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To get acquainted with PyCharm, you can download and install its trial version for free. This trial version is available for 30 days, whereupon you need to obtain and register a license.

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\IntelliJ IDEA 2016.1\bin) and run idea.exe or idea.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

To launch PyCharm on Linux, follow these steps:

  1. Download the pycharm-professional or pycharm-community-*.tar.gz file from the Download page.
  2. Unpack the pycharm-professional or pycharm-community-*.tar.gz file to an empty directory using the following command: 
    tar xfz pycharm-professional or pycharm-community-*.tar.gz
  3. Because running PyCharm from wherever you downloaded the file to may be inconvenient, it is recommended that you move the extracted or unpacked archive folder to the desired location using the mv command in one of the following formats: 
    • mv <path to extracted archive folder> <new archive folder>
      For example: 
      mv /downloads/pycharm-professional or pycharm-community-* my/desired/location
    • mv <path to pycharm-professional or pycharm-community-*.tar.gz> <new archive folder>
      For example: 
      mv /downloads/pycharm-professional or pycharm-community-*.tar.gz my/desired/location
  4. Switch to the bin directory in the new location: 
    cd <new archive folder>/pycharm-professional or pycharm-community-*/bin
    For example, 
    cd my/desired/location/pycharm-professional or pycharm-community-*/bin
  5. Run pycharm-professional or pycharm-community.sh from the bin subdirectory.

Additional launchers

Additionally, you can create a desktop shortcut and a command-line launcher, and use them to start PyCharm:

See also, Importing PyCharm usage preferences from a previous version.

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: Configure | Create Desktop Entry.
  • In the main menu: Tools | Create Desktop Entry.

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 browseButtonOneDot 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.

See Also

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