Module installed on Conda, but gives error on importing in Spyder (Python IDE)

Question

I recently installed pybedtools in my Conda environment, using the command they mentioned -

conda install -c bioconda pybedtools

But then when I activated spyder in this environment, and tried to run import pybedtools it gave me the error-

Modulenotfounderror: no module named 'pybedtools'

I went back and tried to install using the module using pip too (pip install pybedtools) but it said that I already had it -

Requirement already satisfied: pybedtools in /anaconda3/envs/env1/lib/python3.5/site-packages Requirement already satisfied: six in ./anaconda3/envs/env1/lib/python3.5/site-packages (from pybedtools)

So, I am unable to understand how it is that the module is installed yet Spyder does not allow me to import it. I have never faced this issue with Anaconda before. Any help would be great!

Answer 1

Here is how I was able to solve the issue -

1. activate the root environment. This can be done by activate root in Windows and source activate root in Ubuntu/Mac
2. install the said package here. This can be done using the same command that you used to install the package in your previous environment
3. Go back to your original environment. The problem will now be resolved.

I would love to know, though, why this method works!