Jupyter (IPython) Notebook Opener

Utility (GUI) to open and manage Jupyter (IPython) notebooks using different Python environments and working directories.

Author: Ties de Kok (t.c.j.dekok@tilburguniversity.edu)
Twitter: @TiesdeKok
Homepage: https://github.com/TiesdeKok/NotebookOpener

Practical information:

####You can use the Notebook Opener in two ways:

Use the standalone executable:

1. Download notebook_opener.zip from this GitHub depository. [Download link]
2. Extract the notebook_opener folder in the .zip file to a folder of your choice.
3. Run the Notebook Opener using notebook_opener.exe
   [Tip] Create a shortcut to this executable or drag the .exe onto your taskbar for easy access.

Run it yourself using Python 3:

1. download notebook_opener.py
2. start it using your Python 3 environment

Add your own Python environments

This tool is inspired by the shortcuts provided with the Anaconda and Canopy Python distributions. These shortcuts work by starting a command prompt and running a batch file to select the appropriate Python environment. The Notebook Opener copies this technique and thus requires a batch (.bat) file to define the environment.

1. Find or create the batch file that specifies your Python environment.
   • Default directories for Anaconda and Canopy are:
     • Anaconda (Python 2.7):
       • C:\Users\ USERNAME \Anaconda\Scripts\ anaconda.bat or activate.bat
     • Anaconda (Python 3.x):
       • C:\Users\ USERNAME \Anaconda3\Scripts\ anaconda.bat or activate.bat
     • Canopy
       • C:\Users\ USERNAME \AppData\Local\Enthought\Canopy\User\Scripts\ activate.bat
2. Click the Add button under the Python environments box.

Save a working directory

It is possible to Add/Remove working directories (very convenient if you have multiple projects at the same time!).

1. Select your working directory (folder) using the Browse button.
2. To save this working directory click the Add button under the Saved directories box.

Additional features

• Works with both IPython 3 and IPython 4 (automatically detects the notebook command to use)
• Select Default Python as an environment to start the default Python environment (no .bat file needed)
• Deselect Open notebook to only start a command prompt with the Python environment.
• Invalid .bat files and missing IPython installations trigger a warning to be displayed in the program.
• Environments and directories are saved to /notebook_opener/config.ini in the Appdata/Roaming folder.

Have additional feature requests / suggestions? Feel free to open an issue!

####Fix (or add) a missing activate.bat It might happen that you have Python environments without an activate.bat, this can be solved using the following steps:

1. Download activate.bat from the conda-env repository: [Direct link]
2. Paste it into the scripts folder of the environment that you want to add to the NotebookOpener.

Courtesy of user gaspers1!