How to Start a New Jupyter Notebook

A quick guide on how to open a Jupyter Notebook.
By Ciprian Stratulat • Updated on Nov 17, 2023
blog image

 

 

This quick guide will teach you how to open a new Jupyter Notebook in Mac OS or Windows. It assumes that you have already installed Jupyter using the Anaconda distribution. For details on how to install Jupyter on your computer, using the Anaconda distribution, read this article on how to set up your system to start coding in Python:

 

For details on how to use Jupyter, read this quick guide on how to use Jupyter Notebook:

 

Article continues below

 

How to Open a Jupyter Notebook on Mac OS

Step 1. Open the Terminal app on your Mac by clicking in the upper-right corner of the menu bar, or pressing Command-Space bar and then typing terminal.

how to open mac terminal

Image Source: Edlitera

Step 2. Once the Terminal app opens, navigate to the desired folder, using the cd command. For details on how to use the command line, read this tutorial on how to use the command line, part 1 and part 2:

 

Please note that your Terminal colors and text may differ.

mac terminal

Image Source: Edlitera

Step 3. Once you are in the desired folder, type jupyter notebook and press the Enter key.

how to open a new jupyter notebook

Image Source: Edlitera

Step 4. The Jupyter server will start. You should see some server logs printed.

Jupyter server logs

Image Source: Edlitera

Step 5. Shortly after, a browser window should open, showing the files and folders located in the folder where you started the Jupyter server (in my case, this folder is ~/Projects/i2p).

files and folders from the jupyter server

Image Source: Edlitera

Step 6. Create a new Jupyter notebook.

new Jupyter notebook

Image Source: Edlitera

Step 7. Your new Jupyter notebook is now ready.

opened a new Jupyter notebook

Image Source: Edlitera

 

How to Open a Jupyter Notebook on Windows

NOTE: For best performance, I strongly recommend Firefox or Chrome as your browser when using Jupyter notebook on a Windows computer.

Step 1. Find and open the Anaconda Prompt app using the search bar. Alternatively, you can use the Anaconda Powershell Prompt. The Anaconda Powershell Prompt has more bells and whistles and it is generally nicer to work with.

Anaconda Prompt on Windows

Image Source: Edlitera

Step 2. Once the Anaconda Prompt (or Anaconda Powershell Prompt) app opens, navigate to the desired folder, using the cd command.

choose folder in Anaconda Prompt

Image Source: Edlitera

Step 3. Once in the desired folder, type jupyter notebook followed by the Enter key.

open a new jupyter notebook in Anaconda Prompt

Image Source: Edlitera

Step 4. The Jupyter server will start. You should see some server logs printed. You may be prompted to select an application to open Jupyter in. Firefox or Chrome are preferred.

select an application to open Jupyter

Image Source: Edlitera

Step 5. Shortly after, a browser window should open, showing the files and folders located in the folder where you started the Jupyter server (in my case, this folder is C:\Users\ciprian\Projects\i2p).

folders located on the Jupyter server

Image Source: Edlitera

Step 6. Create a new Jupyter notebook.

Image Source: Edlitera

Step 7. Your new Jupyter notebook is now ready and you can start learning more about data types, variables, numbers, and more!  

new Jupyter Notebook opened

Image Source: Edlitera

 

 

Ciprian Stratulat

CTO | Software Engineer

Ciprian Stratulat

Ciprian is a software engineer and the CTO of Edlitera. As an instructor, Ciprian is a big believer in first building an intuition about a new topic, and then mastering it through guided deliberate practice.

Before Edlitera, Ciprian worked as a Software Engineer in finance, biotech, genomics and e-book publishing. Ciprian holds a degree in Computer Science from Harvard University.