Manuals
Manuals for LilyPond 2.24.4
The LilyPond manuals generally come in three formats: split HTML, big HTML, and PDF. Split HTML is good for reading online. Big HTML (and some of these files can be very big) contains the whole manual as a single page. PDF is available for downloading and using offline. To get to these three formats, follow the links that read ‘details of’ and then the manual name.
While the PDF version of the manuals is probably best for reading and printing (especially if you want to zoom in), there is a limitation: contrary to the HTML version, copying and pasting LilyPond code snippets does not preserve indentation. This is a deficiency of the PDF format itself (and not of the documentation system used by LilyPond) that cannot be fixed.
Introduction
- Text input: LilyPond is a text-based music engraver. Read this first!
- Learning: a “must-read” gentle introduction to LilyPond. (details of Learning)
- Music glossary: (optional reading) musical terms and translations. (details of Glossary)
- Essay: (optional reading) background information about computer engraving. (details of Essay)
Regular use
- Notation: syntax reference. (details of Notation)
- Usage: running the programs. (details of Usage)
- Snippets: short tricks and tips. (details of Snippets)
Infrequent Use
- FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions.
- Web: this document. (details of Web)
- Changes: what’s new? (details of Changes)
- Extending: fancy tweaks. (details of Extending)
- Internals: tweaks reference. (details of Internals)
Other material
- All: previous stable versions and current as a compressed archive.
- LilyPond Wiki: user-created examples, hints and tips.
- Video Tutorials: Ben Lemon, a LilyPond user, has created a range of video tutorials on his blog and which are aimed at new users.
- LilyPond’s Scheme: an external tutorial to learn Scheme, the language used to program LilyPond. Recommended if you are an absolute beginner when it comes to programming.
- Extending LilyPond: an external documentation resource about extending LilyPond in Scheme. It also contains a Scheme tutorial, which is recommended if you have some experience with programming in another language.
- Development: manuals for the unstable version.
- FDL: these manuals are published under the GNU Free Documentation License.
| Learning | Learning. | |
| Glossary | Glossary. | |
| Essay | Essay. | |
| Notation | Reference. | |
| Usage | Usage. | |
| Snippets | Snippets. | |
| FAQ | FAQ. | |
| Web | Web. | |
| Changes | NEWS. | |
| Extending | Programming. | |
| Internals | Internals. | |
| All | All manuals. | |
| FDL | Licence. |