TensorFlow is one of the most popular open-source libraries for machine learning and deep neural networks in Python—initiated by the machine learning engineers at Google!
Problem Formulation: Given a PyCharm project. How to install the TensorFlow library in your project within a virtual environment or globally?
Here’s a solution that always works:
- Open
File > Settings > Project
from the PyCharm menu. - Select your current project.
- Click the
Python Interpreter
tab within your project tab. - Click the small
+
symbol to add a new library to the project. - Now type in the library to be installed, in your example
"tensorflow"
without quotes, and clickInstall Package
. - Wait for the installation to terminate and close all popup windows.
Here’s the installation process as a short animated video—it works analogously for TensorFlow, just type in “tensorflow” in the search field instead:

Make sure to only select the package “tensorflow” because there are many other packages that are not required but also contain the term “tensorflow” (False Positives):

Alternatively, you can run the pip install tensorflow
command in your PyCharm terminal view that makes use of the PIP package manager:
$ pip install tensorflow (venv) C:\Users\xcent\Desktop\Python\pythonProject>pip install tensorflow Collecting tensorflow Downloading tensorflow-2.6.0-cp39-cp39-win_amd64.whl (423.3 MB) |ββββββββββββββββββ | 234.4 MB 3.3 MB/s eta 0:00:58

Feel free to check out the following free email academy with Python cheat sheets to boost your coding skills!
To become a PyCharm master, check out our full course on the Finxter Computer Science Academy available for free for all Finxter Premium Members:
And we also have a course on TensorFlow on the Finxter CS Academy.
TensorFlow – A Hands-On Introduction to Deep Learning and Neural Networks for Beginners
This course gives you a charming introduction into deep learning and neural networks using Google’s TensorFlow library for Python beginners.
Both courses are available for free to all Finxter Premium Members!