see Jupyter notebook outputs in PyCharm Community Edition

The standalone PyCharm Community Edition, last released as 2025.2, shows a notebook's saved outputs in a read-only preview and cannot run a cell. Since 2025.3 there is one PyCharm, and its free tier runs notebooks, each output under its cell.

the preview in Community Edition 2025.2 and older

Double-click the .ipynb in the Project tool window. The preview lists every cell with its source and the output saved with it, and nothing in it can be run, so what you read is whatever the last person to run the notebook saved.

running cells in PyCharm 2025.3 and later

Updating to the current PyCharm costs nothing, and Jupyter support comes in its free tier. Open the .ipynb, pick the project interpreter and press Shift+Enter on a cell: the cell runs, its output appears right under it, and the caret moves to the next one.

outside PyCharm, also free

JupyterLab runs the same notebook in a browser tab; start it from PyCharm's terminal and keep the IDE for the rest of the project. VS Code with Microsoft's free Jupyter extension runs notebooks as well and shows the outputs inline. Either one executes the cells; save the notebook there and the PyCharm preview shows its new outputs.

Notebook Lens, for reading without running anything

Notebook Lens reads the cells straight off disk with no kernel behind it, in every JetBrains IDE from 2024.2 to the newest, PyCharm Community among them. Markdown keeps its headings, lists, quotes and links, and code is colored. Outputs look the way a notebook shows them: result text, stream logs, tracebacks in their ANSI colors and inline images.

A 175 MB notebook of 9,000 cells opens in about a second: one streaming pass indexes where every cell sits instead of loading the file whole, and the first screen is up while the rest is still indexing. Cell 9,000 is one Go click away. The outline rail and next and previous cell get you around, and Find searches the cell you are in.

Install Notebook Lens from the JetBrains Marketplace, then double-click the .ipynb. If the IDE has Jupyter support of its own, that support keeps the file and the Notebook Lens tab opens beside it; the plain text editor is one more tab over, with the raw JSON.

Notebook Lens in IntelliJ IDEA: a notebook rendered with markdown, a table output and a chart — analysis.ipynb in a Notebook Lens tab: the markdown, a code cell's table output and a chart, each as the notebook saved it.

what it leaves out, and what Pro adds

The file is never written to and no kernel starts. The outputs are drawn exactly as they were saved. Markdown tables and LaTeX appear as source, and a 2011-era nbformat 3 file is named, with the exact convert command, instead of half-read.

Reading is free at any size. Pro adds a notebook diff that compares cell type and source and ignores outputs and execution counts, an export of the code to a percent-format script or to Markdown with fenced code, and a search across every cell in one pass with a hit list that jumps to each match.

The viewer is free and stays free. Pro is a subscription for this plugin: USD 2.90 a month or USD 29 a year for individual use. For organizations it is, per user, USD 5.80 a month or USD 58 a year.

Suggestions reach us at support@twilightventures.dev. For a notebook that renders wrong, Report a Notebook Lens Problem at the end of the Help menu opens a prefilled new issue in your browser for you to read before you post.

questions

Can Notebook Lens run a cell or refresh an output?

No, there is no kernel in it to run one. Save a run made in PyCharm 2025.3 or later, JupyterLab or VS Code, reopen the file, and Notebook Lens shows what that run printed.

Which PyCharm do I have?

Look in Help, About, or under the PyCharm menu on macOS. A version of 2025.2 or lower with Community Edition in its name has the read-only preview; from 2025.3 the name is just PyCharm, and its free tier runs notebooks.

Does it work outside PyCharm?

Yes. Notebook Lens installs into IntelliJ IDEA, GoLand, Android Studio, WebStorm, Rider and every other JetBrains IDE from 2024.2. In an IDE with no Jupyter support of its own, GoLand or Android Studio for one, it shows the notebook rendered there, and a paid plugin, Cells - Notebook Viewer and Editor, is another way.

Install from the JetBrains Marketplacefree to read; the Pro trial runs 30 days