Advanced Settings

Besides standard settings that you frequently use, PhpStorm offers various advanced options that you can use to fine-tune the behavior of the specific product functionality.

Since the advanced settings consist of different sections, you can use the search field to quickly navigate to the section of interest or the needed option. You can also search for registry keys since some of advanced options have associated registry keys.

Bookmarks


Show only line bookmarks in popup	By default, PhpStorm shows only line bookmarks in the bookmarks popup (`Shift+F11` or Edit \| Bookmarks \| Show Line Bookmarks). Disable this option if you want to see other bookmarked items in the popup, for example, files or folders. For more information, see Bookmarks.

Debugger


Maximum number of recent expressions	The number of expressions to be saved in the Evaluate expression history.

Docker


Connect to Docker automatically at restart	Select to connect to the configured Docker daemon after PhpStorm starts.
Image registry entities loading limit	For performance reasons, by default, PhpStorm shows only the first 100 images in a Docker registry. Increase this number if you need to list more. This will also increase the memory usage.
The log tab should be the first tab for the docker container	Show the Log tab as the first tab in the container overview pane.

Editor

Use this section to configure additional options for working in the editor.


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.
Show zoom indicator	Use this option to see an indicator that shows the current font size and the option to revert it back to default while zooming your code in or out in the editor.
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.

Editor Tabs

Besides the standard editor tabs options that PhpStorm offers when you work with tabs in the editor, this section contains extra options that are also available as internal registry actions.


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, PhpStorm 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.
Equalize proportions in nested splits	Use this option to even the size of multiple horizontal or vertical splits in the editor.
Keep pinned tabs on the left	Always move pinned tabs to the left side in the editor. Otherwise, the location of pinned tabs is not defined, and you can move them on the tabs bar as necessary.

Find / Replace

Use this section to configure extra options when working with Search for a target within a project.


Enable similar usages clustering in Find Usages view	PhpStorm analyzes search results, detects the most common usage patterns, and categorizes all found usages into groups based on their structural similarity. These usage clusters appear in the Preview tab. For more information, refer to Search for usages in a project.
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.

Enable similar usages clustering in Find Usages view

PhpStorm analyzes search results, detects the most common usage patterns, and categorizes all found usages into groups based on their structural similarity. These usage clusters appear in the Preview tab.

For more information, refer to Search for usages in a project.

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.

IDE

Use this section to configure extra options on storing different entities of your project.


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`.
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.

Markdown


Hide floating toolbar	When you select some text in a Markdown file, PhpStorm shows a floating toolbar with various formatting options. Select this checkbox if you don't want to see the floating toolbar, then reopen the tab to apply the changes.

Project View

Use this section to configure additional options for working in Project tool window.


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, PhpStorm 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 PhpStorm.

Run/debug


Temporary configurations limit	Use this option to change the default number of stored temporary run/debug configurations, which is `5`.
Confirm rerun with process termination	When you call rerun for a running process, PhpStorm prompts you to confirm the action of terminating the existing process and launching a new one. You can change the default behaviour by clearing this checkbox.
Make configurations pinned by default	Select this option to automatically pin tabs that open in the Run tool window after you run configurations.

SSH


Configuration files parser	Select a parser: Legacy: use the legacy parser for `~/.ssh/config`. OpenSSH: use the parser based on `ssh -G`. OpenSSH must be installed on your computer.
Custom path to an OpenSSH tool	Specify the path to OpenSSH if you have selected the OpenSSH parser.

Configuration files parser

Select a parser:

Legacy: use the legacy parser for ~/.ssh/config.
OpenSSH: use the parser based on ssh -G. OpenSSH must be installed on your computer.

Custom path to an OpenSSH tool

Specify the path to OpenSSH if you have selected the OpenSSH parser.

Search Everywhere


Show text search results in Search Everywhere	Enable text search in Search Everywhere. Results will be displayed on the new Text tab and on the All tab at the bottom of the list.
Wait for all contributors to finish before showing results	Wait for all search contributors to finish their jobs before showing the final search results. This option fixes the position of an item in search results preventing it from jumping in the list. In case there are slow search contributors, this option might slow down the operation of Search Everywhere. In the Contributors waiting timeout (ms) field, specify how much time to wait for search contributors to finish their jobs.
Sort results in the Actions tab based on machine learning	Sort search results on the Actions tab using machine learning instead of the standard ranking mechanism.
Sort results in the Files tab based on machine learning	Sort search results on the Files tab using machine learning instead of the standard ranking mechanism.

Startup


Open README.md file if there are no open files on project startup	If you select this option, PhpStorm will open a README.md file if there aren't any opened files when you start your project.

Terminal


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.
Typeahead	Enable typeahead in the terminal, which can be useful for remote connections when you expect the typing latency.
Typeahead latency threshold	Turn typeahead on when the terminal latency exceeds the specified value (in milliseconds).
Show application title	Name terminal tabs automatically based on the commands that you run.

User Interface


Show file type icon in IDE frame header	On macOS, the icon can be used to drag a file to a different application.
Use words instead of symbols for macOS keyboard shortcuts	Select this option if you want to see shortcuts with words instead of symbols.
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`.

Version Control


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, PhpStorm loads annotations when you open a file in the editor.
Highlight ignored files	When this option is selected, PhpStorm shows the list of ignored files from VCS and displays their status in the editor.
Enable Commit tool window	When you select this option, PhpStorm displays the Local Changes and Shelf tabs in a separate tool window.
Toggle commit controls	When this option is selected, PhpStorm 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, PhpStorm selects all commits that will be pushed by default.

Version Control. Git


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, PhpStorm 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, PhpStorm 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, PhpStorm 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.

Last modified: 08 March 2023