Anaconda Navigator

The Desktop Portal to Data Science

Anaconda Navigator is a desktop graphical user interface (GUI) included in Anaconda® Distribution that allows you to launch applications and manage conda packages, environments, and channels without using command line interface (CLI) commands. Navigator can search for packages on Anaconda.org or in a local Anaconda Repository. It is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

The Navigator documentation includes the following:

• Installing Navigator
• Overview
• Getting started with Navigator
• Navigator preferences
• Tutorials
• Updating Navigator
• Downgrading Navigator
• Uninstalling Navigator
• Release notes

Why use Navigator?

In order to run, many scientific packages depend on specific versions of other packages. Data scientists often use multiple versions of many packages and use multiple environments to separate these different versions.

The CLI program conda is both a package manager and an environment manager. This helps data scientists ensure that each version of each package has all the dependencies it requires and works correctly.

Navigator is a graphical interface that enables you work with packages and environments without needing to type conda commands in a terminal window. You can use it to find the packages you want, install them in an environment, run the packages, and update them – all inside Navigator.

What applications can I access using Navigator?

For information on what applications are available by default in Navigator, see Home page.

Advanced conda users can also build their own Navigator applications.

How can I run code with Navigator?

The simplest way is with Spyder. From the Navigator Home page, click the Spyder tile, and use the Spyder interface that opens to write and execute your code.

You can also use Jupyter Notebook the same way. Jupyter Notebook is an increasingly popular system that combines your code, descriptive text, output, images, and interactive interfaces into a single notebook file that is edited, viewed, and used in a web browser.

Note

Anaconda Navigator does not support macOS<10.12.