PyCharm and external libraries

Question

I have started to use PyCharm IDE, but I was not able to determine how to manage external libraries there. For instance, PyCharm does not see matplotlib. In PyCharm's file manager, I clearly see the list of external libraries and there is no matplotlib. However, I have it installed and I know its location.

How can I add this library to PyCharm environment?

Answer 1

I suggest to use Python virtual environment. It is really easy with PyCharm.

PyCharm > Preferences... > Project Interpreter > Python Interpreters

Click "Create Virtual Environment" and pick your base interpreter.

Click "Install" and install any packages you need. You can also add other repositories if the default ones do not contain required libraries. Another benefit is that you can see which libraries have newer version and can be updated.

Answer 2

I think one way to solve a problem is to specify your interpreter in PyCharm itself via File -> Settings -> Python Interpreters

There is also a Paths tab in this setting, you need to add path to your matplotlib explicitly there. But for me there is no special path listed there. Here are my paths in this tab:

file://D:/hg_work/vefw_regression/tools/python/DLLs
file://D:/hg_work/vefw_regression/tools/python/Lib
file://D:/hg_work/vefw_regression/tools/python/Lib/lib-tk
file://D:/hg_work/vefw_regression/tools/python
file://D:/hg_work/vefw_regression/tools/python/Lib/site-packages (my matplotlib/numpy and other stuff is here)
file://D:/hg_work/vefw_regression/tools/python/Lib/site-packages/win32
file://D:/hg_work/vefw_regression/tools/python/Lib/site-packages/win32/lib
file://D:/hg_work/vefw_regression/tools/python/Lib/site-packages/pythonwin
file://D:/Users/svecovs/AppData/Roaming/JetBrains/PyCharm Community Edition 3.0.1/helpers/python-skeletons
file://D:/hg_work/vefw_regression/tools/python/Lib/site-packages/core (added by user)