Installing Quarto

Short Introduction

Before creating projects, you need Quarto installed on your computer. You also need a way to edit plain text files, and optionally a programming environment if you want to run code chunks within your quarto documents.

One Install, Every Output

A single Quarto installation powers everything that Quarto can produce, including lab notes, manuscripts, slides, websites and dashboards. Setting it up once unlocks all of these features for your own research, and the install itself is quick and straightforward. You can initially use just Quarto and a text editor, and then add a programming language when you want to run code and include its outputs (e.g. figures and tables) directly in your documents.

You Might Already Have Quarto

Quarto ships with recent versions of RStudio (v2022.07 and later) and with Positron, so you may not need a separate install. To check, open a terminal and run:

quarto --version

If a version number appears (1.5 or newer is recommended for this workshop), you are ready. If you instead see “command not found”, install it using the steps below.

What To Install

Quarto

Quarto is the core tool that does the actual work, turning your .qmd files into finished documents such as web pages, PDFs, or slides. Download the installer for your operating system from quarto.org/docs/get-started, which provides a Windows .msi, a macOS .pkg, and Linux packages. Run the installer and Quarto is added to your system.

An Editor

You can use:

  • Positron or RStudio, which support .qmd files out of the box:
    • syntax highlighting for the YAML, Markdown, and code
    • a Render button with live preview, instead of typing quarto render
    • code-chunk output shown inline
  • VS Code with the official Quarto extension for live preview and syntax highlighting
  • another plain text editor you are comfortable with

Optional Language Runtime

If you want to run executable code chunks, you also need at least one language runtime such as R, Python, or Julia. You only need the language you actually plan to use.

Suggested Installation Workflow

  1. Download Quarto from quarto.org/docs/get-started.
  2. Install it using the standard installer for your operating system.
  3. Open a terminal and run quarto check to confirm the installation.
  4. Confirm your editor recognizes .qmd files.
  5. If you want live code execution, confirm that R, Python, or Julia is also available.

The quarto check command verifies the whole setup and reports on each part. The full output is longer than what is shown below, but a healthy result looks roughly like this:

PS C:\Users\mankurma> quarto check
Quarto 1.9.38
[>] Checking versions of quarto binary dependencies...
      Pandoc version 3.8.3: OK
      Dart Sass version 1.87.0: OK
      Deno version 2.4.5: OK
      Typst version 0.14.2: OK
[>] Checking versions of quarto dependencies......OK
[>] Checking Quarto installation......OK
      Version: 1.9.38
      Path: C:\Users\mankurma\AppData\Local\Programs\Quarto\bin

[>] Checking tools....................OK
      TinyTeX: (not installed)
      Chromium: (not installed)
      ...

[>] Checking LaTeX....................OK
      Tex:  (not detected)

[>] Checking basic markdown render....OK

[>] Checking R installation...........OK
      Version: 4.6.0
      Path: F:/APPS/R/R-4.6.0
      knitr: 1.51
      rmarkdown: 2.31

[>] Checking Knitr engine render......OK

[>] Checking Python 3 installation....OK
      Version: 3.7.8
      Jupyter: (None)
      ...

Notice that each step reports OK even though some optional tools, such as TinyTeX or LaTeX, are not installed. You only need those for specific outputs like PDF, so an installation can be healthy without them.

TipRendering to PDF

PDF output relies on a LaTeX installation. If you do not already have one, the simplest option is to let Quarto manage it for you:

quarto install tinytex

Choosing Your Setup

What you need depends on what you want to produce:

If you want to… You need
Write and render to HTML or Word Quarto + an editor
Also export PDF + TinyTeX
Run R or Python inside the document + that language runtime

You can start minimal and add pieces later. Writing and rendering to HTML or Word needs nothing beyond Quarto and an editor; the language runtime only matters once you want to execute code.

Self-Check

After installation, you should be able to answer yes to these questions:

  • Can I open or create a .qmd file?
  • Does quarto check report a working installation?
  • Do I know which editor I will use?

Next Step

Once the foundations are in place, move into the first use case: Documenting Research in Progress.