Overview

MuseScore works with your "System" language (the one used for most programs, and generally depending on your country and the language settings of the PC, or account).

Change language

1. From the menu, select Edit→Preferences... (Mac: MuseScore→Preferences...);

2. In the General tab, select the desired language from the drop-down list in the Language section:

   

Update translations

To update translation(s):

1. Select the Languages tab in the Resource Manager.
2. Click on the Update buttons for the language(s) you want to update.

Note: Almost all menus and dialogs will switch to the changed/updated translations immediately, but some won't use them until the program is restarted.

See also

To update?? Or will this be the same - check
* Helping to improve translation

Overview

To change the appearance of MuseScore

1. From the menu, select Edit→Preferences... (Mac: MuseScore→Preferences...);

2. In the Appearance tab, select the desired option described below.

   

Theme and Colors

The following options are available to change the colors of MuseScore. The display changes immediately so options can be tested without closing the dialog. The changes apply to all open instances of MuseScore (see Windows)

• Light or Dark Theme
• Select "Follow system theme" if you want MuseScore to change themes from light to dark, or dark to light, when the system theme changes
• Enable high-contrast
• Accent color options
• Background - the color behind the score (not the color of palettes and other program items) can be changed to a solid color or a Wallpaper image.
• Paper - the color of the score itself can be changed to a solid color or a Wallpaper image.
• Invert Score - swaps the color of score elements with the Paper color

Fonts

To change the font face and text size for Menu and Palette elements:

1. From the menu, select Edit→Preferences... (Mac: MuseScore→Preferences...);
2. In the Appearance tab, select the font options.

This does not affect and text elements in the score.

Overview

Windows, toolbars and panels within MuseScore can be repositioned, and you can choose which elements you want to see displayed in them.

The default appearance of MuseScore is shown below:

1. The Menu bar
2. Toolbars
3. Palette, Property and Instrument Panels
4. The Score Window
5. The Status Bar

Toolbars

Showing and hiding toolbars

To show or hide the playback controls, note input toolbar, or the status bar:

• Select View→Toolbars... and check/uncheck the applicable element.

Rearranging toolbars

To change the position of either the note input or playback toolbars, click on and hold the six dots at the left of the toolbar, then drag and drop it to the desired location. The toolbar can be left free floating, but in the case of the note input toolbar, you can also drag and drop it either to the left or the bottom edge of the program window—a blue rectange then appears to show you that you can drop the toolbar at that location to redock it. The playback toolbar can only be redocked in its default position.

Customizing contents of toolbars

To select the icons that you want on view in the note input or playback toolbars, click on the gear icon to the right of the toolbar:

In the case of the note input toolbar, this reveals a dropdown list from which you can hide or diplay the various icons by clicking on the eye symbol to the left of each one (closed=hidden, open=displayed).

In the case of the playback toolbar, uncheck or check the various options in the gear menu to hide or display the corresponding elements.

Windows and Panels

Docking and undocking panels

To undock and move one of the side panels (Palette, Instruments, Properties, or Selection filter), click on the three dots on the tab, select the Undock option, then drag the undocked panel to the desired position.

You can leave the panel free-standing but there are also dock positions at the top and right hand edges of the document window—a blue rectangle appears to show that you can drop the panel to redock it at that location.

In a similar way, you can redock the free panel back to the sidebar:

• To display half-length at the top of the sidebar, drag and drop the free panel to the top left of the sidebar.
• To display half-length at the bottom of the sidebar, drag and drop the free panel to the bottom left of the sidebar.
• To display full-length in the sidebar, drag and drop the free panel to the center left of the side.

You can also redock the free panel in its original position by clicking on the three dots on the tab, and selecting Dock.

Panels such as the Mixer or virtual Piano can be undocked if desired, by dragging them into position or clicking on the three dots icon and selecting Undock. To redock, click on the three dots icon and select Dock.

The undocked mixer can be resized by dragging the edges inwards or outwards.

Customizing contents of panels

To choose which elements to display within the mixer or the virtual Piano, click on the three dots, select View and uncheck or check the applicable options.

To customize the palettes area, see Customization: Palettes.

Overview

A template is simply a standard MuseScore file (*.mscz) that has been stored in the “Templates” folder in your MuseScore 4 user directory. Now, when you start the New Score dialog, the template file will appear in the “My templates” section of the Create from template tab.

A style file, which is applied from the Format menu, is a file containing customized style settings for all musical and text objects in a score.

Templates

Saving your score as a template

1. Create a specimen score containing the style settings, workspace, and title text that you wish to use in the template.
2. Save the score in the "Template" folder of your MuseScore 4 user directory.

Creating a score from your template

1. Open the New Score dialog
2. Choose a template file in the “My templates” section of the Create from template tab.
3. Complete the rest of the New Score dialog and exit.

Style files

Saving style settings for your score to a file

1. Create a score with the style settings that you wish to save and reuse in future scores
2. Select Format→Save style, and save the Style file in the “Styles” folder of your MuseScore 4 user directory.

Loading style settings into your score from a file

1. Open the score to which you want to apply the saved style settings
2. Select Format→Load style, and select the applicable style file.

Setting a default style for your score

[to be added]

You can add, delete, edit and rearrange palettes and their contents as you wish to create a customized palettes area.

Adding palettes

Adding preset palettes

Only a selection of the total available palettes are visible by default. To transfer more (preset) palettes to the palettes area:

1. Click on the Add Palettes button in the Palettes sidebar panel
2. Click on one or more of the + (plus) buttons next to the palette(s) of interest
3. To exit the dialog, click once more on the Add Palettes button, or press Escape, or click outside the Add Palettes dropdown.

The newly-added palettes appear at the top of the list of palettes.

Adding custom palettes

To add an empty custom palette to the palettes area:

1. Click on the Add Palettes button in the Palettes sidebar panel
2. Click on the Create Custom Palette button
3. Name the palette in the text box provided
4. Click Create.

The new palette appears at the top of the palettes list.

Hiding and deleting palettes

To hide a preset palette, right click on it and select Hide palette. The palette is returned to the Add Palettes list (see above). Note that preset palettes cannot be deleted.

To hide or delete a custom palette, right click on it and select Hide/Delete palette. Then follow the instructions in the dialog.

Changing the order of palettes

To change the order of a palette simply drag it up or down and drop it onto the desired position in the palettes list.

Customizing palette contents

Adding elements from the master palette

The Master palette is MuseScore’s repository of all musical symbols. To add a symbol from the master to an ordinary palette:

1. Open the desired palette
2. Open the Master Palette (Shift+F9 or View→Master palette)
3. Drag and drop symbols from the relevant section(s) of the Master palette to the ordinary palette as required.

Alternatively you can access the Master Palette using the More button in the custom palette:

1. Open the custom palette
2. Click on More
3. Use the arrow buttons to navigate through the various sections of the Master Palette
4. To add a symbol to the palette, click on the symbol and press Add to my custom
5. To exit the dialog, click once more on the More button, or press Escape, or click outside the More section.

Adding elements from your score

To add score elements to a palette:

1. Open the desired palette
2. Press Ctrl+Shift, then drag and drop the score element to the open palette.

Moving elements between palettes

Symbols can be moved from one open palette to another simply by dragging and dropping them.

Deleting elements from palettes

To delete an element in a palette, right-click on it and select Delete. In the case of preset palettes, the element will be moved to the More section. For custom palettes you are offered a choice of Hide (send element to the More section) or Delete permananetly.

Resetting a palette

To reset a palette to its default state, right-click on the palette name, or click on the ellipsis symbol (three dots) to the right of the palette name; then select Reset palette.

Saving and loading palettes

To save a palette, right-click on the palette name, or click on the ellipsis symbol (three dots) to the right of the palette name; then select Save palette.

To load a previously-saved palette, right-click on a palette name, or click on the ellipsis symbol (three dots) to the right of the palette name; then navigate to the desired palette, select it and click Open.

Palettes menu

To access display options for the palettes area, click on the ellipsis symbol (three dots) to the right of the Palettes title at the top of the palettes area.

• Single-click to open a Palette: Uncheck this if you want to open a palette by double-clicking.
• Open only one Palette at a time: if this option is checked, when you open a palette other palettes automatically close.
• Collapse all Palettes: Closes all open palettes.
• Expand all Palettes: Opens all palettes.
• Close: Palettes panel closes.
• Undock: Undocks the palettes panel. See also Windows and panels.

Palette properties

To access Palette properties for individual palettes, right-click on the palette name, or click on the ellipsis symbol (three dots) to the right of the palette name; then select Palette properties.

This allows you to rename the palette, create a visible grid to separate elements, adjust width and height of cells, and change the scale and offset of the symbols.

See also

• Using the palettes

Overview

A workspace includes the visible palettes, toolbars and assorted open panels. You can customize the appearance of all aspects of a workspace, and create new ones.

Creating a new workspace

To create a new workspace:

1. Click on the current workspace name in the status bar below the document window. Alternatively, select View→Workspaces→Configure workspace
2. Click on Create new workspace
3. Fill in the name of the workspace, and uncheck any elements in the list below whose present arrangement you do not wish to be remembered.
4. Click Select to close the dialog.

To customize the palettes display and contents, see palettes.
To customize the display of toolbars and panels, see Toolbars and panels.

Deleting a workspace

1. Click on the current workspace name in the status bar below the document window. Alternatively, select View→Workspaces→Configure workspace
2. Select the workspace to be deleted
3. Click on the trash icon at the top of the dialog.

Switching between workspaces

1. Click on the current workspace name in the status bar below the document window.
2. In the resulting dialog box, click on the desired workspace
3. Press Select.

Alternatively

1. Select View→Workspaces→Configure workspace
2. Click on the desired workspace in the menu.

Overview

• opening the dialog
• finding commands
• key sequences

Defining a shortcut

Resetting and clearing shortcuts

Importing and exporting shortcuts

• this section is a quick tour of all preferences (and possibly where to find more info)
• mention reset preferences up front

General

Appearance

Canvas

Note input

MIDI device mapping

Score

I/O

Import

Shortcuts

Update

Advanced

Plugin API current status, and using plugins written for MuseScore 3 on MuseScore 4

See MuseScore 3 features not implemented in MuseScore 4, and Plugins for 4.x (porting a Musescore 3 plugin to MuseScore 4)

Overview

• what plugins are
• how/where to get plugins
• disclaimers
• info on creating them

Managing plugins

Installing a new plugin

Enabling and disabling plugins

Running a plugin

• menu, shortcut

Pre-installed plugins

• brief info on each