=============================
How to use Anaconda Navigator
=============================

There are four main components in Anaconda Navigator. Select each 
by clicking the tab on the left-hand column:

.. image:: /img/navigator-home-1-3.png

* **HOME** where you can install, upgrade, and launch applications.

* **ENVIRONMENTS** allows you to manage channels, environments and packages. 

* **LEARNING** see many learning resources, including 
  webinars, documentation, videos and training.

* **COMMUNITY** connect to other Navigator users through events, forums and
  social media.

TIP: For help understanding new terms in Navigator, see :doc:`Navigator 
Glossary <navigator-glossary>`.

Navigator Home 
--------------

The **NAVIGATOR HOME** tab displays all the available applications that you can manage with
Navigator. These graphical apps can be launched without ever using a command 
prompt or terminal window. Each app has a gear icon in the top right corner to **Update**, 
**Remove**, or **Install a specific version** of that application.

The first time you open Navigator, several popular graphical Python apps are already
installed or available to install. Here is the list along with quick links to their 
documentation: 

* `Jupyter notebook <https://jupyter.readthedocs.org/en/latest/>`_
* `Orange data visualization <http://orange.biolab.si/docs/>`_
* `Qt Console <https://media.readthedocs.org/pdf/qtconsole/stable/qtconsole.pdf>`_
* `Sypder IDE <https://pythonhosted.org/spyder/>`_
* `Glueviz multidimentional data visualization <http://glueviz.org/en/stable/>`_
* `Anaconda Mosaic <mosaic/>`_

**LAUNCH** an application by clicking its Launch button. **INSTALL** an application 
by clicking its Install button.

NOTE: Applications are installed into the environment displayed in the top drop-down box.
You can install them into different environments by selecting the environment from 
the top drop-down box before clicking the Install button. Or create a new environment 
for an application in the Environments tab, then return to Home tab to install it. 

Licensed applications
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some of the applications included in Navigator may have licenses. See the status 
of all licensed apps and add new licenses from the top navigation menu's HELP - License 
Manager menu. See the HELP menu section below for more information.

Navigator Environments
----------------------

A Navigator **ENVIRONMENT** is a folder or directory that contains a specific collection of 
conda packages and the files needed to run them, so they can be maintained and run 
separately without interference from each other. It's useful to create one 
environment for packages that run on Python 2, and another for Python 3. If you 
upgrade a program in one environment, for example, it will not upgrade the same 
program in another environment. 

The **ENVIRONMENTS** tab allows you to manage installed **environments, packages** and
**channels**. With Navigator, like with conda, you can **create, export, list, remove** 
and **update** environments that have different versions of Python and/or packages 
installed. Switching or moving between environments is called **activating** the 
environment.

The left column lists your **environments**. The right column lists
**packages** in your current environment. The default view is **Installed** 
packages. Change which packages are displayed in the right column from the 
top drop-down menu by selecting **Installed, Not Installed, Upgradable, 
Downgradable** or **All** packages. More on that in the Managing Packages 
section below.

.. image:: /img/navigator-environments-1-3.png

**MANAGE ENVIRONMENTS**

* **SEARCH** for environments on your computer by typing part or all of its 
  name in the Search Environments box. This is useful if you have created 
  many environments on your computer.

* **CREATE** a new environment by clicking the Create button. In the dialog box that  
  appears give it a descriptive name, then select Python, R, or both for a mixed Python 
  and R environment. If applicable, choose a Python version for the new environment, 
  then click the Create button at the bottom of the dialog box.

* **ACTIVATE** or start up an environment. After creating an environment, select it 
  by clicking its name from the left column list of environments, then clicking its 
  Start (triangle) icon. From the drop-down box that appears, select whether to Open 
  the environment in a Terminal window, a Python interpreter, Jupyter Console or 
  Open with a Jupyter Notebook. NOTE: Some of these options may not be available if 
  they were not installed into that environment.

* **CLONE** a copy of an existing environment by selecting its name, giving the
  new environment a descriptive name, then clicking the Clone button. 

* **IMPORT** an environment file. If someone has given you an environment file 
  that you want to use, for example my-environment-file.yml, and you have saved it to 
  your computer. Click the Import button, give your environment a descriptive name, 
  and click the file folder icon to locate the file or type the file name with path, 
  and click the Import button.

* **REMOVE** an environment by selecting it and clicking the Remove button.
  
**MANAGE CHANNELS** 

Channels are locations where Navigator or conda looks for packages. 

EXAMPLE: Let's say you want to look for packages on the "Milagro" channel of 
Anaconda Cloud. All three of these channel variations will look 
for packages in the same place on Anaconda Cloud:

* By URL, https://anaconda.org/milagro. 
* By conda URL, https://conda.anaconda.org/milagro. 
* Or simply by channel name, "milagro".  

Click the top Channels button to manage the following options from 
the drop-down box that appears:

* **ADD CHANNEL** Click the Add button at the top of the drop-down box. You may add 
  Anaconda Cloud channels by typing or pasting the channel name, the URL, or the conda 
  URL. Channels can also contain an access token. 
* **SEE ACTIVE CHANNELS** that Navigator is managing. Active channels display a check 
  mark to the left of the channel name.
* **MAKE CHANNEL ACTIVE** or inactive by checking or unchecking the checkbox next 
  to the channel name, then clicking the Update channels button. 
* **DELETE CHANNEL** by clicking the trash can icon next to the channel name, then 
  clicking the Update Channels button to apply.

The top **UPDATE INDEX** button updates the list of all packages that are
available in any of the enabled channels. Each of these packages may be installed 
into the current environment.

**MANAGE PACKAGES**

Packages in Navigator are managed by selecting the environment you want to manage,
then selecting an action from the top drop-down menu above the packages list, or
using the green checkboxes next to each package and the blue arrows next to some
packages.

TIP: Click any heading to sort by package name, description, or version.

* **INSTALLED** Displays all packages installed in the selected environment. **Remove** any 
  package by clicking the checkbox, then from the drop-down box that appears select Mark for 
  Removal. **Change the version installed** by clicking the checkbox, then from the 
  drop-down box that appears select Mark for Specific Version Installation. If other 
  versions are available they will appear in a subsequent menu. Then click the Apply button.
* **NOT INSTALLED** Displays all packages available to install from your available channels 
  into the current environment. Only packages that are compatible with your current 
  environment are displayed. Check the checkbox of any package you want to install, 
  or in the Version column, click the blue shortcut  "up arrow". Then click the Apply button.
* **UPGRADABLE** Displays a list of packages that have upgrades available. Upgrade a 
  package by checking the checkbox and selecting Mark for Upgrade, or in the Version 
  column, click the blue shortcut  "up arrow". Then click the Apply button.
* **DOWNGRADABLE**  Displays a list of packages that have previous versions available. 
  Downgrade to a prior version of a package by checking the checkbox and selecting Mark 
  for Downgrade, then click the Apply button.
* **ALL** 

TIP: If after installing a new application or package it doesn't seem to appear, 
reload the interface by selecting the Home tab, then click the top right 
*Refresh* button.

Advanced packages and environments
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When you use Anaconda Navigator, you are managing conda packages, environments and channels 
with an easy graphical user interface. But there is much more that you can do if you 
enjoy working from a command prompt or terminal window. 

To learn more about conda's advanced package, environment and channel management 
capabilities, see the corresponding documentation: `conda packages 
<http://conda.pydata.org/docs/using/pkgs.html>`_, 
`conda environments <http://conda.pydata.org/docs/using/envs.html>`_.

Learning
--------

On the **NAVIGATOR LEARNING** tab you can learn more about Anaconda Navigator, the Anaconda 
platform, and open data science. Select Webinars, Documentation, Video, 
and/or Training, then click any item to have that open in a browser window.

.. image:: /img/navigator-learning-1-3.png

Navigator Community
-------------------

On the **NAVIGATOR COMMUNITY** tab you can learn more about events, free support 
forums and social networking relating to Anaconda Navigator. Select Events, 
Forum and/or Social, then click any item to have it open in a browser window.

TIP: To get help from the community in learning Anaconda and Anaconda 
Navigator, join the `Anaconda forum <https://groups.google.com/a/continuum.io/forum/#!forum/anaconda>`_.

.. image:: /img/navigator-community-1-3.png

Utility navigation
------------------

Top menu
~~~~~~~~

**FILE** menu (In OS X it's **NAVIGATOR** menu) includes a drop-down menu for About, 
Preferences, Services, Hide Navigator, Hide Others, Show All, and Quit. 

* **ABOUT** submenu displays information about Anaconda Navigator, including a 
  link for bug reports and feature requests.
* **Preferences** submenu allows you to reset the Anaconda API domain and conda
  domain, select or deselect whether to provide personally non-identifiable 
  information to help improve the product, and to select or
  deselect whether to show application environments. These preferences may all
  be reset back to defaults by clicking the Reset to defaults button.
* **SERVICES** submenu (OS X Only) Links to your computer’s system preferences menu.
* **HIDE NAVIGATOR** submenu (OS X Only) Hides your Anaconda Navigator window.
* **HIDE OTHERS** submenu (OS X Only) Hides all windows except your Anaconda Navigator
  window.
* **SHOW ALL** submenu (OS X Only) Brings back all windows including your Anaconda
  Navigator window.
* **QUIT** submenu exits Navigator. A confirmation dialog box will appear,
  and there you can click the *Don't show again* box to exit without confirmation
  the next time.

**HELP menu** in the top navigation bar includes a drop-down menu for Search, 
Online Documentation, License Manager, and Logs Viewer.

* **Search** submenu links to your computer's Help. 
* **Online Documentation** submenu links to this documentation, which can be
  accessed from any web browser. A shortcut is also visible at all times from the 
  bottom left of all Navigator screens.
* **License manager** submenu allows you to add, remove, and view details of licensed 
  packages. Add a license by clicking the Add License button, then selecting the 
  license file from your computer. If you have any problems click the "Got a problem 
  with your license?" link. For more information please see the 
  :doc:`License installation <license-installation>` page.
* **Logs Viewer** submenu allows you to review the logs of everything you have done
  in Anaconda Navigator since you started this session. There are two or more
  files that can be selected from the drop-down list: *navigator.log* that
  refers to the actual application logs and *condamanager.log* which refers to
  logs on the specific conda-manager component. As the application is used more
  log files are created with a number appended to the name. More recent log
  files have a higher number.

Other navigation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

* **Sign in to Anaconda Cloud** button at top right of all screens. For your 
  convenience in locating packages and channels 
  available only on Anaconda Cloud (Anaconda.org), sign in for seamless transition 
  between your computer and Anaconda Cloud. After you have logged into Anaconda 
  Cloud this appears as, “signed in as [username]”.
* **Documentation** The Documentation button is visible at all times from the bottom 
  left button on all Navigator screens.
* **Developer Blog** Read what our developers have to say about Navigator development. 
  Visible at all times from the bottom left button on all Navigator screens. 
* **Feedback** Give us your thoughts about Anaconda Navigator to help us make it better. 
  Visible at all times from the bottom left button on all Navigator screens. 

Updating Anaconda Navigator
---------------------------

Every time Anaconda Navigator starts, it checks if a new version is available.
If it finds a new version, a dialog box will pop up where you can chose to update or 
keep your current version. We recommend that you keep Navigator updated to the 
latest version.

Next steps
----------

Test drive Navigator with a quick and easy How-to on :doc:`using 
Navigator with Pandas <navigator-pandas>` to try out practical, real world data 
analysis, or jump right to the :doc:`Navigator Tutorial <navigator-tutorial>`.

**ADVANCED**: Build your own `Anaconda Navigator application <http://conda.pydata.org/docs/build_tutorials/app.html>`_.
