Python IntelliSense in PyCharm w/ ArcPy Not Working

Question

I cannot get intellisense to work with ArcPy's newer syntax style in Pycharm 2021.3.2 (Community Edition). What's odd is that the older-style syntax DOES work: arcpy.CreateFileGDB_management()

However, this does not: arcpy.management.CreateFileGDB()

To be clear, the code runs fine with the newer style. My interpreter is configured to point to ArcGIS Pro's Anaconda distribution (Python 3.7).

My assumption here is that PyCharm is somehow reading from the ArcGIS Desktop (Python 2.7) documentation, which is also installed on my system, but I can't find any references to that interpreter within PyCharm.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

JoshuaBixby · Answer

Possibly related to Autocomplete not working for lazily imported modules : PY-49357 (jetbrains.com).  The package tested in submitting the defect is similar to ArcPy in that autocomplete works in VS Code but not PyCharm.

VinceE · Answer

Thanks, it does, however this is a pretty clunky solution, and one that is not required in VS Code. My response to @Luke_Pinner below has a bunch of screenshots from the simple "import arcpy" working in VS Code.

This feels like a problem specific to PyCharm for whatever reason. Would love to hear if you have other ideas.

VinceE · Answer

Interesting, thanks for the reply.

I might be misunderstanding you, but this is not my experience (at least in VS Code). Using VS Code, I have never imported arcpy.management, arcpy.analysis, arcpy.cartography, etc. in my tools.

I have also never seen reference to this import syntax in Esri documentation. This and the anecdotal evidence below make me skeptical that I need to "import arcpy.management".

In VS Code, intellisense from base arcpy import:

also getting intellisense for management functions with this import style:

This is also not how other modules work, at least for me in VS Code. I don't import numpy.random for intellisense regarding "randint".

or in PyCharm.

Would love to hear other ideas, if you have them. This feels like a PyCharm problem/setting, or something to do with the way ArcPy is written and interpreted by PyCharm, not an import style problem.