On the Environments page, the left column displays your environments. At the bottom of the environments list are the Create, Clone, Import, Backup, and Remove buttons.

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Searching for an environment

In the Search Environments box, enter all or part of an environment name to filter the environment list.

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Creating a new environment

  1. At the bottom of the environments list, select Create.

  2. In the Create new environment dialog, enter a descriptive name for the new environment.

  3. Select Python or R to set the package type for your environment.

  4. Select a version for your Python or R installation.

  5. Click Create.

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Using an environment

  1. In the environments list, select the environment name to activate it.

  2. Click the arrow button beside the environment name to open the activation options dropdown.

  3. Select one of the following options for opening the environment:

    • Terminal
    • Python interpreter
    • IPython Console
    • Jupyter Notebook.

    Some of these options may not be available if they were not installed in the environment.

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Cloning an environment

Your base environment cannot be cloned in Anaconda Navigator, nor does Anaconda recommend cloning it with an alternative method, as attempting to clone your base environment will generate an incomplete clone and might cause errors in Navigator and/or conda.

  1. Activate the environment you want to clone by selecting it from the environments list.
  2. At the bottom of the environments list, click Clone.
  3. Enter a descriptive name for the new environment.
  4. Click Clone.

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Importing an environment

Environment creation information can be shared using a .yml-formatted configuration file. If someone has given you an environment file that you want to use—for example shared-environment-file.yml—and you have saved it to your computer, you can import it into Navigator. Furthermore, if you have backed up an environment either locally or to Anaconda Cloud, you can import it onto your local computer with Navigator.

  1. At the bottom of the environments list, select Import.

  2. Select Local drive.

  3. Click the folder in the Local drive section.

  4. Select the .yml environment file you want to import.

  5. Enter a descriptive name for the new environment, or use the existing name.

    Each environment name must be unique. To overwrite an environment with the same name, select the Overwrite existing environment checkbox.

  6. Click Import.

Your newly imported environment appears in the environments list.

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Backing up an environment

Backing up your environment to Anaconda Cloud protects it from hard drive failure and machine malfunctions, while local backups are valuable for rolling back conda to a previous state.

Don’t delete your environment backup when uninstalling and reinstalling Anaconda Distribution or Miniconda. If you do, you will not be able to import your existing environments into your new installation.

Activate the environment you want to back up by selecting it from the environments list. Then follow the instructions below to back up to a local file or to Anaconda Cloud.

  1. At the bottom of the environments list, click Backup.

  2. Select Local drive.

  3. Click Backup.

  4. Enter a descriptive name for your environment’s .yml file.

    Each environment name must be unique.

  5. Choose a place on your computer to save it.

  6. Click Save.

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Removing an environment

  1. In the environments list, select the environment you want to remove.

  2. At the bottom of the list, click Remove.

    Removing an environment in Navigator only removes your local copy. It will not remove or delete environments you have backed up to Anaconda Cloud.

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Advanced environment management

Navigator provides a convenient graphical interface for managing conda environments, channels, and packages. If you’re comfortable working with Anaconda prompt (or terminal on Linux or macOS), you can access additional, advanced management features. To learn more, see Managing environments in the conda documentation.

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