Boost Your Java Productivity: Hidden IntelliJ IDEA Tricks You Must Try

Overview

IntelliJ IDEA becomes more powerful the more you use it, constantly offering small surprises while coding. Inspired by this love, the author shares a series of useful IntelliJ IDEA tips, with this article covering many practical tricks you may not know.

My Favorite Presentation Mode

Use

Alt+V

to open the View menu and select

Enter Presentation Mode

, which maximizes the IDE window and lets you focus on a single class without distractions. To exit, press

Alt+V

again and choose

Exit Presentation Mode

. You can also switch between classes quickly with

CTRL+E

,

CTRL+N

, or

CTRL+SHIFT+N

.

Magical Inject Language

When editing JSON strings, avoid manual escaping of double quotes. Place the cursor inside the quotes, press

Alt+Enter

, choose

Inject language or reference

, press

Enter

, and select the

json

language. The IDE will automatically handle escaping. Use

Alt+Enter

again to edit the JSON fragment, and press

Ctrl+F4

to close the view.

Move Splitter with Keyboard

If a class name is hidden in the Project view, press

Alt+1

to focus the Project view, then use

Ctrl+Shift+←/→

to move the splitter and reveal the hidden part.

Ctrl+Shift+Enter Does More Than Add Semicolons

Press

Ctrl+Shift+Enter

to let IDEA automatically complete statements, such as adding missing braces for an

if

block.

Avoid Overusing Refactor for Simple Text Changes

To replace multiple occurrences of a text like

rabbitTemplate

, press

Ctrl+W

to select the word, then press

Alt+J

repeatedly to add the next occurrences, allowing batch editing without invoking the refactor dialog.

Hide the Navigation Bar

Press

Alt+V

and uncheck

Navigation Bar

to declutter the IDE. If you need it temporarily, press

Alt+Home

to show it, and

Esc

to hide it again.

Locate a Class in Project View

Press

Alt+F1

, choose

Select in Project View

, then select

Project

and press

Enter

to jump directly to the class location. Use

Esc

to return to the editor, or

F4

to open the file.

Powerful Symbol Search

Press

Ctrl+Shift+Alt+N

and type a symbol name (e.g.,

user

) to quickly find methods or classes.

Find Directories Quickly

Press

Ctrl+Shift+N

, type

/

followed by the directory name to locate it instantly.

Auto‑Generate Not‑Null Checks

After typing

rabbitTemplate.

, enter

notnull

and press

Enter

; IDEA will generate the corresponding

if

statement automatically.

Find Code by Template

Use

Ctrl+Shift+A

to open the Action dialog, type

Search Struct

, select

Search Structurally

, then choose an existing template (e.g.,

try

). Adjust the

Maximum count

variable for

CatchStatement

to 1, edit variables if needed, and click

Find

to locate all

try‑catch

blocks where the

catch

does not handle the exception.