How to run Spyder in virtual environment?

Question

I have been using Spyder installed with with Anaconda distribution which uses Python 2.7 as default. Currently I need to set up a development virtual environment with Python 3.4.

Top two suggestions after research online are:

1. to set up virtual environment first and to point change the preferences of Spyder , e.g here;
2. to install all Spyder dependencies, like PyQt4, in the virtual environment itself, e. g. here ;

Both recommendations are cumbersome and do not look like smart options for development.

Is there a solution that would allow to run Spyder with required Python version automatically after activating the required virtual environment?

Answer 1

Here is a quick way to do it in 2020. Using the Anaconda Navigator:

1. Open Anaconda Navigator
2. Create your new environment as you wish. I named this environment "test". Click on it to activate it.

3. Go to "Home" and click on "Install" under the Spyder box.

4. Click "Launch/Run"

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There are still some minor bugs when setting up your environment (most of which are solved by restarting the Navigator), if you find a bug, please post it in Anaconda Issues bug-tracker. Thanks.

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If even then this doesn't work, Navigator could still be useful, clicking on >Enviroments takes you to a management window for the modules installed on such enviroment, searching and selecting the spyder related ones, and then clicking on Apply will install them and their dependencies.