Unnecessary '{@inheritDoc}' Javadoc comment

Reports Javadoc comments that contain only an {@inheritDoc} tag. Since Javadoc copies the super class' comment if no comment is present, a comment containing only {@inheritDoc} adds nothing.

Also, it reports the {@inheritDoc} usages in invalid locations, for example, in fields.

Suggests removing the unnecessary Javadoc comment.

Example:

  class Example implements Comparable<Example> {
    /**
     * {@inheritDoc}
     */
    @Override
    public int compareTo(Example o) {
      return 0;
    }
  }

After the quick-fix is applied:

  class Example implements Comparable<Example> {
    @Override
    public int compareTo(Example o) {
      return 0;
    }
  }

Locating this inspection

By ID

Can be used to locate inspection in e.g. Qodana configuration files, where you can quickly enable or disable it, or adjust its settings.

UnnecessaryInheritDoc

Via Settings dialog

Path to the inspection settings via IntelliJ Platform IDE Settings dialog, when you need to adjust inspection settings directly from your IDE.

Settings or Preferences | Editor | Inspections | Java | Javadoc

Inspection ID: UnnecessaryInheritDoc

Suppressing Inspection

You can suppress this inspection by placing the following comment marker before the code fragment where you no longer want messages from this inspection to appear:

//noinspection UnnecessaryInheritDoc

More detailed instructions as well as other ways and options that you have can be found in the product documentation:

IntelliJ IDEA 2025.3

Inspection Details
By default bundled with:	IntelliJ IDEA 2025.3, Qodana for JVM 2025.3,

Last modified: 03 December 2025