How do I install a .whl file in a PyCharm virtualenv?

You can install it from PyCharm's Python console with the pip module :

import pip

def install_whl(path):
    pip.main(['install', path])

install_whl("path/to/file.whl")

To install via your command line, and avoid installing on your base Python, you'll have to first activate the virtualenv.

You can do this on POSIX using:

$ source path_to_your_venv/bin/activate

And then for Windows systems:

> path_to_venv\Scripts\activate

You can then install the .whl file with pip install filename.whl while the virtual env has been activated.

My environment is Windows 7 and Python 2.7.12.

Steps to install whl packages into venv:

1. Search package on Python Extension Packages for Windows - Christoph Gohlke
2. Download package, for example, mysqlclient‑1.3.13‑cp27‑cp27m‑win32.whl to C:\Root\python\whls\mysqlclient‑1.3.13‑cp27‑cp27m‑win32.whl
3. Open PyCharm Python Console and execute script below:

import pip
from pip._internal import main as pipmain


def install_whl(path):
    pipmain(['install', path])


install_whl('C:\Root\python\whls\mysqlclient-1.3.13-cp27-cp27m-win32.whl')