Installing a Library on Windows

by Bill Earl
Follow these steps to install a library in Windows.

Close the Arduino IDE

First make sure that all instances of the Arduino IDE are closed. The IDE only scans for libraries at startup. It will not see your new library as long as any instance of the IDE is open!

Download the Zip File

Make sure to select a released version of the library.  Some library repositories are still in development, and may contain unreleased or untested code.  The "Releases" button takes you to the tested and released versions.

  1. Click the "Releases" button on the Github repository page to find the released version of the library.
  2. Then download the zip file.

Open the Zip File

Open the Zip File and copy the library master folder.

Paste into your Libraries Folder

Open your sketchbook Libraries folder and paste the master folder you copied from the .Zip.

Give it a Legal Name

The IDE will not recognize folders with dashes in the name. So you must rename the Github Master Folder. Underscores are OK!

Re-start the IDE

Restart the Arduino IDE and verify that the library appears in the File->Examples menu.

Load one of the library examples to test.

Verify that it Compiles

Click the check-mark icon in the upper left and verify that the example sketch compiles without errors.
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This guide was first published on Feb 16, 2013. It was last updated on Feb 16, 2013. This page (Installing a Library on Windows) was last updated on Aug 24, 2019.