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I have installed both PyCharm Edu 2018.3 and PyCharm Professional 2018.1.5 in my computer. Every time I switch from Edu to Professional and vice versa, I have to set the Project Interpreter, because it's lost.

The detailed description (TL;DR):

I open some project in one of these versions of PyCharm, and all is OK.

Then I open the same project in the other one - to find that the Project Interpreter is not set - in spite that I set it before (to the path C:UsersUserAnaconda3python.exe). So I set it to the same path again, and all things work.

But this time only in this version of PyCharm.

Because when I switch back to the previous version of Pycharm, the situation is similar - I find that the Project Interpreter is not set - in spite that all things worked before, and the Project Interpreter was set (to the same path C:UsersUserAnaconda3python.exe).

So I set it to the same path again, and all things work now - but only in this version of Pycharm, because after switching back to the other version, the Project Interpreter is not set.

It doesn't matter when I switch between active versions of PyCharm, or when I exit one version, and then I launch the other one.

One version of PyCharm unset Project Interpreter in the other one, and vice versa.

What happens, and how to fix it?

Configuration parameters are saved in 2 different places:

You have installed 2 version of PyCharm - Edu and Professional - so you have 3 configuration places:

Every version of PyCharm has its own list of available interpreters, for example:

Note that the Project Interpreter is (so far) not set, and that every interpreter has its name.

Now we open our project in Pycharm Edu, and select a Project Interpreter for it:

Note that in the Project Configuration, the selected interpreter is saved as its name, and NOT as the interpreter itself (a path to it).

Now we open the same project in PyCharm Professional (or switch to it, if it was already opened):

We may see, that the name of its Project Interpreter (Name1) is NOT found in the PyCharm Professional list of its interpreters. And as the result of it, you have NOT set the Project Interpreter for PyCharm professional!

So you are forced to select one - and you select the same interpreter, but now with the name NameA. All is OK, while you don't switch to PyCharm Edu, after that you will meet the same problems.

The solution is to assign the same names for the same interpreters in both version of Pycharm (Edu and Professional):

That's all. Now you can freely switch between 2 versions of PyCharm, and nothing bad happens.

How that problem may arise?

1. 
   

   Because the original names of interpreters were long and very, very similar. Compare the following names:

   
   
   

   Python 3.6 (C:UsersUserAnaconda3python.exe)
Python 3.6.1 (C:UsersUserAnaconda3python.exe)

   
   



2. Because as part of that names was the full path to the corresponding interpreter, so the user was misguided - they supposed that they selected an interpreter, while they selected a name.

Who assigned those long names, and why to the same path were chosen different names in different versions of PyCharm (Edu and Professional)?

The PyCharm itself. In the time of its installation (or just after it) it searches local disk(s) for Python Interpreters, adds each one into its list, and assigns it a name composed of

• the interpreter's name,


• the interpreter's version number, and


• the full path to it (in parentheses).

If between installations of two PyCharm versions the user updates a particular interpreter, its new version number becomes the part of its new name, so it will differ from the name used in the Python Interpreter list of the first PyCharm version.

And the problems listed in the question will arise...

How to change the name of an interpreter?

From the Project Interpreter.

It's a little counter-intuitive, because the list of interpreters (with their names) has nothing with the project configuration - it's a part of a particular PyCharm edition configuration.

File | Settings... | Project: (your_project_name) | Project Interpreter

Then click on Project Interpreter combo-box (1), and select "Show all..." (2).

Pops-up a window with a misleading, deceptive name "Project Interpreters" in its title. It's not true, as it lists NOT project interpreters, but Pycharm (this particular version) interpreters!

Select the interpreter with the unsatisfactory name, click on icon with a pencil on it (3) to edit it, and in another popup window rewrite the name of that interpreter (4):