IntelliJ IDEA 2019.3 Help

Customize actions, menus, and toolbars

Sometimes when you work in the IDE, you come across a menu that is too long and you need to scroll down to get to the favorite action. Sometimes, you want to access some menu actions just by clicking an icon on the toolbar, and sometimes, you want to quickly access your favorite actions that do not have the default shortcuts.

IntelliJ IDEA helps you solve these problems enabling you to customize the menus, toolbars, and the action access.

Configure menus and toolbars

You can customize the IDE to have only the needed and frequently used options in the menus. You can also regroup those options, and move them to different locations. You can change the available icons on the toolbars as well as add the new ones using your own image files.

  1. In the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, go to Appearance and Behavior | Menus and Toolbars.

    the Menus and Toolbars settings

  2. In the list of available menus and toolbars, expand the node you want to customize and select the desired item. Using the available icons, add, move, remove an action in the menu, or restore the default settings.
    Restore the default settings

    You can also edit an existing toolbar icon or add a new one to the added action on the toolbar. Make sure the image file you are adding has the .png or the .svg extension.

    the Action icon dialog

  3. Click OK to save your changes.

Configure quick lists with your favorite actions

A quick list is a popup that contains a custom set of IntelliJ IDEA actions and is accessed by a binding shortcut. You can create as many quick lists as necessary. Each action that you include in the list is identified by a sequential number. Numbering starts from the numerals (0 to 9), and then proceeds with the letters in alphabetical order.

For example, you can create a list of actions that do not have the associated shortcuts and refer to that list by one shortcut for an easy action access. You can also create a quick list of your favorite Gradle tasks or a list of different run configurations that you can invoke with one shortcut.

  1. In the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, go to Appearance and Behavior | Quick Lists.

  2. Click the Add button Alt+Insert to create a new quick list.

  3. In the Display name field, specify the name of the quick list. Optionally, provide the quick list description.

  4. Using the available icons, add, move, or remove items in the quick list. Click OK to save the changes.

    the Quick lists settings

  5. Bind the new quick list to a shortcut:

    • In the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, go to Keymap.

    • Expand the Quick Lists node and select the new quick list. Add a keyboard shortcut and save the changes.

      the Keymap settings for the quick lists

    For more information, refer to Configuring keyboard shortcuts.

  6. In the editor, access a quick list by the associated shortcut.

    If you don't remember the shortcut, you can search for your quick list by a name. Press Shift twice and type the name of the quick list.

    The search everywhere window
Last modified: 26 April 2020