When you start the Arduino IDE for the first time, nothing extraordinary happens. There’s no welcome screen, no tutorial, and no tour of the program. That’s why we’ll take care of that now. 🙂

In this and the following lessons, we’ll be working with the Mac version of the Arduino IDE. However, the program is largely identical on other operating systems.

The Code Window

After starting the program, a window opens for the code – also called a “sketch” in the Arduino world. We’ll look at this in more detail later, but first, let’s take a look at the buttons located in the upper area of the window. Here you’ll find important functions that you’ll need again and again when programming your Arduino.

From left to right, these are:

(1) Verify: Clicking this button checks your code for errors. If the Arduino IDE finds an error, the corresponding line is highlighted in red, and the error message, often with a hint, is displayed at the bottom of the window.

(2) Upload: This button uploads your sketch to the Arduino. Before uploading, the code is always checked for errors first.

(3, 10) Debug: This helps you track down errors in your code. This function is only available for the boards listed here.

(4) Board: The selected microcontroller that you’re programming with the IDE.

(5, 6) Serial Plotter/Monitor: These buttons open the Serial Plotter or Monitor, provided your Arduino is connected to your computer. We’ll work more with the Serial Monitor later.

(7) Sketchbook: Here you’ll find your saved sketches.

(8) Board Manager: This allows you to make microcontrollers available in the IDE.

(9) Library Manager: Here you’ll find libraries that you can install and use.

(11) Search: Correct, with this function you can search for a specific part in your sketch.

The Menu Bar

In addition to the functions within the window for your code, there’s also a menu bar at the top. Here you’ll find the functions listed above – but also much more.

First, however, let’s take a look at the Tools menu. Here, next to Board:, you’ll find the microcontroller currently being used in the Arduino IDE.

If Arduino Uno is not already showing here, click on the menu item and first select Arduino AVR Boards. Now another submenu will open where you can select the Arduino Uno.

Have you already connected your Arduino to your computer? If not, do that now.

Also in the Tools menu, you’ll find the Port entry. Select the USB port where your Arduino is connected. That’s all you need to do initially to be able to program your Arduino with the IDE.

Information and Error Messages

Finally, let’s look at the bottom area of the window. Here you’ll find a section where information, hints, and error messages are displayed. For example, if you’ve successfully loaded a sketch onto your Arduino, you’ll see something like this:

An error message, on the other hand, might look something like this:

Here the problem is a microcontroller that’s not connected to the computer. The Copy error message button is often practical. It copies the message to the clipboard so you can immediately use it in a search engine. You’ll see that search engines are often your best friend when programming – not just as a beginner. 😉

In the next lesson, we’ll turn to the code – and you’ll write your first sketch.