DesktopLyrics Read Me

DesktopLyrics

DesktopLyrics is an application that displays the lyrics of the song currently playing in your Music app right on your desktop. DesktopLyrics features numerous options to customize lyrics display to your liking, you can set fonts, sizes, colors and shadows for the lyrics and song information separately and also display the cover artwork.
The lyrics for the song have to be set in Apple's Music app, DesktopLyrics does nothing to fetch lyrics if they aren't available directly in the played music file. You can type-in the lyrics to your songs manually in your Music app or use other applications to automate the process. Note that DesktopLyrics only works with locally stored music and not with streaming like 'Apple Music' or 'iTunes Match'.

• macOS 10.15 'Catalina' or later

DesktopLyrics is completely free of charge.

The product website is located here: https://www.corecode.io/desktoplyrics/

Technical support is available only if you've purchased DesktopLyrics. In this case select "Contact support…" in the "Help" menu.

0.) Download DesktopLyrics from the "Mac App Store" and once it has finished downloading start it from Launchpad or your Applications folder.
1.) The "DesktopLyrics Welcome Assistant" will be opened. The assistant gives you options to automatically launch DesktopLyrics when starting your computer and the option to remove DesktopLyrics from being displayed in the Dock. It is strongly recommended to check both options as DesktopLyrics needs to be running all the time to display lyrics on the desktop. Click "Finish Setup" to apply your settings.
2.) DesktopLyrics will now open its main configuration window because this is the first time you use it. Choose the Preferences to your liking. This is most easily done while your Music app plays an track with the lyrics set, so you can observe your changes in real-time on your desktop.
3.) Close the Preferences panel and enjoy the lyrics on your desktop when a song is playing in your Music app.
4.) To perform one of DesktopLyrics additional functions like searching for lyrics or sharing/printing the lyrics you can invoke them from the DesktopLyrics menu. The DesktopLyrics menu is available either:

• By clicking on the DesktopLyrics menu icon when displaying DesktopLyrics in the menubar

• By clicking on the DesktopLyrics dock icon (either with the right mouse button or click-and-hold for a second) when displaying DesktopLyrics in the Dock

• By clicking on the DesktopLyrics "action-button" embedded between the song title and song lyrics on your Desktop.

- This button is either the current page indicator (e.g. "1/3") between the previous (◀) and next page (▶) buttons when viewing multi-page lyrics

- Or at the same position, but invisible unless you move the mouse there, for single-page lyrics

5.) Since the lyrics are displayed in a unobtrusive way directly in your desktop, they may be concealed when you want to see them. We recommend the following way to quickly view the lyrics:

• By invoking the "Show Desktop" shortcut of "Mission Control". You can set this up in "System Preferences => Mission Control"

• By invoking the "Presentation mode" of DesktopLyrics trough its menu or through a configurable hot-key shortcut

• By invoking the "Tooltip" of DesktopLyrics by resting your mouse on the DesktopLyrics icon in the menubar (when configured to be displayed there) or through a configurable hot-key shortcut

Please note, digital music files normally doesn't contain textual lyrics information, even when bought in online music stores or converted from audio CD-ROMs. You either have to enter the lyrics manually for every track or use an application to automate the process. Please consult the FAQ for information how to add lyrics to your music.

DesktopLyrics contains a multitude of options you can configure to your liking in the preferences window. There are also some 'hidden' options that can only be switched in the 'Terminal' because we deem them to unpopular to complicate the interface with them:
• Launch with lyrics visibility being initially toggled off:
defaults write com.corecode.DesktopLyrics HiddenOptionStartHidden -bool true
• Refresh cover for every song instead of for every album:
defaults write com.corecode.DesktopLyrics HiddenOptionAlwaysUpdateCover -bool true
• Display the lyrics 'above' the folders on your desktop:
defaults write com.corecode.DesktopLyrics hiddenOptionLyricsAboveFolders -bool true
• Display the lyrics 'above' all other content on your Mac:
defaults write com.corecode.DesktopLyrics hiddenOptionLyricsOnTop -bool true