Updating R and RStudio

While there is no requirement to regularly update your installation of R and RStudio, occasionally updating your software ensures that you have all of latest functionality and resources. The R Project Team and the Foundation for Open Access Statistics [developers of RStudio] regularly update these applications.

Before you consider upgrading your installation of R, you should verify what version of R is installed on your computer. When you start RStudio, it starts R and displays the information of your R installation.

In the screen shot image above, R version 3.3.0 is the installed version. The R Project team also assigns a, usually humorous, name to each version of R. In the image above, R version 3.3.0 is named "Supposedly Educational".

Now that you know our version of R, you can go to the R Project website [https://www.r-project.org/], find out what the current version is, and decide whether you want to upgrade your installation.

If you decide to upgrade your version of R, simply choose a CRAN mirror in the download page and follow the procedure you used to initially download and install R. The installation will automatically install the new version and make it available within RStudio.

Before you consider upgrading your installation of RStudio, you should verify what version of RStudio is installed on your computer. The About RStudio dialog will tell you what version of RStudio is installed on your computer.

To open the About RStudio dialog in Windows, click the About RStudio menu option in the Help menu.

To open the About RStudio dialog in Mac, click the About RStudio menu option in the RStudio menu.

The About RStudio looks the same on Windows or Mac. Immediately below the RStudio title you will find the version number of RStudio. In the image above, the version number is 0.99.893.

Now that you know our version of RStudio, you can go to the RStudio website [https://www.rstudio.com/], find out what the current version is, and decide whether you want to upgrade your installation.

If you decide to upgrade your version of RStudio, simply follow the procedure you used to initially download and install RStudio. The installation will automatically install the new version and make it available for your use.