Directories used by the IDE
By default, IntelliJ IDEA stores user-specific files for each IDE instance (configuration, caches, plugins, logs, and so on) in the user's home directory. However, you can change the location for storing those files, if necessary.
Change the location of IDE directories
You can move the default IDE directories, for example, if the user profile drive runs out of space or it is located on a slow disk, if the home directory is encrypted (slowing down the IDE) or is located on a network drive, if you want to create a portable installation or exclude caches from home directory backups, and so on.
Go to
.Set the property that corresponds to the necessary directory:
Property
Path to
idea.config.path
idea.system.path
idea.plugins.path
idea.log.path
Specify paths with forward slashes /, including Windows paths (for example, C:/idea/system).
You can insert any other properties as variables. For example, use
${user.home}
(standard Java system property) to specify paths relative to the user's home directory:idea.config.path=${user.home}/MyIdeaConfigurationAfter you restart IntelliJ IDEA, it will use the new location of the corresponding directory.
Clean up old IDE directories
Every time you install a new major version of IntelliJ IDEA, it uses a new set of IDE directories and automatically deletes the caches and logs directories for older versions of the IDE that have not been updated in the last 180 days. The configuration and plugins directories will remain forever, unless you remove them manually.
Go to
.In the Delete Leftover IDE Storage Directories dialog, select the versions of the IDE that you are not planning to use and click Delete.
Configuration directory
The IntelliJ IDEA configuration directory contains user-defined IDE settings, such as keymaps, color schemes, custom VM options, platform properties, and so on.
- Syntax
%APPDATA%\JetBrains\<product><version>
- Example
C:\Users\JohnS\AppData\Roaming\JetBrains\IntelliJIdea2024.2
- Syntax
~/Library/Application Support/JetBrains/<product><version>
- Example
~/Library/Application Support/JetBrains/IntelliJIdea2024.2
- Syntax
~/.config/JetBrains/<product><version>
- Example
~/.config/JetBrains/IntelliJIdea2024.2
You can change the location of the IntelliJ IDEA configuration directory using the idea.config.path property.
To share your personal IDE settings, copy the files from the configuration directory to the corresponding folders on another IntelliJ IDEA installation. Make sure that IntelliJ IDEA is not running to avoid erasing the copied files when you shut down the IDE. Depending on which settings you modified, the IntelliJ IDEA configuration directory can contain the following subfolders:
Directory | User settings |
---|---|
codestyles | Customized code style schemes |
colors | Customized editor color and font schemes |
fileTemplates | User-defined file templates |
filetypes | User-defined file types |
inspection | |
keymaps | Customized keyboard shortcuts |
migration | Predefined and user-defined migration maps |
options | Various options, for example, feature usage statistics and macros |
scratches | |
settingsSync | IDE settings shared using Settings Sync |
templates | User-defined live templates |
tools | Configuration files for user-defined external tools |
System directory
The IntelliJ IDEA system directory contains caches and local history files.
- Syntax
%LOCALAPPDATA%\JetBrains\<product><version>
- Example
C:\Users\JohnS\AppData\Local\JetBrains\IntelliJIdea2024.2
- Syntax
~/Library/Caches/JetBrains/<product><version>
- Example
~/Library/Caches/JetBrains/IntelliJIdea2024.2
- Syntax
~/.cache/JetBrains/<product><version>
- Example
~/.cache/JetBrains/IntelliJIdea2024.2
You can change the location of the IntelliJ IDEA system directory using the idea.system.path property.
For more information about removing cache files, refer to Invalidate caches.
Plugins directory
The IntelliJ IDEA plugins directory contains user-installed plugins.
- Syntax
%APPDATA%\JetBrains\<product><version>\plugins
- Example
C:\Users\JohnS\AppData\Roaming\JetBrains\IntelliJIdea2024.2\plugins
- Syntax
~/Library/Application Support/JetBrains/<product><version>/plugins
- Example
~/Library/Application Support/JetBrains/IntelliJIdea2024.2/plugins
- Syntax
~/.local/share/JetBrains/<product><version>
- Example
~/.local/share/JetBrains/IntelliJIdea2024.2
You can change the location of the IntelliJ IDEA plugins directory using the idea.plugins.path property.
Logs directory
The IntelliJ IDEA logs directory contains product logs and thread dumps.
- Syntax
%LOCALAPPDATA%\JetBrains\<product><version>\log
- Example
C:\Users\JohnS\AppData\Local\JetBrains\IntelliJIdea2024.2\log
- Syntax
~/Library/Logs/JetBrains/<product><version>
- Example
~/Library/Logs/JetBrains/IntelliJIdea2024.2
- Syntax
~/.cache/JetBrains/<product><version>/log
- Example
~/.cache/JetBrains/IntelliJIdea2024.2/log
You can change the location of the IntelliJ IDEA logs directory using the idea.log.path property.