IntelliJ IDEA 2021.2 Help

General

Use the General page of the Settings/Preferences dialog to configure the editor behaviour and customize its view.

Item

Description

Mouse Control

Change font size with Ctrl/Command+Mouse Wheel

If this checkbox is selected, a particular editor font size can be changed by rolling the mouse wheel while holding the Ctrl key.

This checkbox also affects font size in quick documentation lookup.

Move code fragments with drag-and-drop

If this checkbox is selected, you can drag-and-drop code fragments in the editor.

Soft Wraps

Soft-wrap these files

Use this field to apply soft wraps to specific file types (For example, it might be helpful when you are writing documentation in markdown files). Enter file extensions separating them with semicolon.

You can also enable or disable soft wraps right in the editor:

  • Right-click the left gutter and from the context menu, either select or clear the Soft-Wrap Current Editor option. Keep in mind that these settings affect only the current editor, not a file.

    Soft-Wrap Current Editor
  • To quickly access the settings, select Configure Soft Wraps from the list of options.

Use the original line's indent for wrapped fragments

Select this checkbox to use custom indentation for soft wraps on resizing the editor or console. Use the Add additional indent field to specify the indent number.

Only show soft-wrap indicators for the current line

If this checkbox is selected, the soft wrap charactersWrap   Wrap will be shown in the active logical line only.

Otherwise, soft wraps characters will be shown at the end of each line, and at the beginning of each next line.

Virtual Space

Allow caret placement

  • After the end of line: if this checkbox is selected, you will be able to set your caret anywhere after the last character in any line. As soon as you start typing at a position beyond the end of the line, the necessary number of spaces will be added between the end of the line and the beginning of your input.

  • Inside tabs: select this checkbox to allow placing the caret inside tab characters. The reason is that each tab character shows in the editor as a set of 'virtual' space characters.

Show virtual space at the bottom of the file

If this checkbox is selected, the currently edited line (even if it is the final line) can be scrolled to the top of the screen. IntelliJ IDEA adds the necessary amount of virtual lines.

Caret Movement

When moving by words

Use this list to configure where the caret should stop when moved by words. You can select from the following options:

  • Jump to current word boundaries: this is the default option. When you move the caret forward (Ctrl+Right), IntelliJ IDEA places it to the end of the current word.

    When you move the caret to the previous word (Ctrl+Left), IntelliJ IDEA places the caret at the beginning of the current word.

    Jump to current word boundaries
  • Always jump to word start: when you select this option, the caret always moves to the beginning of the word.

  • Always jump to word end: when you select this option, the caret always moves to the end of the word.

    Always jump to word end
  • Jump to next/previous word boundaries: when you select this option, the caret moves forward to the start of the next word, and when moved backwards, the caret jumps to the end of the previous word.

  • Stop at both word boundaries: when you select this option, the caret stops at both the start and the end of each word.

Upon line break

Use this list to configure where the caret should stop on line breaks. You can select from the following options:

  • Jump to next/previous line boundaries: when you select this option, the caret moves forward to the beginning of the next line, and when moved backwards, the caret jumps to the end of the previous line.

  • Ignore line breaks: when you select this option, IntelliJ IDEA ignores the line breaks, and the caret moves according to the configuration specified in the Moving by words list.

  • Stop at both line boundaries: when you select this option, the caret stops at both the start and the end of each line.

  • Jump to current line boundaries: when you select this option, the caret always jumps to the end of the current line (when moved forward) or to the beginning of the current line (when moved backwards).

    Check the following example when you have Always jump to word start specified in the Moving by words list and Jump to current line boundaries specified in the Upon line break list:

    Move caret example
  • Always jump to line start: when you select this option, the caret always moves to the start of a line.

  • Always jump to line end: when you select this option, the caret always moves to the end of a line.

On Save

Remove trailing spaces on

Select the mode in which IntelliJ IDEA will handle trailing spaces at the end of lines on file saving:

  • Modified lines: strips trailing spaces only in the end of modified lines.

  • All lines: strips trailing spaces in all lines.

Keep trailing spaces on caret line

If this option is unselected, trailing spaces will be stripped on the line where the caret is placed on save operation.

Remove trailing blank lines at the end of saved files

If this checkbox is unselected, IntelliJ IDEA will keep the trailing blank lines on saving files.

Ensure every saved file ends with a line break

Select this checkbox to have IntelliJ IDEA automatically add an empty line in the end of a file during the save procedure.

Gutter

Highlight modified lines in the gutter

Select this checkbox if you want added/modified lines to be highlighted with a color stripe in the left editor gutter.

Highlight modified lines in error stripe on the scrollbar

Select this option if you want to see markers next to modified lines near the scrollbar on the right.

Highlight lines with whitespace-only modifications with a different color

This option only becomes available if the Highlight modified lines in gutter option is enabled.

Select this checkbox if you want lines where only whitespaces were added/removed to be highlighted with a different color from lines with more significant modifications.

Scrolling

Smooth scrolling

If this option is enabled, the editor scrolls the page when you navigate to an element, instead of just jumping to the target location.

Caret behavior

  • Keep the caret in place, scroll editor canvas: select this option to choose scrolling editor canvas and keeping the caret at place.

    This can be helpful in course of debugging session. As you step through the lines of code, the editor canvas scrolls, while the line at caret is always in the center of the screen.

  • Move caret, minimize editor scrolling: click this option to choose moving the caret.

    When you step through the lines of code during the debugging session, the caret moves down, and the editor canvas doesn't scroll until the caret line reaches the bottom of the screen.

Rich-Text Copy

Copy (Ctrl+C) a text fragment as

  • Rich text: select this checkbox to copy a rich text from the editor to any other editor that recognizes RTF.

  • Plain text: select this option to copy a plain text from the editor to any other editor.

Color scheme for copied fragment

Use this list to select a color scheme for the text copy. You can select from the following options:

  • IntelliJ Light

  • Active scheme

  • Darcula

  • Classic Light

  • High contrast

Last modified: 02 August 2022