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Project Operations in MPLAB® X IDE

Last modified by Microchip on 2024/06/24 06:33

This section discusses the operations that can be done to a project after creating it. You can open, close, copy or rename a project, and you can package a project into a ZIP file to make archiving and sharing easier. Each operation is demonstrated below in a short video along with a brief description of the steps taken in the text next to the video. Scroll down or click on an operation in the jump links above to see the videos.

Open a Project

There are several ways you can open a project, all of which must be done from within the MPLAB® X Integrated Development Environment (IDE). So, if it isn't running already, launch MPLAB X IDE.

First, open the Open Project dialog box by doing one of the following:

  • Click on the Open Project icon on the toolbar.
  • Select from the menu File > Open Project…
  • Press Ctrl + Shift + O on the keyboard.
  • Right-click in the Projects window (upper left of IDE by default) and select Open Project… from the pop-up menu.

Next, select the project folder in the Open Project dialog box and click the Open Project button, or just double-click on the project directory's icon. On most systems, if a folder contains a valid MPLAB X IDE project, the folder icon will be replaced in the dialog box with a small integrated circuit icon.

Close a Project

First, select the project you wish to close. Left-click on the top node of a project (the chip icon next to the project's name).

Note: If you have more than one project open and would like to close multiple projects, hold the Ctrl key while clicking on all the projects you wish to close.

Next, take one of the following actions:

  • Right-click on the project's top node in the project tree and select Close from the pop-up menu
  • Select from the main menu File > Close Project (ProjectName)

Copy a Project

The following steps illustrate how to copy a project (which conceptually is the equivalent of "save project as…").

First, in the Projects window, right-click on the target project's top node and select Copy… from the popup menu.

Next, enter a new name and/or location for the project copy and click OK when done.

Rename a Project

The procedure for renaming a project is similar to copying a project.

First, in the Project window, right-click on the top node of a project in the tree and select Rename from the popup menu.

Next, enter a new name for the project. You must also check the "Also Rename Project Folder" box since a project folder's name is the project name. Click the Rename button to finish.

Package a Project into a ZIP File

MPLAB X IDE gives you the ability to package a project into a ZIP file to ease sharing your project with colleagues or Microchip technical support. This can be done in one simple step:

Right-click on the top node of the project you wish to package and select Package from the popup menu.

If successful, a message will be printed to the output window telling you where the zip file was created.