Learn how to select the right board and port in Arduino IDE.

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It’s useful to understand the difference between board and port selections:

• The board selection tells Arduino IDE how to compile the sketch and what protocols to use when uploading the sketch. In some cases, it will be automatically set, but it can be overridden with the Tools > Board menu or in the “Select other board and port…” dialog.
• The port selection refers to an actual board (or other device) that’s connected to your computer. Many boards are automatically recognized by Arduino IDE—these boards will have their name displayed next to their port in the Tools > Port menu and will have their port associated with the identified board in the board selector menu.

Port and board selection can be managed in two ways:

• Using the board selector (IDE 2)
• Using the Tools menu

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Using the board selector

Note: The board selector is only available in IDE 2.

Follow these steps to use a connected board:

1. Find the board selector and click to open.

2. A list of ports will be displayed. If a board could be identified, the board name will be displayed, otherwise, it will display “Unknown”.

   

3. Click on a port to select it:

   • If a board was identified, it will automatically be selected. The selected board name will be displayed. The “” indicates that a port is selected.

     

   • If it is unknown, the “Select Other board and port” dialog will open. See Manually select a board.

   • If the board could be identified, but you are missing the board platform, you may be asked to install it:

     • Select Yes to automatically install the board package in the background.

     • Select Install manually to view the package in the Board Manager.

     To learn more about installing boards, see Add a board to Arduino IDE.

Manually select a board

In some cases you may want to individually control the port and board selection:

• Select a board that isn’t connected to your computer (you can still write and verify sketches).
• The board cannot be automatically identified.
• The board associated with the port is incorrect.

Follow these steps:

1. Open the board selector and select Select other board and port.

   

2. Make your selections:

   • Boards: Type in the text field to filter and scroll in list. Click on a board to select it.

   • Ports: Select a port (optional).

   

3. Click OK to save the changes and close the dialog.

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Using the Tools menu

The menu bar can be used to perform many actions, including board and port selection.

The menu bar may be anchored to the top of the IDE window or the top of your screen, depending on your system.

Select board with Tools > Board

Follow these steps:

1. Click on Tools in the menu bar and find the Board row. If a board is currently selected it will be displayed here.

2. Hover over the Board row to reveal the installed board packages. These packages contain some popular boards:

   Package	Boards
   Arduino AVR Boards	Arduino Uno, Arduino Mega, Arduino Nano (classic)
   Arduino megaAVR Boards	Arduino Uno WiFi Rev2, Arduino Nano Every
   Arduino SAMD (32-bits ARM Cortex-M0+) Boards	MKR Zero, MKR WiFi 1000, MKR WiFi 1010, and other MKR boards
   Arduino SAM (32-bits ARM Cortex-M3) Boards	Arduino Due
   Mbed OS Nano Boards	Arduino Nano 33 BLE, Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense, Arduino Nano RP2040 Connect
   Mbed OS Portenta Boards	Portenta H7

   If you don’t know which package to use, or if it’s missing from the list, see Add a board to Arduino IDE.

3. Hover over a package to reveal the boards.

4. Click on a board to select it, for example:

   • Tools > Board > Arduino AVR Boards > Arduino Uno.
   • Tools > Board > Mbed OS Nano Boards > Arduino Nano 33 BLE
   • Tools > Board > Mbed OS Portenta Boards > Portenta H7

Select port with Tools > Port

Note: In IDE 2, the Tools > Port option will not display if Arduino IDE doesn’t detect any ports^[1].

Follow these steps:

1. Click on Tools in the menu bar and find the Port row. If a board is currently selected it will be displayed here.

2. Hover over the Port to reveal all ports. For Arduino devices, the board name will typically be displayed after the port, for example:

   • COM3 (Arduino Uno)
   • /dev/cu.usbmodem14101 (Arduino Uno)
   • /dev/ttyACM0 (Arduino Uno)

3. Click on a port to select it.

If you don’t see your board in the list, or if the Port option is missing, see If your board does not appear in the port menu.

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1. Issue #655 ↩︎