Call me old fashioned, but I like to know where my files are located. Because of several installations over the years, I have 2 or 3 copies of Arduino.exe in my computer. I know where the main .exe file is, but WHERE is it grabbing the libraries? When I go to the library manager, it give me a list of libraries I could install. And it also gives me the option to install a .ZIP library.
But I have a .h file that I want to include. Where and how do I do that? Do I just put it in the same folder as Arduino.exe, or do I put it in my SKETCH folder? Or do I have to ZIP it first, and then tell the IDE to install a ZIP library?
User contributed libraries go in folders in the sketchpad/libraries folder. That is where the Library Manager puts them
You can put them in the same folder as your sketch file but they will only be available to that sketch and must be 'included with " " around the filename rather than < >
You can manually install a library by creating a folder in the sketchpad/libraries folder and putting the library files in that folder, The folder should have the same name as the library file to be #included
CharlesLinquist:
Or do I have to ZIP it first, and then tell the IDE to install a ZIP library?
You can do that if you like, but it's not actually necessary to zip it. Despite the menu name, "Add .ZIP Library" can also install libraries from folders. You can just put the .h file in a folder (best practices is for the folder to be named the same as the .h file), then select that folder in the "Add .ZIP Library" dialog.
But for someone who likes to know where files are located, you might prefer the manual installation method described by UKHeliBob.
Note that you should never install libraries to the Arduino IDE installation folder. The reason is that everything you put in that folder will be lost when you update to a new version of the Arduino IDE. Libraries you install to the libraries subfolder of the sketchbook folder will persist through updates of the Arduino IDE.