Juanita Gomez

Working with Spyder - Part 1: Beyond the main panes

Exploring Additional Panes in Spyder

Hello everyone! I’m Juanita, and I am going to show you how to use some of the remaining panes available in Spyder beyond just the four primary ones.

Plots Pane

Let’s start with the Plots pane, which is open by default when launching Spyder.
To see how it works, let’s open a file that will generate a couple of plots from Matplotlib’s documentation.

  • You can view the generated plots in the Plots pane.
  • Browse between them using the arrows or by clicking them in the sidebar.
  • In the pane’s options menu:
    • Fit Plots to Window is enabled by default. Disabling it lets you zoom in/out.
    • Mute inline plotting prevents the same figures from appearing in the IPython Console.
  • Each time you run the code, new copies of the plots are generated.
    • Remove any by clicking the X button in the toolbar.
  • The pane auto-updates to show plots from the currently active console.
  • Use Copy to Clipboard to paste the plot elsewhere (e.g. Word).
  • Save plots as PNG using the save icon.

Files Pane

The Files pane, also open by default:

  • Lets you browse directories, open files in the Editor, and perform file operations.
  • Customize view (size, kind, date) in the options menu.
  • As you change the top-level folder, the working directory updates and syncs with the active console.
  • Double-click text files to open them in the Editor.
  • Copy files to paste them as absolute or relative paths.
  • Right-click for additional options.
  • Open files in external apps or set custom file associations:
    • For example, associate .csv with LibreOffice Calc via Files > Preferences > File Associations.

Outline Pane

The Outline pane helps navigate large files:

  • Open it via View > Panes, as it’s not visible by default.
  • Lists all classes, methods, and functions.
  • Click any to jump directly to it in the code.
  • Expand classes to view their methods.
  • Automatically highlights the object at the current cursor position.
  • Enable Show all files in the options menu to navigate multiple open scripts/modules.

Find in Files Pane

The Find in Files pane is useful for larger projects:

  • Open via View > Panes.
  • Search for strings or regex across the working directory, project, or a custom path.
  • Example: searching is_dark_font_color finds all occurrences across files.
  • Clicking a result opens the file in the Editor at the match location.

Online Help Pane

The Online Help pane allows browsing documentation:

  • Open it via View > Panes.
  • Shows modules from the standard library and third-party packages (e.g. Numpy, Pandas, Matplotlib).
  • Use the built-in browser to navigate pages.
  • Use the Get field to directly load documentation for a known item.
  • Use the Search field to find results by keyword.

Now that you’re familiar with a wider array of Spyder’s panes and features, you can accomplish a variety of common programming tasks with ease.

Stay tuned for our next videos to further add to your scientific toolbox. And as always, Happy Spydering!