Viewing External Documentation

External documentation makes it possible to get additional information for the symbols at caret. In contrast to the quick documentation, this feature shows the documentation in an external browser, which helps study the symbol in more detail, navigate to related symbols, and retain the information for further reference.

Configure the external documentation path

To view external documentation in a browser, you need to configure the documentation URL first.

In the Project Structure dialog (Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S), select SDKs.
Select the necessary JDK version if you have several JDKs configured, and click Documentation Paths.
Click (Specify URL), and enter the external documentation URL. For example, for Java 8, type https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/.
Apply the changes and close the dialog.

Access external documentation offline

If you work offline, you can view external documentation locally.

Download the documentation package of the necessary Java version from the official Oracle website.

The documentation package is distributed in a ZIP archive that you need to unpack once it is downloaded.
In the Project Structure dialog (Ctrl+Shift+Alt+S), select SDKs.
Select the necessary JDK version if you have several JDKs configured.
Click (Add) and specify the directory with the downloaded documentation package (for example, C:\Users\john.doe\Desktop\docs\api).
Apply the changes and close the dialog.