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Joachim Schmitz edited this page Jul 24, 2026 · 85 revisions

This page lists some features MuseScore 3 Evolution has, which MuseScore Studio 4 does not (yet) have (and 3.6.2 doesn't either).

Option to disable new score wizard

To be found in the Advanced preferences under 'ui/application/useNewWizard'. Contributed by @coding-moding.
(see also issue #690 and pull request #700)

Option to disable mouse-based note entry

To be found in the Advanced preferences under 'ui/score/noteEntry/disableMouseEntry' . Also a keyboard shortcut to toggle this is possible to be set up.

Reading/importing Mu4 scores

NEW: As of today (30 May 2024) the Mu4 import includes all style settings (which have a counterpart in Mu3), special kudos to @worldwideweary!
Note: This is work in progress, for every new Mu4 version...

Known restrictions:

  • Anything new or fundamentally changed in Mu4 (and not yet backported to Mu3) basically just gets ignored and so gets lost, but also may cause other issues (report them!). Examples are:
    • Quite many (new) style settings, they are simply getting ignored, if there isn't a Mu3 counterpart.
    • 2- and 4-measure repeats (new in 4.0+) (see also issue #438 and pull request #519)
    • NOBREAK, "Don't break" AKA "Keep measures on the same system", this is a prerequisite for 2- and 4-measure repeats, but a useful feature of its own too (new in 4.0+, but some work had been done pre-3.0 alrady, just never got finished and had bugs, so it got disabled for 3.0 and only re-enabled for 4.0 as part of GSoC 2020) (it does get 'imported' in the sense that the symbol shows above staff, at the barline of the measures that should get kept on one system, but it doesn't have any effect) (see also issue #438 and pull requests #519 and #1112)
    • System locks (new in 4.5+) (see also issue #903)
    • Chord symbols (changed in 4.6+) (see also issue #1078 and pull request #1079) (fixed)
    • Nashville numbers (changed in 4.6+) (see also issue #1087)
    • Two-chord tremolos (changed in 4.4+) (see also issue #1104 and pull request #1105) (fixed)
  • Linked parts are ignored, you'd need to generate and format them again.
  • You'll see an "error" message like this:
    Screenshot 2024-04-30 165213
    This isn't really an error, so just hit "Ignore" (see also issue #173).

Using external SMuFL fonts

Note: Mu4 will be able to do this too, as of version 4.6, albeit in a slighly different way as far as configuration goes.

How to use custom Scorefonts*)

Install the fonts the usual way (as per your OS) and their metadata as per https://w3c.github.io/smufl/latest/specification/font-metadata-locations.html, system-wide or for the user only. Actually, for now, copy the fonts into the same directory as the metadata files.
Or, the somewhat harder way, only 'private' to MuseScore:

  • Create new directory 'ScoreFonts', on the same level as Scores, Plugins, SoundFont, etc.
  • Check Edit > Preferences > Folders if path to ScoreFonts is correct (a space in the name causes problems in Linux)
  • Get a SMuFL compatible font (e.g. Leipzig, Sebastian, Legato, etc.)
  • Create a directory for each font with its name, e.g.:
    ├── Legato
    │   ├── Legato.otf
    │   └── metadata.json
    ├── Sebastian
    │   ├── Sebastian Text.otf
    │   ├── Sebastian.otf
    │   └── metadata.json
  • You need the font(s) (.otf or .ttf) and its .json file, the latter needs to be named metadata.json, fontname_metadata.json or Font Name.json.
  • Restart MuseScore.
  • You should be able to select the newly installed font(s) via Format > Style > Score > Musical Symbols Font (and ... Musical Text Font).
  • If there is no text font available, you can (and should!) always choose the text font from another package.
  • Spaces in the font name (e.g; Golden Age) don't seem to work well under Linux (but do work on Windows), so remove them (or create a symbolic link), as this does . e.g.:
    ├── GoldenAge
    │   ├── GoldenAge.otf
    │   └── metadata.json

Standard Music Font Layout (SMuFL) compatible Fonts.

For a preview of the fonts, see https://elbsound.studio/music-font-comparison.php.

Tab Layout improvements

  • Allow fingering string text to affect which tablature string is attempted to apply on a linked staff/tab staff
  • Make use of Capo Text in tab/linked tab scores. Still pending though, see pull request #430 and its build artifacts.

Albums

Still pending though, see pull request #79 and its build artifacts.

*) Instructions taken from here

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