Compilando um arquivo

Step 1. Create your ‘.ly’ file

Double-click on the LilyPond icon on your desktop and an example file will open.

From the menus that appear along the top of the example file, select File > Save as. Do not use the File > Save for the example file as this does not work until you have given it a valid LilyPond file name.

Choose a name for your file, for example ‘test.ly’.

Step 2. Compile

To turn your LilyPond file into a music score, you need to compile it. This can be done in a number of ways – using drag and drop, with right-click, double-clicking, or using the command line. We now look at the first three options to start with; the fourth option is introduced later on.

1. Drag and drop the file directly onto the LilyPond icon on the desktop.

Not much will seem to happen, but after a short while, you should see two new files on your desktop – ‘test.log’ and ‘test.pdf’.

2. Right-click on the file, and from the pop-up context menu select Generate PDF.

3. Simply double-click on the file ‘test.ly’.

Step 3. View output

‘test.pdf’ contains the engraved ‘test.ly’ file. Double-click on it and it should open in your PDF viewer:

Other commands

To create a new file, begin by selecting File > New from within any previously created file or select File > Open to open and edit any files you have saved before. You can also edit a file by right-clicking on it and selecting Edit source.

You must save any edits you make before you try to compile your file. If the PDF file is not created or the output is not what you expect, check the log file that will have been created during the compilation attempt for any errors.

This log file is overwritten each time you compile your LilyPond file.

If you are viewing your file in a PDF viewer you probably must close the PDF if you wish to try a new compilation as it may fail to create the new PDF while it is still being viewed. This is at least true for Adobe’s Acrobat Reader. Other programs like FoxIt’s PDF reader don’t have this problem.