In the Tools menu, under Misc, you find the Serial Terminal. This is a useful tool if you want to give direct commands via the serial port. For example, in our Arduino projects, there is often a need to communicate with the sketch in the Arduino to do testing and execute various commands. Before using the terminal, you will have to go to the Settings menu and setup the parameters for serial communication.

 

 

The most important settings are the COM port number and the baud rate. Many times you can leave the Data bits, Parity, and Stop bits at their default values (8,N,1). Of course, it depends on the application.

 

When you have got the settings right, you can go ahead and open the Serial Terminal.

 

If everything is OK, you will see the word "Connected" down in the left-hand corner of the window.

 

 

Now, you type in the text that you want to send over the serial port in the textbox at the top.

 

 

When you are done, click on the Send button.

 

 

You will see incoming characters in blue color and the ones that you have sent in green.

 

The Clear button clears the window from all text.

 

If you click on the connection button at the bottom left corner, there is a menu that allows you to Disconnect, Connect, and Reconnect.

 

 

A reconnect is useful when you want to reset an Arduino, for example.