---
title: "Switching to and customizing IntelliJ"
author: "Veselin Slavchev"
date: 2016-10-18
tags: ["IntelliJ", "comfort"]
description: "Settings and custom keyboard shortcuts that make IntelliJ IDEA comfortable and productive after switching to it."
url: https://vsslavchev.com/blog/switching-to-intellij/
---

# Switching to and customizing IntelliJ

**In short:** Turn off the notification balloons and the generated file header, set the right margin, and add easier alternatives to the hard to reach shortcuts: Alt R to rename, right Alt U for find usages, Alt T for surround with, Alt X to delete a line and Alt P to run. A list of the most useful default shortcuts follows.

![IntelliJ keybindings settings](https://vsslavchev.com/img/keybindings.jpg)

Hello! Read on if you decided to switch to IntelliJ, set it up, make it comfortable and learn how to be more productive with it. This post covers some settings and custom shortcuts.

The first things that annoyed me were the popups in the top-right corner. To disable some of them: 'Event log' on the bottom-right (or Speech bubble icon) -> Settings. Disabling the balloons doesn't hide the notifications from the event log, so you can check that if you need to.

Next up is removing the default comment generated at the top of a new class file.
File -> Settings -> Editor -> File and Code Templates -> 'Includes' tab -> File header -> the comment is on the right -> delete it. If you would like to use this feature make sure to print the date in a less ambiguous format.

Another one is the vertical line in the editor that is set to 120 chars per line by default. To change the line limit:
File -> Settings -> Editor -> Code Style -> Right margin columns.
*The [Google Java Style Guide](https://google.github.io/styleguide/javaguide.html) recommends a column limit of 100 chars.*

Ok hotkeys. Some are very hard to reach, hard to learn or conflict with something else. Here are some recommendations how to make your life easier. You don't need to remove the old shortcut, so if someone else wants to use your Idea they can still use the default keys they know. Go to
File -> Settings -> Keymap
and find the ones you need to change, then click on them and select 'Add keyboard shortcut'. All of the recommended ones are unused and should be added as alternatives. For each entry I have specified: the name of the command, the default shortcut, the suggested one and an explanation.

**Rename:** default - Shift F6, suggested - Alt R. This default key is famous for being so hard to reach. Usage of rename should be encouraged as naming things is one of the hardest tasks in programming. Remember it as R stands for rename.

**Find usage:** default - Alt F7, suggested - rightAlt U. Shows you where a method/variable is used. One hand - easy. Associate U with usage.

**Surround with...:** default - Ctrl Alt T, suggested - Alt T. Surrounds the selected code with if/elseif/while/for/try... etc. Some Linux distros have the terminal shortcut bound to Ctrl Alt T so that causes a conflict. Even if you don't care about that the alternative is still 1 less key to press.

**Delete line at caret:** default - Ctrl Y, suggested - Alt X. In Eclipse it was easy to Ctrl D with one hand, but Ctrl Y requires both hands. The Alt and X keys are next to each other and this one is very easy to press. The X can be associated with double-crossing something.

**Run:** default - Alt Shift F10, suggested - Alt P. Usefulness depends on how often you run the project. P as in play for the green arrow icon. An even easier variant is Alt E as in execute.

Next, I have compiled a list of the more notable shortcuts. Some are based on people's opinion from Stackoverflow. A more complete list can be found [here](https://resources.jetbrains.com/storage/products/intellij-idea/docs/IntelliJIDEA_ReferenceCard.pdf) and you can always check the key for actions by pressing Ctrl Alt A in Idea.

Go to declaration => **Ctrl B**

Open class => **Ctrl N**

Rename refactor => **Alt R;** Shift F6

Refactor variable from expression => **Ctrl Alt V**

Extract method => **Ctrl Alt M**

Smart completion => **Ctrl Shift Space**

Cyclic expand word => **Alt forwardslash**

Complete statement => **Ctrl Shift Enter**

Reformat, Checkstyle, fix imports => **Ctrl Alt L**

Find in whole project => **Ctrl Shift F**

Switch tabs => **Ctrl Tab**

Quick fix/intentions => **Alt Enter**

Smart template => **iter/psf/thr Tab**

Find Usage => **rightAlt U;** Alt F7

Brief info => **Ctrl mouseover**

Duplicate => **Ctrl D**

New line below => **Shift Enter**

New line above => **Ctrl Alt Enter**

Expanding select => **Ctrl W**

Delete to word start => **Ctrl Backspace**

Delete line => **Alt X;** Ctrl Y

Paste previous copies => **Ctrl Shift V**

JavaDoc => **Ctrl Q**

Run => **Alt P;** Alt Shift F10

Go to previous/next method => **Alt Up/Down**

Go back to code => **Ctrl Alt Left**

Go to next error => **F2**

Expand all folded => Ctrl Shift =

Parameter info in method call => **Ctrl P**

Show TODO list => **Alt 6**

Bring up the file/class/method quicksearch => **Shift Shift**

Open the switcher => **Ctrl Tab**

Hide active window => **Shift Escape**

If you think a shortcut or setting you often use is missing - tell me!