# Scopes

> **TL;DR**
> `File | Settings | Appearance and Behavior | Scopes` for Windows and Linux
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> `CLion | Settings | Appearance and Behavior | Scopes` for macOS
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> `Ctrl+Alt+S` (Windows), `⌘ Comma` (macOS), `⌘ Comma` (IntelliJ IDEA Classic (macOS)), `⌘ Comma` (macOS System Shortcuts), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (XWin), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (GNOME), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (KDE), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (Emacs), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (Sublime Text), `⌘ Comma` (Sublime Text (macOS)), `⌘ Comma` (Xcode), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (Visual Studio), `⌘ Comma` (Visual Studio (macOS)), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (ReSharper), `⌘ Comma` (ReSharper (macOS)), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (QtCreator), `⌘ Comma` (QtCreator (macOS)), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (NetBeans), `Ctrl+Alt+S` (Eclipse), `⌘ Comma` (Eclipse (macOS)) ![the Settings icon](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2026.2/app.expui.general.settings.svg)

Use this page to configure [file scopes](configuring-scopes-and-file-colors.html).

A scope ![the Scope icon](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2026.2/app-client.expui.ide.localScope.svg) is a named set of files and folders in a project.

Scopes help you [visually distinguish](configuring-scopes-and-file-colors.html#associate-file-color-with-a-scope) project items in different IDE views and limit the range of certain operations.

## Main toolbar

| Item | Tooltip | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| ![the Add button](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2026.2/app.expui.general.add.svg) | Add Scope   `Alt+Insert` (Windows), `⌘ N` (macOS), `⌃ N` (IntelliJ IDEA Classic (macOS)), `⌘ N` (macOS System Shortcuts), `Alt+Insert` (XWin), `Alt+Insert` (GNOME), `Alt+Insert` (KDE), `Alt+Insert` (Emacs), `Ctrl+N` (Sublime Text), `⌘ N` (Sublime Text (macOS)), `⌘ N` (Xcode), `Ctrl+N` (Visual Studio), `⌘ N` (Visual Studio (macOS)), `Alt+Insert` (ReSharper), `⌥ Insert` (ReSharper (macOS)), `Alt+Insert` (QtCreator), `Alt+Insert` (QtCreator (macOS)), `Alt+Insert` (NetBeans), `Alt+Insert` (Eclipse), `⌘ N` (Eclipse (macOS))  | Add a new [local](configuring-scopes-and-file-colors.html#local-sc) or [shared](configuring-scopes-and-file-colors.html#shared-sc) scope. |
| ![the Remove button](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2026.2/app.expui.general.remove.svg) | Delete   `Alt+Delete` (Windows), `⌘ ⌦` (macOS), `⌘ ⌦` (IntelliJ IDEA Classic (macOS)), `⌘ ⌦` (macOS System Shortcuts), `Alt+Delete` (XWin), `Alt+Delete` (GNOME), `Alt+Delete` (KDE), `Alt+Delete` (Emacs), `Alt+Delete` (Sublime Text), `⌘ ⌦` (Sublime Text (macOS)), `⌘ ⌦` (Xcode), `Ctrl+R, D` (Visual Studio), `⌘ R, D` (Visual Studio (macOS)), `Alt+Delete` (ReSharper), `⌥ ⌦` (ReSharper (macOS)), `Alt+Delete` (QtCreator), `⌘ ⌦` (QtCreator (macOS)), `Alt+Delete` (NetBeans), `Alt+Delete` (Eclipse), `Alt+Delete` (Eclipse (macOS)) | Delete the selected scope from the list. |
| ![the Copy configuration button](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2026.2/app.expui.general.copy.svg) | Copy Configuration   `Ctrl+D` (Windows), `⌘ D` (macOS), `⌘ D` (IntelliJ IDEA Classic (macOS)), `⌘ D` (macOS System Shortcuts), `Ctrl+D` (XWin), `Ctrl+D` (GNOME), `Ctrl+D` (KDE), `Meta+D` (Emacs), `Ctrl+Shift+D` (Sublime Text), `⌘ ⇧ D` (Sublime Text (macOS)), `⌘ D` (Xcode), `Ctrl+D` (Visual Studio), `⌘ D` (Visual Studio (macOS)), `Ctrl+D` (ReSharper), `⌘ D` (ReSharper (macOS)), `Ctrl+D` (QtCreator), `⌘ D` (QtCreator (macOS)), `Ctrl+D` (NetBeans), `Ctrl+D` (Eclipse), `Ctrl+D` (Eclipse (macOS))  | Create a copy of the selected scope. |
| ![the Save as button](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2026.2/app.expui.general.save.svg) | Save As | Save the selected local scope as shared or the selected shared scope as local. |
|  ![the Move up button](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2026.2/app.expui.general.moveUp.svg)  ![the Move down button](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2026.2/app.expui.general.moveDown.svg)  | Move Up / Move Down | Move the scopes up and down in the list. |

## Scope configuration controls

| Item | Description |
| --- | --- |
| Name | Specify the scope name. |
| Pattern |    Specify the pattern that defines the current scope. The following elements and structures can be used:       1. The `file:` modifier. The element is mandatory.    2. The `*` asterisk to denote any symbol in a filename or file extension.    3. Logical operators `AND (&&), OR (\|\|)`, and `NOT (!)`.      For more information, refer to [Scope language syntax reference](scope-language-syntax-reference.html).                            Storing empty or incorrect patterns is not allowed. In such cases, CLion shows a Syntax Error warning.                            ### Examples           * `file:*.js\|\|file:*.coffee` - include all JavaScript and CoffeeScript files.    * `file:*js&&!file:*.min.*` - include all JavaScript files except those that were generated through minification, which is indicated by the `min` extension.    * `!file:*/.npm//*` - exclude all `.npm` folders.        |
| Include |  Included the selected item. If the current item is a folder, the nested subfolders are ignored. |
| Include Recursively | Include the selected folder and all nested subfolders with their contents. |
| Exclude | Exclude the selected item. If the current item is a folder, the nested subfolders remain in the scope. |
| Exclude Recursively | Exclude the selected folder and all nested subfolders with their contents. |

## Scope toolbar

| Item | Tooltip | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Project tree view |  |    The tree view contains all the files available in your project. In the view, select the desired files to be included in the current scope and have the scope definition pattern generated automatically.    |
| ![Show files](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2026.2/app.expui.fileTypes.anyType.svg) | Show Files |    When this option is enabled, source files are displayed explicitly in the tree view. When the files are shown, they can be selected for exclusion/inclusion into a pattern.       If this option is not disabled, all files are hidden from the tree.    |
| ![Show included only](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2026.2/app.expui.general.filter.svg) | Show Included Only | When this option is enabled, the tree shows only the elements that are included in the scope. |

## Legend of the project tree view

| Item | Description |
| --- | --- |
| ![the green color sample](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2026.2/green_square.png) | Folders and files included in a scope are marked with green. |
| Black | Folders and files excluded from a scope. |
| ![the dark blue color sample](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2026.2/blue_square.png) | Folders that contain both excluded and included files and subfolders are marked with dark blue. |