Getting started

Orchard is a desktop music player that streams from YouTube Music. Sign in with Google, click a song, and it plays.

Sign in to Orchard

Sign in with Google on the first screen to open Orchard. The screen says “Sign in to start listening” until you do.

1. Start Orchard.
2. Select Continue with Google.
3. Finish the Google sign-in in the window that opens.

Orchard shows “Loading your YouTube profile…” and then opens the Home page. Your YouTube Music playlists and library appear in Orchard after sign-in.

Play a song for the first time

Click a song on the Home page to play it. Orchard uses the songs from the same Home shelf as the queue.

Clicking an album, playlist, or artist opens its page. Open an album or playlist page to play from its song list.

Find the main pages

The left sidebar lists the main pages of Orchard:

• Home: recommendations and shelves of music.
• Search: search results from YouTube Music.
• Your library: your subscribed artists, albums, songs, and playlists. See Library and playlists.
• PLAYLISTS: your saved playlists, listed under the pages.

The top bar has the Search YouTube Music… box, the Docs button (a book icon), and the Account and settings button. The player bar floats at the bottom of the window. See Play music.

Open Settings

Select the Account and settings button in the top bar at the top right of the window. Settings opens as a panel with these sections:

• General: startup behavior, system tray, listening history, and your accounts. See Accounts and startup.
• Playback: streaming quality, Audio Engine, crossfade, gapless playback, autoplay, and AI-generated music handling. See Streaming quality, Audio Engine, Crossfade and gapless playback, and AI-generated music.
• Appearance: player bar bitrate, animated artwork, and the immersive background. See Appearance.
• Integrations: Discord Rich Presence and Last.fm. See Integrations.
• Shortcuts: the keyboard shortcut list. See Keyboard shortcuts.
• About: version, credits, and open source licenses.

Close Settings with the X button in the corner, by pressing Esc, or by clicking outside the panel.

Open the docs

Select the Docs button (the book icon) in the top bar. The docs open in their own window. Type a question such as “how do I open the queue” in the search box to find the part of the docs that answers it. See Use the docs.

Open Settings with Spotlight

Spotlight search lists a Settings entry.

1. Press / or Ctrl+K.
2. Type “Settings”. The first row is the “Search for” entry.
3. Press the Down arrow once to highlight Settings.
4. Press Enter.

Where to go next

See Search and Spotlight for finding music and Troubleshooting when something does not work.