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MSCORE(1)		     General Commands Manual		       MSCORE(1)

NAME
     mscore, musescore -- MuseScore 3 sheet music editor

SYNOPSIS
     mscore [-deFfhIiLmnOPRstvw] [-a | --use-audio driver]
	    [-b | --bitrate bitrate] [-c | --config-folder pathname]
	    [-D | --monitor-resolution DPI] [-E | --install-extension extension
	    file] [-j | --job file.json] [-M | --midi-operations file]
	    [-o | --export-to file] [-p | --plugin name]
	    [-r | --image-resolution DPI] [-S | --style style]
	    [-T | --trim-image margin] [-x | --gui-scaling factor] [--debug]
	    [--diff] [--dump-midi-in] [--dump-midi-out] [--experimental]
	    [--export-score-parts] [--factory-settings] [--force] [--help]
	    [--layout-debug] [--load-icons] [--long-version] [--new-score]
	    [--no-fallback-font] [--no-midi] [--no-synthesizer] [--no-webview]
	    [--raw-diff] [--revert-settings] [--run-test-script] [--save-online]
	    [--score-media] [--highlight-config] [--score-mp3] [--score-parts]
	    [--score-parts-pdf] [--score-transpose] [--source-update]
	    [--template-mode] [--test-mode] [--version] [file ...]

DESCRIPTION
     MuseScore	is  a  Free and Open Source WYSIWYG cross-platform multi-lingual
     music composition and notation software, released	under  the  GNU  General
     Public Licence (GPLv2).

     Running  mscore  without any extra options launches the full graphical Mus-
     eScore program and opens any files specified on the command line.

     The options are as follows:

     -a | --use-audio driver
	     Use audio driver: one of jack, alsa, portaudio, pulse

     -b | --bitrate bitrate
	     Set MP3 output bitrate in kbit/s

     -c | --config-folder pathname
	     Override configuration and settings directory

     -D | --monitor-resolution DPI
	     Specify monitor resolution (override autodetection)

     -d | --debug
	     Start MuseScore in debug mode

     -E | --install-extension extension file
	     Install an extension file; soundfonts are loaded by default  unless
	     -e is also specified

     -e | --experimental
	     Enable experimental features, such as layers

     -F | --factory-settings
	     Revert  all  settings,  shortcuts, workspaces, extensions, transla-
	     tions, etc. to factory defaults; compare with the -R option

     -f | --force
	     Ignore score corruption and version mismatch warnings in "converter
	     mode"

     -h | --help
	     Display an overview of invocation instructions

     -I | --dump-midi-in
	     Display all MIDI input on the console

     -i | --load-icons
	     Load icons from the filesystem; useful if you want to edit the Mus-
	     eScore icons and preview the changes

     -j | --job file.json
	     Process a conversion job (see "EXAMPLES" below)

     -L | --layout-debug
	     Start MuseScore in layout debug mode

     -M | --midi-operations file
	     Specify MIDI import operations file (see "EXAMPLES" below)

     -m | --no-midi
	     Disable MIDI input

     -n | --new-score
	     Start with the New Score wizard regardless whether it's enabled  or
	     disabled in the user preferences

     -O | --dump-midi-out
	     Display all MIDI output on the console

     -o | --export-to file
	     Export the given (or currently opened) file to the specified output
	     file.   The  file	type  depends  on  the extension of the filename
	     given.  This option switches to "converter  mode"	and  avoids  the
	     graphical user interface.

     -P | --export-score-parts
	     When converting to PDF with the -o option, append each part's pages
	     to  the  created  PDF file.  If the score has no parts, all default
	     parts will temporarily be generated automatically.

     -p | --plugin name
	     Execute the named plugin

     -R | --revert-settings
	     Revert user preferences to factory default  but  retain  shortcuts,
	     workspaces, extensions, translations, etc.; compare with -F.

     -r | --image-resolution DPI
	     Set image resolution for conversion to PNG files.

	     Default:  360  DPI  (actually, the value of "Resolution" of the PNG
	     option group in the Export tab of the preferences)

     -S | --style style
	     Load a style file first; useful for use with the -o option

     -s | --no-synthesizer
	     Disable the integrated software synthesiser

     -T | --trim-image margin
	     Trim exported PNG and SVG images to remove  whitespace  surrounding
	     the  score.  The specified margin, in pixels, will be retained (use
	     0 for a tightly cropped image).  When exporting to SVG, this option
	     only works with single-page scores.

     -t | --test-mode
	     Set test mode flag for all files

     -v | --version
	     Display the name and version of the  application  without	starting
	     the graphical user interface

     -w | --no-webview
	     Disable the web view component in the Start Centre

     -x | --gui-scaling factor
	     Scale  the  score	display  and other GUI elements by the specified
	     factor; intended for use with high-resolution displays

     --diff  Print a conditioned diff between the given scores

     --long-version
	     Display the full name, version and git revision of the  application
	     without starting the graphical user interface

     --no-fallback-font
	     Don't use a fallback musical font

     --raw-diff
	     Print a raw diff between the given scores

     --run-test-script
	     Run script tests listed in the command line arguments

     --save-online
	     Upload  score(s) to its source URL. There must already be an online
	     score at that URL, and the user must be signed-in to the account it
	     belongs to. The online score will be  replaced  with  the	uploaded
	     file,  but  the title and description of the online score's webpage
	     will not change.

     --score-media
	     Export all media (except MP3) for a given score as  a  single  JSON
	     document to stdout

     --highlight-config
	     Set highlight to svg, generated from a given score

     --score-mp3
	     Generate  an MP3 for the given score and export it as a single JSON
	     document to stdout

     --score-parts
	     Generate parts data for the given score and save them  to	separate
	     mscz files

     --score-parts-pdf
	     Generate  parts  data for the given score and export it as a single
	     JSON document to stdout

     --score-transpose
	     Transpose the given score and export the  data  to  a  single  JSON
	     file, print it to stdout

     --source-update
	     Update the source in the given score

     --template-mode
	     Save files in template mode (e.g. without page sizes)

     MuseScore supports the automatic Qt command line options (see below).

   Batch conversion job JSON format
     The argument to the -j option must be the pathname of a file comprised of a
     valid JSON document honouring the following specification:

     *	 The top-level element must be a JSONArray, which may be empty.

     *	 Each array element must be a JSONObject with the following keys:

	 in	 Value	is  the  name  of  the input file (score to convert), as
		 JSONString.

	 plugin  Value is the filename of a plugin (with  the  .qml  extension),
		 which	will  be  read from either the global or per-user plugin
		 path and executed before  the	conversion  output  happens,  as
		 JSONString.   Optional, but at least one of plugin and out must
		 be given.

	 out	 Value is the conversion output target, as defined  below.   Op-
		 tional, but at least one of plugin and out must be given.

     *	 The  conversion  output target may be a filename (with extension, which
	 decided the format to convert to), as JSONString.

     *	 The conversion output target may be a JSONArray of filenames  as  JSON-
	 String,  as above, which will cause the score to be written to multiple
	 output files (in multiple output formats) sequentially,  without  being
	 closed, re-opened and re-processed in between.

     *	 If the conversion output target is a JSONArray, one or more of its ele-
	 ments	may  also be, each, a JSONArray of two JSONStrings (called first
	 and second half in the following description).  This  will  cause  part
	 extraction: for each such two-tuple, all extant parts of the score will
	 be  saved  individually, with filenames being composed by concatenating
	 the first half, the name (title) of the part, and the second half.  The
	 resulting string must be a valid filename (with extension,  determining
	 the  output  format).	If a score has no parts (excerpts) defined, this
	 will be silently ignored without error.

     *	 Valid file extensions for output are:

	 flac	   Free Lossless Audio Codec (compressed audio)

	 metajson  various score metadata (JSON)

	 mid	   standard MIDI file

	 midi	   standard MIDI file

	 mlog	   internal file sanity check log (JSON)

	 mp3	   MPEG Layer III (lossy compressed audio)

	 mpos	   measure positions (XML)

	 mscx	   uncompressed MuseScore file

	 mscz	   compressed MuseScore file

	 musicxml  uncompressed MusicXML file

	 mxl	   compressed MusicXML file

	 ogg	   OGG Vorbis (lossy compressed audio)

	 pdf	   portable document file (print)

	 png	   portable network graphics (image)

		   Individual files, one per score  page,  with  a  hyphen-minus
		   followed by the page number placed before the file extension,
		   will be generated.

	 spos	   segment positions (XML)

	 svg	   scalable vector graphics (image)

	 wav	   RIFF Waveform (uncompressed audio)

	 xml	   uncompressed MusicXML file

     See below for an example.

ENVIRONMENT
     SKIP_LIBJACK
	     Set  this (the value does not matter) to skip initialisation of the
	     JACK Audio Connection Kit library, in case it causes trouble.

     XDG_CONFIG_HOME
	     User configuration location; defaults to ~/.config if unset.

     XDG_DATA_HOME
	     User data location; defaults to ~/.local/share if unset.

     XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR
	     Location of works the user created with the  application;	defaults
	     to  ~/Documents  (or  a  localised  version)  and	can  be  set  in
	     $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/user-dirs.dirs.

     Note that MuseScore also supports the normal Qt environment variables  such
     as     QT_QPA_GENERIC_PLUGINS,    QT_QPA_PLATFORM,    QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME,
     QT_QPA_PLATFORM_PLUGIN_PATH, QT_STYLE_OVERRIDE, DISPLAY, etc.

FILES
     /usr/local/share/mscore-3.6/ contains the application support data  (demos,
     instruments, localisation, system-wide plugins, soundfonts, styles, chords,
     templates	and wallpapers).  In the Debian packages, system-wide soundfonts
     are  installed  into  /usr/share/sounds/sf2/,   /usr/share/sounds/sf3/   or
     /usr/share/sounds/sfz/, respectively, instead.

     The  per-user data (extensions, plugins, soundfonts, styles, templates) and
     files (images, scores) are normally  installed  into  subdirectories  under
     $XDG_DOCUMENTS_DIR/MuseScore3/  but  may  be  changed in the configuration.
     Note that snapshot, alpha and beta versions use  MuseScore3Development  in-
     stead of MuseScore3 in all of these paths.

     $XDG_CONFIG_HOME/MuseScore/MuseScore3.ini	contains  the  user preferences,
     list of recently used files and their locations,  window  sizes  and  posi-
     tions, etc.  See above for development version paths.

     $XDG_DATA_HOME/MuseScore/MuseScore3/  contains  updated  localisation files
     downloaded from within the program, plugin information, cached scores, cre-
     dentials for the musescore.com community site, session information, synthe-
     siser settings, custom key and time signatures and  shortcuts.   See  above
     for development version paths.

EXAMPLES
     Convert a score to PDF from the command line:

	   mscore -o 'My Score.pdf' 'My Score.mscz'

     Run a batch job converting multiple documents:

	   mscore -j job.json

     This  requires  the  file job.json in the current working directory to have
     content similar to the following:

	   [
	     {
	       "in": "Reunion.mscz",
	       "out": "Reunion-coloured.pdf",
	       "plugin": "colornotes.qml"
	     },
	     {
	       "in": "Reunion.mscz",
	       "out": [
		 "Reunion.pdf",
		 [ "Reunion (part for ", ").pdf" ],
		 "Reunion.musicxml",
		 "Reunion.mid"
	       ]
	     },
	     {
	       "in": "Piece with excerpts.mscz",
	       "out": [
		 "Piece with excerpts (Partitura).pdf",
		 [ "Piece with excerpts (part for ", ").pdf" ],
		 "Piece with excerpts.mid"
	       ]
	     }
	   ]

     The last part of the job would, for example, cause files like  "Piece  with
     excerpts  (part  for Violin).pdf" to be generated alongside the conductor's
     partitura and a MIDI file with the full orchestra sound, whereas the equiv-
     alent part of the Reunion conversion will be silently ignored (because  the
     Reunion piece (a MuseScore demo) has no excerpts defined).

     https://musescore.org/sites/musescore.org/files/midi_import_options_0.xml
     is a sample MIDI import operations file for the -M option.

DIAGNOSTICS
     The mscore utility exits 0 on success, and >0 if an error occurs.

SEE ALSO
     fluidsynth(1), midicsv(1), timidity(1), qtoptions(7)

     https://musescore.org/handbook
	     Online Handbook, full user manual

     https://musescore.org/forum
	     Support Forum

     https://musescore.org/handbook/command-line-options-0
	     Further documentation of command line options

     https://musescore.org/handbook/revert-factory-settings-0
	     Reverting to factory settings (troubleshooting)

     https://musescore.org/project/issues
	     Project Issue Tracker

	     Please  check  first  to if the bug you're encountering has already
	     been reported.  If you just need help with something,  then  please
	     use the support forum (see above) instead.

     http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qguiapplication.html#supported-command-line-options
	     Documentation of automatic Qt command line options

STANDARDS
     MuseScore attempts to implement the following standards:

     *	 MusicXML 3.1 (score interchange format)

     *	 SF2 (SoundFont 2.01)

     *	 SF3 (SoundFont with OGG Vorbis-compressed samples)

     *	 SFZ (Sforzato soundfont)

     *	 SMuFL (Standard Music Font Layout 1.30)

HISTORY
     MuseScore was split off the MusE sequencer in 2002 and has since become the
     foremost Open Source notation software.

AUTHORS
     MuseScore is developed by MuseScore BVBA and others.

     This manual page was written by mirabilos <tg@debian.org>.

CAVEATS
     The  automatic Qt command line options are removed from the argument vector
     before the application has a chance at option processing; this  means  that
     an invocation like

	   mscore -S -reverse

     has no chance at working because the -reverse is removed by Qt first.

BUGS
     MuseScore does not honour /etc/papersize.

     Probably some more; check the project's bug tracker (cf. "SEE ALSO").

MuseScore			Janurary 12, 2021		       MSCORE(1)

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