PhpStorm 2017.1 Help

Opening Multiple Projects

On this page:

Basics

PhpStorm allows you to work with several projects simultaneously. So doing, PhpStorm suggests the following options:

  • Each project is opened in its own window. The projects are independent, and cannot share information, except for the Clipboard operations. All the projects run in the same instance of PhpStorm and use the same memory space.
  • A newly opened project shares the same window as the already opened one. So doing, the project that has already been opened, is considered the primary project, and is always shown first in the Project tool window. All the other projects are added to the primary project.

    Symbols from the added projects are visible from the primary one, but not vice versa.

    Some settings ( content roots) can be configured separately for each project.

Opening multiple projects

To open multiple projects

  • Open a project, while another one is already opened.

    Then, depending on the option selected in the Project Opening section of the System Settings page of the Settings/Preferences dialog, the following happens:

    • If the option Open project in a new window is selected, then the new project silently opens in a new window. So doing, the command Attach Project appears in the File menu. Refer to the description of command.
    • If the option Open projects in the same window is selected, then the new project silently opens in the same window, replacing the currently opened project. So doing, the command Attach Project appears in the File menu. Refer to the description of command.
    • If the option Confirm window to open project in is selected, then PhpStorm prompts you to select whether you want to open the project in a new window, or reuse the existing window. This dialog box features the check box Add to currently opened projects. If this check box is selected, the new project opens in the project tree, and adds to the currently opened project. So doing, the project that has already been opened, is the primary project.
      /help/img/idea/2017.1/openProject.png

Deleting a project from view

If you want to close a project that has been added to the currently opened one (primary project), follow these steps:

  1. In the Project tool window, right-click the project to be deleted.
  2. On the context menu of the selection, choose Remove from Project View, or just press Delete:
/help/img/idea/2017.1/remove_from_project_view.png

Important notes

  • When reopening, PhpStorm suggests to reopen the whole group of projects.
  • The check box Add to currently opened projects appears when you open a new project in a window, where another project is already opened.

See Also

Last modified: 19 July 2017