Published on MuseScore (https://musescore.org)

Palettes

    Palette area

    Overview

    Using the Palettes Area is the recommended way to apply musical symbols and text to your score, see Using palette items below (jump to).

    MuseScore is shipped with predefined palettes that organize items by nature.

    To hide, reveal and rearrange palettes inside the Palettes Area, see the Customize the Palette Area section below (jump to).
    To expand and collapse palettes, see the Expand / Collapse a palette section below (jump to).
    The current visibility setting and expand/collapse status of all palettes in the Palettes Area are automatically saved to the current in-use workspace profile, but not related to score files.

    The contents of every palette can be customized, you can also create an empty custom palette and populate it on your own, see the Customize palette contents section below (jump to).

    Alternative ways to apply musical symbols and text:

    View / hide the Palette Area

    The default position of the Palette Area is to the left of the document window. To view or hide it:

    To undock the Palette area:

    To re-attach the panel, double-click on the top bar again. See Side panels for more information.

    Using palette items

    Apply symbols from a palette

    Versions 3.4 or above

    Versions prior to 3.4

    If you are dragging a symbol to the score and decide you don't want to apply it, press Esc.

    Tip: To prevent accidental rearrangement of contents during use, right-click a palette name and uncheck Enable Editing.

    Apply the last selected item

    MuseScore does not offer keyboard shortcut bindings to palette items, but you can configure a shortcut to apply the same symbol multiple times consecutively to improve efficiency. Some users find this method handy when applying piano pedal marks. (N.B. piano pedal mark symbol is under Lines palette)

    First, assign a keyboard shortcut key to "Apply current palette element" in Preferences: Shortcuts. After you use the mouse to click on a palette item to apply it to the score once, you can select any other score elements and repeatedly apply the same (last applied) item by pressing the shortcut key.

    See also Dynamics actions, a MuseScore plugin that you can assign keyboard shortcut to add individual dynamics symbol.

    Search by symbol name to locate a symbol without visually searching through palettes. All symbols are searched regardless of palettes' visible / hidden status and expand / collapse status.

    Use the Search box at the top of the Palette Area. As you type, symbols and/or palettes with names matching your keystrokes are displayed below, updating continuously as your typed input changes.

    To show all palettes, some of which may be temporarily hidden because it does not match the search string, click X in the search box.

    Items added to the score can be copied, pasted, and duplicated: see Copy and paste.

    Behavior of applied text and lines

    If the symbol you are adding to the score from a palette contains or belongs to a Text element (e.g. staff text, dynamic, fingering, volta etc.), then properties such as font type, font size, text color and alignment will adapt according to the following rules:

    1. Text properties which have not been altered by the user will adopt the relevant text styles.

    2. Custom text properties—those changed by the user before saving the symbol to a custom palette—remain as customized.

    By contrast, the line properties of Lines applied from a palette as is.

    Customize the Palette Area

    Expand / Collapse a palette

    Single Palette mode

    Reveal a hidden palette

    Create a new custom palette

    1. At the top of the Palette Area, click Add Palettes→Create custom palette. Or, right-click any palette and click Insert New Palette.
    2. Type the name of the new palette in the Create Palette dialog.
    3. To add symbols, see Customize palettes below (jump to).

    Hide a palette

    To hide a predefined palette:

    To hide a custom palette you created:

    Delete a palette

    Only custom palettes can be deleted, you can hide all palettes though.

    Change the order of palettes

    Customize palette contents

    Symbols may be added or deleted and layouts can be rearranged. (in version prior to 3.3, only new workspace is capable of customizations).

    Before customizing a palette:

    1. Right-click on the palette name and make sure that Enable Editing is checked. It is automatically checked for new palettes you create yourself.
    2. Make sure the palette is expanded.

    Add from an opened score

    Score items, when added to a palette, are saved with their custom properties.

    Add from the Master Palette

    1. If the Master Palette is not visible, select View → Master Palette from the menu, or use the keyboard shortcut Shift+F9 (Mac: fn+Shift+F9).
    2. Drag the symbol from the Master Palette window onto a palette.

    Rearrange symbol order

    Change the position and size of a symbol in a palette cell

    Note: Changing these values only affects the appearance of symbols within the palette. It does not change their sizes or offsets on the score page.

    Remove a symbol from a palette

    Items removed from predefined palettes are moved under More.
    In custom palettes, the More button offers browsing predefined palettes ( Use < and > ) and adding their items ( Use drag-and-drop, or selecting and clicking Add to)

    Palette menu

    The following menu options may appear either by right-clicking the name of a palette or by clicking the ... to the right of the name:

    See also