IntelliJ IDEA 2021.1 Help

Shelf tab

This tab is added to the Version Control tool window Alt+9 when you shelve a change or a changelist, and is displayed until you permanently remove all shelved changes, including the already unshelved ones, and imported external patches.

By default, this tab shows all shelved changes that have not been unshelved yet. Changes are grouped into shelves. A shelf is a changelist created when you shelve changes. A shelf is identified by the commit message. You can have IntelliJ IDEA show the unshelved changes. They can be restored and re-applied as many times as necessary, until they are removed permanently.

For details, see Shelve and unshelve changes.

Toolbar

ItemTooltip and shortcutDescription
Icons actions diffShow Diff Ctrl+DChoose this option to open the Differences viewer for files and compare the shelved version of a file with its current local version.
Icons vcs shelve silentUnshelve Silently Ctrl+Alt+UClick this icon to unshelve changes silently, without displaying the Unshelve Changes dialog.
the Create Patch buttonCreate Patch

Choose this option to create a patch file based on shelved changes. In the Create Patch dialog that opens, specify the file to save the patch in, and the changes to create a patch from. By default, all changes from the shelf are selected. To view which changes are included, click the Selected link.

For details, see Use patches.

Icons vcs patch appliedShow/Hide already unshelvedClick this button to have IntelliJ IDEA show or hide all available shelved changes, both already applied and not. Note that this button is duplicated From the context menu.
Preview DiffPreview DiffClick this icon to compare the shelved version of the selected file with its local version in the Preview pane.
the Clean Already Unshelved iconClean Already UnshelvedClick this icon to explicitly remove all unshelved changes if you are not going to reuse them.
Shelf SettingsShelf SettingsClick this icon to jump to the Shelf settings page where you can modify the default shelf location, and enable automatic shelving of base revisions of files for Git and Mercurial.

The context menu is available by right-clicking a change, a change list, or anywhere in the tab.

ItemShortcutDescription
Unshelve
Unshelve
Ctrl+Shift+UChoose this option to apply changes from the selected shelf. In the Unshelve Changes dialog that opens, specify the changelist you want to add the changes to. For details, see Shelve and unshelve changes.
RestoreChoose this option to re-activate the unshelved changes. By default, unshelved changes are no longer shown in the list of available shelved changes, therefore you first need to have IntelliJ IDEA display it by choosing Show Already Unshelved. You can restore any change as many times as you need until the change is permanently removed by choosing Delete. For details, see Shelve and unshelve changes.
Icons actions diff
Show Diff
Ctrl+DChoose this option to open the Differences viewer for files and compare the shelved version of a file with its current local version.
Compare with LocalChoose this option to compare the shelved version of the selected file with its local version in the Differences viewer for files.
Icons vcs patch
Create Patch
Choose this option to create a patch file based on shelved changes. In the Create Patch dialog that opens, specify the file to save the patch in, and the changes to create a patch from. By default, all changes from the shelf are selected. To view which changes are included, click the Selected link.

For details, see Use patches.

Import PatchesChoose this option to apply patches created externally or through IntelliJ IDEA. In the dialog that opens, choose the files to import patches from. The imported patches are treated as shelved changes and are shown in the Shelf tab where you can unshelve them at any time.
RenameShift+F6Choose this option to modify the name of the selected shelved changelist.
DeleteDeleteChoose this option to permanently delete the selected shelved change. You can remove any change no matter whether it has been already unshelved or not. For details, see Shelve and unshelve changes.
Show Already UnshelvedChoose this option to have IntelliJ IDEA show all available shelved changes, both already applied and not. By default, unshelved changes are hidden. For details, see Shelve and unshelve changes.
Icons actions gc
Clean Already Unshelved
Click this icon to explicitly remove all unshelved changes if you are not going to reuse them.
Last modified: 08 March 2021