LyX | Additional software

Here you can find links to other software that can be useful when working with LyX.

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Note: If you use the installers/packages for Windows, Mac OS X or Linux, the required software will be installed automatically.

Qt - user interface toolkit: Qt 5 is recommended, Qt 6 is also supported. You can look here for more details about version dependencies.
Python - scripting language: Required for configuration and conversion scripts. Python 3 is recommended now (2.7 or >=3.5 should be used).

(La)TeX distribution: In order to properly use LyX to create documents, you'll need to have a LaTeX installation. On Windows and Linux, we recommend that you use use TeXLive (though you can also use MikTeX). On Mac OSX, you can use MacTeX. It is best to install the TeX distribution before installing LyX itself.

ImageMagick tools: LyX used ImageMagick to convert your images when no other converter is available. For manipulating with Postscript files you will need Ghostscript too.

More spellchecking backends are supported:

Hunspell: the spell checker used by OpenOffice and Firefox. Dictionaries of OpenOffice can be reused (alternatively they can be grabbed at our mirror repository).
GNU Aspell: is a Free and Open Source spell checker supported by LyX. It is said to do a very good job of coming up with possible suggestions. Dictionaries are available here.
Enchant: wrapper that provides automatic access to many spell checking libraries (ispell, aspell, hspell, hunspell, etc.).
Thesaurus and its dictionaries: LyX ships the MyThes library itself, however, it does not ship any thesaurus dictionaries, and those do have to be installed separately. The OpenOffice thesaurus dictionaries can be reused or again grabbed at our mirror repository).

CTAN - The Comprehensive TeX Archive Network.: Since LyX is based on LaTeX, practically any tool made for use with LaTeX can be used with LyX. The CTAN is an archive of packages, tools, documentation and much more about LaTeX, and therefore an invaluable resource if you want to become a power user of LaTeX (and LyX).

Adobe Reader: The well-known PDF Viewer
Free PDF Readers: Free and Open Source alternatives to the Adobe Reader
GSView or gv: PostScript viewer, requires Ghostscript to work. Note that once Ghostscript is installed a many convertors from/to Postscript will be installed simultaneously.

A more extensive list of reference managers can be found on the LyX wiki.

Metafile to EPS Converter: For proper conversion of EMF/WMF images on Windows
Graphviz: dot -> pdf using Graphviz, which is a FOSS suite for producing large graph/network diagrams.

UnRTF: rtf -> html conversion tool.

html2latex: html -> tex conversion tool.

LaTeX2rtf: tex -> rtf conversion tool.

TTH, HEVEA, LaTeX2HTML: various tex -> html convertors

TeX4ht: tex -> odt/html convertor.

Writer2LaTeX: odt -> tex convertor.

Grace convertor: agr -> png/jpg/pnm conversion tool.

LilyPond convertor: ly -> eps/png/pdf conversion tool.

PS2EPS: ps -> eps conversion tool.

librsvg, Inkscape: (not only) svg convertors.

Multimarkdown to LyX: Multimarkdown to LyX conversion tool.

ChkTeX Homepage - performs typographical checking.: LyX can use ChkTeX as an aid to find common typograhical errors in your document.
NoWeb - literate programming.: Use LyX to write programs whose documentation and manuals are included in the program.
Sweave - literate programming.: Tool that allows to embed the R code for complete data analyses in latex documents.
Knitr - literate programming.: A comprehensive R package derived from Sweave with a different design that includes code formatting, highlighting, caching, fine control of graphics, conditional evaluation, multiple markup formats and other features.
XSLT processor (xsltproc or Saxon).: We produce DocBook version 5 (XML based). For ePub conversion XSLT processor must be present.

Many useful scripts can be found in LyX Wiki.