In the Spyder GUI, I can navigate to the following parameter: Tools -> Preferences -> IPython console -> Graphics -> Graphics backend -> Backend. The options for this parameter are Inline, Automatic, Qt5, and Tkinter.
At the console, I can issue %matplotlib inline and %matplotlib tk.
For %matplotlib auto, I get Using matplotlib backend: TkAgg.
However, none of these settings are settings are reflected in the Backend parameter when I use the Spyder GUI to navigate to it.
I get errors for %matplotlib qt and %matplotlib Qt5:
%matplotlib qt
Warning: Cannot change to a different GUI toolkit: qt. Using tk instead.
Warning: Cannot change to a different GUI toolkit: qt. Using tk instead.
%matplotlib Qt5
Warning: Cannot change to a different GUI toolkit: qt5. Using tk instead.
Warning: Cannot change to a different GUI toolkit: qt5. Using tk instead.
Why can’t I choose this option when it is available in the GUI? According to this page, it should work.
And why doesn’t the GUI reflect the change? Since it doesn’t, can I trust what is shown in the GUI’s backend or assume that the %matplotlib setting succeeded?
P.S. I found this and this Q&A, but they are for Jupyter.
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