Advanced Settings

Allow auto-make to start even if developed application is currently running

Select this option to automatically build your project even if the application you are working on is currently running. Note that some application classes might be deleted during the build.

Maximum number of recent expressions

Basic syntax highlighting of inline code

Highlight keywords, numbers, and strings in all inline code spans in documentation components.

Basic syntax highlighting of multiline code blocks

Highlight keywords, numbers, and strings in all multiline code blocks in documentation components.

Syntax highlighting of links on code elements

All links in code elements will be fully highlighted with the color corresponding to the color that is selected in the editor color scheme of this element (class, method, field, and so on).

Don't copy/cut the current line when invoking the Copy or Cut action with no selection

This option lets you override the default behavior of copying Ctrl+C or cutting Ctrl+X the whole current line when nothing is selected in the editor.

Render special characters, such as control codes, using their Unicode name abbreviations

When this option is selected, you can use the Unicode name abbreviations for special characters, such as control codes.

Tab character rendering

You can select one of the following options:

• Horizontal line

• > symbol

• Long arrow

Left margin in distraction free mode

This option lets you adjust the left editor margin in the distraction-free and zen viewing modes.

By default, the editor text in these viewing modes is centered vertically and the text column width corresponds to the Hard wrap at option on the Editor | Code Style page of the IDE settings Ctrl+Alt+S. This means that if your code will be centered when formatted properly, but if there are long unwrapped lines, the text might go beyond the viewport while there is a large margin on the left. In such cases, you may want to decrease the left margin using this option.

Force soft wrap in documents with lines longer than n characters

The default number is 100000. Increasing this number might negatively affect the editor performance.

Move caret down after Comment with Line Comment action

This option lets you configure whether to move the caret to the next line if you comment a line with a line comment Ctrl+/. Note that if there is a selection in the editor, the caret will not move regardless of this option.

When navigating to a file, prefer selecting existing tab in inactive split pane

When you navigate to a file that is already opened in the inactive split, use this option to activate the existing file in that split pane instead of opening a new copy of the file in the active split.

Open declaration source in the same tab

When you navigate to a method, class or variable, the source file that contains their declaration will replace the current tab if there are no changes.

Open declaration source called from a detached window in the main IDE window

When you navigate to a method, class, or variable from a detached window, IntelliJ IDEA will open the source file containing the declaration in the main editor.

Perform 'Hide All Tool Windows' / 'Restore Windows' with double-click on editor tab

When this option is enabled, you can double-click editor tabs to hide and restore all tool windows. Alternatively, you can do that by pressing Ctrl+Shift+F12 or by choosing Window | Active Tool Window | Hide All Windows/Restore Windows from the main menu.

Perform 'Maximize Editor' / 'Normalize Splits' with double-click on editor tab

When this option is enabled, you can double-click tabs in split editor tab groups to change relative size of the tab group: the first double-click will extend the tab and its group to the maximum and shrink all other groups to the minimum width/height; the second double-click will allocate the same width and height for each tab group.

Alternatively, you can choose Window | Editor Tabs | Maximize Editor/Normalize Splits from the main menu or pick these actions from the Find Action popup Ctrl+Shift+A.

This option can work together with Perform 'Hide All Tool Windows' / 'Restore Windows' with double-click on editor tab, but be prepared to have multiple changes in the IDE layout every time you double-click a fie tab.

Maximum number of results to show in Find in Files/Show Usages preview

The default maximum number of results is 100. Increasing this limit might significantly increase memory usage.

Maximum number of recent projects

Use this option to change the default number of stored recent projects, which is 50.

Maximum number of recent files

Use this option to change the default number of stored recent files, which is 50.

Maximum number of recent locations

Use this option to change the default number of stored recent locations, which is 25.

Temporary Run/Debug configurations limit

Use this option to change the default number of stored temporary run/debug configurations, which is 5.

Duration of storing changes in Local History

Use this option to specify the number of days for which you want to keep changes in the local history.

Move focus to editor when Enter is pressed

When this option is selected, you can press Enter while in the Project view to switch focus to the editor.

When collapsing a node, also collapse all expanded nodes under it

When this option is selected, IntelliJ IDEA collapses subnodes as well as the parent node.

Increase font size in Project view

Select this option if you want to change the size of font in the Project view. You need to restart IntelliJ IDEA.

Thread count used by Project-Wide analysis

If you specify -1, IntelliJ IDEA automatically sets the thread count. Restart IntelliJ IDEA for this option to work.

Analysis delay after change

Use this option to set a delay before the code analysis. The default delay is 1000 milliseconds.

Pytest: swap actual/expected in diff

By default, IntelliJ IDEA provides the expected == actual pytest assertion. Select this checkbox to change the order of the assertion parameters to actual == expected.

Pytest: don't add "--no-header --no-summary -q"

Use this checkbox to manage the test output generated by pytest. Select it to keep rendering the header and summary.

Open README.md file if there are no open files on project startup

If you select this option, IntelliJ IDEA will open a README.md file if there aren't any opened files when you start your project.

Terminal scrollback buffer size

Use this option to increase the buffer size in the terminal.

Move focus to the editor with Escape

When this option is selected, you can use Escape to switch focus from the terminal to the editor.

Show file type icon in IDE frame header

On macOS, the icon can be used to drag a file to a different application.

Cyclic scrolling in lists and trees

Select the last element when pressing Up on the first element, and vice versa.

Position mouse cursor on default button in dialogs

When this option is selected, the mouse cursor is placed on the default button (usually it is OK) in a dialog.

Disable double modifier key shortcuts

You can disable shortcuts where a double key is used. For example, Shift or Ctrl.

Open Diff as Editor Tab

When this option is selected, the difference viewer is displayed as the editor tab.

Load file annotations from VCS when file is opened in editor

When this option is selected, IntelliJ IDEA loads annotations when you open a file in the editor.

Highlight ignored files

When this option is selected, IntelliJ IDEA shows the list of ignored files from VCS and displays their status in the editor.

Enable Commit tool window

When you select this option, IntelliJ IDEA displays the Local Changes and Shelf tabs in a separate tool window.

Toggle commit controls

When this option is selected, IntelliJ IDEA hides the commit panel and checkboxes after the commit is performed and lets you toggle them in the Commit Changes dialog.

Select all repositories with new commits for push

When this option is selected, IntelliJ IDEA selects all commits that will be pushed by default.

Recursively clone submodules in the project

When this option is selected, during the checkout from Git, git clone --recurse-submodules is used that clones the main repository with all available submodules.

Apply content transformation when reading from Git

When this option is selected, IntelliJ IDEA will use the --filters or --textconv flags for the git cat-file command when reading the file content from Git.

Use Safe Force Push

When this option is selected, IntelliJ IDEA uses --force-with-lease when force push is called from the IDE instead of just --force.

Check for incoming and outgoing commits

When this option is selected, IntelliJ IDEA updates the information on the branches that have incoming or outgoing commits in the Branches popup.

Use Windows certificate store

When this option is selected, it forces Git to use Windows certificate store to verify SSL connections. This works for Git 2.14 and later versions.