Installing and Launching
On this page:
- PyCharm editions
- Downloading and installing PyCharm
- Starting PyCharm on the various platforms
- Importing PyCharm usage preferences from a previous version
PyCharm editions
There are two PyCharm editions: Community and Professional.
The Community Edition is free and open source but has less features. The Professional Edition is commercial but provides an outstanding set of tools and features. (You can evaluate PyCharm Professional for free for 30 days.)
For more information, see feature-by-feature Editions comparison matrix.
Downloading and installing PyCharm
You can download the latest version of PyCharm from the JetBrains website. (There are the versions for Windows, OS X and Linux.)
Depending on your operating system:
- Windows: Run the
.exe
file and follow the instructions of PyCharm Setup wizard. - OS X: Open the
.dmg
package, and drag PyCharm to the Applications folder. - Linux: Unpack the
.tar.gz
archive into any directory within your home directory.
Refer to the section Starting PyCharm on the various platforms for details.
Starting PyCharm on the various platforms
Since 2016.1 PyCharm uses Java 1.8.
Starting PyCharm on Windows
If during the installation you selected to create a shortcut on your desktop, double-click that shortcut.
Otherwise, go to the <PyCharm>\bin
folder
(e.g. C:\Program Files (x86)\JetBrains\PyCharm 2016.3\bin
) and
run pycharm.exe
, pycharm64.exe
, or pycharm.bat
.
See also, Importing PyCharm usage preferences from a previous version.
Starting PyCharm on OS X
See Importing PyCharm usage preferences from a previous version.
Also, if you wish to change JDK PyCharm is running on, use the action Switch boot JDK. To invoke this action, use Searching Everywhere or Find Action.
Starting PyCharm on Linux
-
Download the
<pycharm-professional or pycharm-community>-*.tar.gz
file from the Download page. - Unpack the
<pycharm-professional or pycharm-community>-*.tar.gz
file to a different folder, if your current "Download" folder doesn't support file execution:tar xfz <pycharm-professional or pycharm-community>-*.tar.gz <new_archive_folder>
The recommended install location according to the filesystem hierarchy standard (FHS) is
/opt
. For example, it's possible to enter the following command:sudo tar xf <pycharm-professional or pycharm-community>-*.tar.gz -C /opt/
- Switch to the
bin
directory:For example,cd <new archive folder>/<pycharm-professional or pycharm-community>-*/bin
cd opt/<pycharm-professional or pycharm-community>-*/bin
- Run
pycharm.sh
from thebin
subdirectory.
Creating a desktop shortcut
To create a desktop shortcut for PyCharm, use the Create Desktop Entry command. This command is available:
- In the Customize PyCharm wizard - when you run PyCharm for the first time.
- On the Welcome screen: .
- In the main menu: .
You can choose to create the shortcut:
-
For all of your computer users:
In this case, the
jetbrains-idea.desktop
entry file is created in/usr/share/applications
. - Only for yourself:
The
jetbrains-idea.desktop
entry file is created in~/.gnome/apps
and~/.local/share/applications
.
Importing PyCharm usage preferences from a previous version
When you start PyCharm for the first time, the Complete Installation dialog opens, and you have an option of importing PyCharm usage preferences and license information from a previous version.
Select one of the following options and click OK.
- I want to import my settings from a previous version (<path>). If this option is present in the dialog, the directory that contains the PyCharm settings and license information is found at its default location. (The corresponding path is shown within the option name in parentheses.) Most likely, this is the option that you want.
- I want to import my settings from a custom location. You may have the directory with the settings and license information available but not at its default location. If the option discussed above is missing, PyCharm doesn't know where this directory is; the path initially shown in the field is just a guess, and there's no guarantee that the necessary folder is really there. To import the settings in this case, you can specify the folder with the settings (if you know where it is) , or an installation folder of the previous PyCharm version. To do that, click and select the folder in the dialog that opens .
- I do not have a previous version of PyCharm or I do not want to import my settings. If this is your case, select this option.
See also, Exporting and Importing Settings.