28 Essential IntelliJ IDEA Tips to Supercharge Your Java Development

IntelliJ IDEA has become a dominant Java development tool thanks to its rich feature set that dramatically boosts daily coding efficiency. Below are 28 useful tips that, once mastered, can make your development workflow fly.

1. View Code History

Right‑click the Java class, choose

Local History

→

Show History

to see recent changes. Only recent modifications are available.

2. Adjust IDEA Virtual Memory

Open

Change Memory Settings

and select

Edit Custom VM Options

to modify the .vmoptions file. Changing this incorrectly may prevent IDEA from starting.

3. Set Eclipse‑style Keymap

Switch to the Eclipse keymap so you don’t need to remember two sets of shortcuts.

4. Ignore Case in Completion

Disable the case‑sensitivity option (or select

none

) so that typing

String

or

string

both trigger suggestions.

5. Turn Off Code Inspection

You can disable specific inspections to reduce resource usage, though turning them all off is not recommended.

6. Configure Documentation Comment Template

Set up a template for Javadoc comments to speed up documentation.

7. Show Method Separators

Enable method separators to visually distinguish methods in poorly formatted code.

8. Display Multi‑Line Tabs

Disable the single‑line tab view to show multi‑line tabs, which is handy when many tabs are open.

8.1 Tab limit auto‑closes

Increase the

settings

‑

editor

‑

General

‑

Editor tabs

‑

tab limit

value to keep more tabs open.

9. Jump to Braces Quickly

Press

Ctrl+[

or

Ctrl+]

to move to the opening or closing brace of the current method.

10. Auto‑Complete Code Endings

Use

Ctrl+Shift+Enter

to complete statements such as adding a semicolon or closing braces without moving the cursor.

11. Fuzzy Search for Methods

Press

Ctrl+Shift+Alt+N

, type a fragment like

Peo.te

to locate a method. Alternatively, use

Ctrl+Shift+R

and select

Symbols

.

12. Preview a Class Without Opening a Tab

Press

Ctrl+Alt+B

to jump to the class, then

Ctrl+Shift+I

to preview it without creating a new tab.

13. Find Callers of a Method

Press

Ctrl+Alt+H

to see where a method is invoked. Previously you would use

Ctrl+H

or

Ctrl+Shift+F

to search manually.

14. Customize Code Templates

Change default postfix completions (e.g., replace

sout

with

syso

) via the

Postfix Completion

settings.

15. Auto‑Import and Remove Unused Imports

Press

Alt+Enter

to import a class manually, and

Ctrl+Alt+O

to optimize imports.

16. Codota Plugin for Popular APIs

Codota suggests frequently used classes and methods based on community usage.

17. Quick Documentation Lookup

Press

F2

to view the Javadoc of a class or field instantly.

18. Rainbow Brackets Plugin

Install the plugin to color‑match paired brackets for easier navigation.

19. Add Multiple Services to a Single Run Window (Microservice Projects)

Open

View → Tool Windows → Services → Add Services

to manage several services in one window.

20. Global IDEA Settings for New Windows

Adjust settings (e.g., Maven configuration) under

Other Settings

to apply globally to newly opened windows.

21. Mapper ↔ XML Navigation

Install the

Free MyBatis Plugin

and click the green arrow to jump between Java mapper interfaces and their XML files.

22. Set IDEA Background Image

Use the

BackgroundImage

plugin to set a custom picture as the IDE background.

23. Visualize Maven Dependency Tree

Run

mvn dependency:tree

or click the

Show Dependencies

button in IDEA to view a graphical dependency graph.

24. Switch to Previously Used Tab

Press

Alt+←

to go back to the last active tab and

Alt+→

to move forward.

25. Built‑in SSH Client

Configure host and credentials, then open an SSH session directly from IDEA.

26. Sequence Diagram Plugin for Call Chains

Install the

SequenceDiagram

plugin to generate visual call‑chain diagrams for complex code bases.

27. Capture Thread Dump

During debugging, click the camera icon to obtain a thread dump, which helps identify which thread is executing a particular method.

28. Run Same Project on Different Ports

Add a custom VM option such as

-Dserver.port=8993

to launch another instance on a different port, useful for load‑balancing tests.

<code># 8993 is a different port from the one defined in application.yml
-Dserver.port=8993
</code>