sized). See this HowTo on using the -D command line option

On top of the DPI setting you can also use options in the menu Edit → Preferences → General to set the icon Height and Width so they will be a comfortable size for you.

MuseScore.org is home to the open source MuseScore program for Windows, macOS, Linux, and its developers, contributors and users community. Its forum is the ideal place to ask any question related to the MuseScore program.

MuseScore.com is a community site to share your sheet music with your friends via the web and for the mobile apps for iOS and Android. The site has social features such as embedding, commenting, annotating, statistics, groups. The site offers free accounts, but has a Pro Account for those who want more.

See also How and where to ask for support

• Shortcuts - each event contains internal name of the command associated with the shortcut
• Buttons - each event contains internal name of the command associated with the button
• Menus - each event contains internal name of the command associated with the menu item
• Inspector - each event contains the type of the element the property was changed for and the long name of the property
  • A property has been changed
  • A property has been set as a style
  • A property has been reset to the styled value
• Crash Free - each event is just a number representing one of the following conditions in which the app may start.
  • First start of MuseScore (or after reverting to factory settings)
  • Start of MuseScore after update
  • Previous session was finished correctly
  • Previous session was finished incorrectly (crash happened)

But see also https://musescore.org/en/about/desktop-privacy-policy, which might be more up-to-date

When it's ready.
If you don't want to keep checking the site/forum for release announcements you can just make sure the Auto update check is enabled.

Some operating systems will, by default, warn you before opening certain files downloaded via the internet.

If you have downloaded MuseScore via the musescore.org or sourceforge.net websites, there is absolutely no risk with installing it on your computer.

MuseScore's primary purpose is producing sheet music to be performed by players.

The current playback facility is provided as an aid and considered a lesser priority, but we do seek to make more elements renderable for future versions.

When trying to upload a score to .com the error code 401 indicates that the client request has not been completed because it lacks valid authentication credentials for the requested resource.
You need to login on the site .com or via the MuseScore software, see: Publicera på musescore.com.
If you are logged on already but get this error: log off and back on.

MIDI was partly designed and intended for performance/playback purposes - therefore, it does not embody certain characteristics found when reading sheet music.

In the current version, MuseScore uses more sophisticated algorithms and provides options to ensure your file imports as smoothly as possible to sheet music format.

For import and export of sheet music, MusicXML is strongly recommended instead.

In certain regions, such as China mainland, has very slow connection between GitHub and MuseScore servers. If you are in these regions, you can use some p2p downloader (e.g. Thunder) to accelerate your download speed.

MuseScore strives to support as many operating systems and their versions as possible.

Unfortunately, due to the nature of some, it becomes difficult, or impossible for the third party tools and components MuseScore is dependant upon to support, which in turn means we are unable.

For platforms in which it is possible, it could mean that we are awaiting a maintainer for it. If you are interested in becoming one, please contact us.

Currently, there are no plans for a MuseScore editor on mobile platforms.

Instead, we focus much of our resources on developing the optimal experience for desktop and the MuseScore Player for mobile.