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Installing Arduino Libraries

If you’re having trouble or are unsure how to install libraries for Arduino, this tutorial is for you!

There are three main ways to install a library, so we'll cover all three and you can decide which you prefer. All of these methods are relatively quick and simple.


Installation Instructions

1. Downloading and installing via the Arduino IDE.
Method 1 Instructions

Not all libraries can be installed this way, however there are a great number available.

First, open the Arduino IDE. Then, navigate to the Sketch tab -> Include Library -> Manage Libraries...

The Library Manager window will pop up.

From here, you can search for the library you are trying to find. Please note that not every library is included in the Arduino Library Manager - for libraries not found here, you will need to manually install them using Library installation methods 2 or 3.

Finally, click "Install" to install library.

2. Externally downloading and installing via the Arduino IDE.
Method 2 Instructions

For this method, you will first need to download a .zip file for the library you wish to use.

Now open the Arduino IDE and navigate to the Sketch tab -> Include Library -> Add .ZIP Library...

A window will pop up for you to select the library you wish to install. Navigate to the directory where you saved the .zip file to.

Finally, click on the desired .zip file and click "Open" to install the library.

3. Externally downloading and installing directly.
Method 3 Instructions

For this method, you will need file archiving software (either 7-Zip, WinRAR, or WinZip) to extract the .zip files. 7-Zip is open source, free, and fairly simple to use.

First download a .zip file for the library you wish to use and navigate to the directory where you saved the .zip file. Right click on the .zip file and go to your file archiver of choice and select Extract to "FolderName\". This will place all of the files into a folder of the specified 'FolderName' instead of placing all of the files in your current working directory.

Next, copy the new un-zipped folder and navigate to Documents -> Arduino -> libraries. Paste the folder in this directory and you're all set!


If you're interested in installing the Arduino IDE theme shown in this tutorial, check out the Arduino IDE Theme Installation Tutorial.


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