Serial Monitor

The Serial Monitor is an indispensable tool to "chat" with your Arduino board.

Connection & Setup

Before usage, ensure you have connected the board and selected the correct Port.

1. Baud Rate

This is the most important parameter. The Baud Rate in Serial Monitor must match the rate declared in Serial.begin(baudrate) in your code.

Default is usually 9600 or 115200.
Select the rate in the dropdown menu on the toolbar.

2. Line Ending

Decides whether to send a newline character when you send commands:

No Line Ending: Send raw content only.
Newline (LF): Add \n.
Carriage Return (CR): Add \r.
Both NL & CR: Add both \r\n (Most common).

Sending and Receiving Data

Receiving Data (Output)

Data sent from the board to the computer (Serial.print) will display in the main area.
Auto-scroll: Automatically scroll to the bottom when new data arrives. Turn it off if you want to stop and read old logs.
Timestamps: Enable in Settings to see the time each packet is received (useful for measuring delays).

Sending Data (Input)

Type commands in the Input box at the bottom of the panel.
Press Enter or the Send button to send to the board.
Data you send will be displayed in a different color from received data for easy distinction.

Data Statistics

The right corner shows a summary of data traffic:

In: Incoming data speed (Bytes/s).
Out: Outgoing data speed.

You have mastered using the Output Panel to control and communicate with your project!