[Solved] How to Delete Boards from IDE List

Development Tools IDE 1.x
1

I'd like to clean up the Tools>Boards list in the IDE to get rid of boards I will never own/use.
The default Arduino ones as well as some that got added in packages (Sparkfun, Digispark, various ESP8266 boards)

I've messed around with a few boards.txt files but I lost myself in all the different directories Arduino IDE uses.

Can anyone explain the proper files to trim and what directories they are in?
I've installed IDE in default directories on Windows 10.

2

This is what I have in my additional board urls under Preferences

http://digistump.com/package_digistump_index.json
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sparkfun/Arduino_Boards/master/IDE_Board_Manager/package_sparkfun_index.json
http://arduino.esp8266.com/stable/package_esp8266com_index.json
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/damellis/attiny/ide-1.6.x-boards-manager/package_damellis_attiny_index.json

Is it even possible to trim these add-on board lists or does the IDE access these lists every time it starts up?

3
  • Select one of the boards of the package you want to trim from the Tools > Board menu
  • File > Examples > SPI > BarometricPressureSensor
  • Sketch > Show Sketch Folder
  • Move up folder levels until you reach the folder that contains boards.txt
  • Open boards.txt in a text editor
  • Delete or comment out(#) any boards entries that you don't want
  • Save boards.txt
  • Restart the Arduino IDE.

Remember that you will need to redo this process every time you update your package version or Arduino IDE version in the case of the default boards.

4

Worked great, thanks a bunch

5

Thank you INTP and thank you pert for this 2-year-old info. It just saved me a ton of time.

As of IDE 1.8.12 the editable boards.txt files appear to live in Arduino Data/packages

Editing them is a snap.

Much appreciated, people.

6

works, but with the next update is gone.
make in the same folder where is the boards.txt a new file named boards.local.txt
put the name with the hide parameter in,
Like this: The items with # at the beginning are shown

yun.hide=
#uno.hide=
diecimila.hide=
#nano.hide=
leonardo.hide=
megaADK.hide=
#mega.hide=
leonardoeth.hide=
#micro.hide=
esplora.hide=
#mini.hide=
ethernet.hide=
fio.hide=
bt.hide=
LilyPadUSB.hide=
lilypad.hide=
#pro.hide=
atmegang.hide=
robotControl.hide=
robotMotor.hide=
gemma.hide=
circuitplay32u4cat.hide=
yunmini.hide=
chiwawa.hide=
one.hide=
unowifi.hide=