Why can't Python find Matplotlib after installing Manim (in Windows 11)?

Question

I am using Windows 11 on an HP laptop, purchased August 2024. I have installed Python, then added matplotlib (using the command line from PowerShell) and it seemed to be working (In PowerShell I simply typed python -m pip install matplotlib but note that now I have also tried python3.13 -m pip install matplotlib which was suggested by another question, but the console just said that python3.13 (my version) was not a command). I could run a simple program from w3schools.com using matplotlib.

Then I installed Manim using the Chocolatey package manager (as recommended for the Manim community version). This was by typing: choco install manimce. Now I can't use matplotlib anymore. I can download the package using pip, but the following code won't run:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
import numpy as np

y = np.array([35, 25, 25, 15])
mylabels = ["Apples", "Bananas", "Cherries", "Dates"]

plt.pie(y, labels = mylabels)
plt.show() 

I have tried running this from the code editor and clicking "run" from the menu options. My editor is called "IDLE", which I have used for every piece of code I have run.

The output from the code: import sys; print(sys.path) is as follows:

['C:/<MYSTUFF>/<MY OWN PROGRAMS>/Python code', 'C:\\Python312\\Lib\\idlelib', 'C:\\Python312\\python312.zip', 'C:\\Python312\\DLLs', 'C:\\Python312\\Lib', 'C:\\Python312', 'C:\\Users\\<MY USERNAME>\\AppData\\Roaming\\Python\\Python312\\site-packages', 'C:\\Python312\\Lib\\site-packages', 'C:\\tools\\Manim\\Lib\\site-packages']

So whilst I use the command line for installing packages, I am not running any of these programs from the command line, just the code editor. Then the shell for my IDLE editor reports this:

Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:\MYFOLDERSETC\python tester 2.py", line 1, in <module> import matplotlib as plt ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'matplotlib'

The output for the command python -m pip freeze is as follows:

click==8.1.7

cloup==3.0.5

colorama==0.4.6

contourpy==1.3.1

cycler==0.12.1

decorator==5.1.1

fonttools==4.55.2

glcontext==3.0.0

isosurfaces==0.1.2

kiwisolver==1.4.7

manim==0.18.1

ManimPango==0.6.0

mapbox_earcut==1.0.2

markdown-it-py==3.0.0

matplotlib==3.9.3

mdurl==0.1.2

moderngl==5.12.0

moderngl-window==3.0.3

networkx==3.4.2

numpy==2.1.3

packaging==24.2

pillow==11.0.0

pycairo==1.27.0

pydub==0.25.1

pyglet==2.0.20

PyGLM==2.7.3

Pygments==2.18.0

pyparsing==3.2.0

python-dateutil==2.9.0.post0

rich==13.9.4

scipy==1.14.1

screeninfo==0.8.1

setuptools==75.6.0

six==1.17.0

skia-pathops==0.8.0.post2

srt==3.5.3

svgelements==1.9.6

tqdm==4.67.1

typing_extensions==4.12.2

watchdog==6.0.0

wheel==0.45.

I have tried reinstalling matplotlib from the command line, but the same thing happens each time. I can use numpy to generate simple random numbers, so something is still working. I have tried all the solutions from similar questions on SO, but nothing changes.

I used Chocolatey to install Manim, and tried using it to install matplotlib, but it wouldn't install. I previously have installed all packages (including matplotlib) from the command line) using pip.

What is going wrong, and how can I fix this?