PyCharm 2016.1 Help

Getting Help

There are a lot of ways to obtain information about PyCharm and its features, report issues and get support.

In this section:

Overview

Use the Help menu commands:

py_help_menu

Menu commands

Menu itemKeyboard shortcutDescription
Find ActionCtrl+Shift+AChoose this command to invoke an action by its name.
Demos and ScreencastsChoose this command to open the PyCharm YouTube page.
Help TopicsChoose this command to show the help topics.

Refer to the section Using Help Topics.

Tip of the DayChoose this command to show an arbitrary tip.

Refer to the section Using Tips of the Day.

Productivity GuideChoose this command to show productivity guide.
Submit FeedbackChoose this command to report your overall impression of PyCharm to the support service.

Refer to the section Reporting Issues and Sharing Your Feedback.

Show Log in Explorer/FinderChoose this command to find PyCharm's log.

Refer to the section Reporting Issues and Sharing Your Feedback for details.

Edit Custom PropertiesChoose this command to open the custom file idea.properties, located under the user home. If this file does not exist, PyCharm suggests to create it. Refer to the section Tuning PyCharm for details.
Edit Custom VM Options Choose this command to open the custom file *.vmoptions, located under the user home. If this file does not exist, PyCharm suggests to create it. Refer to the section Tuning PyCharm for details.
Debug Log SettingsChoose this command to change logging level for a category. Choosing this command leads to opening the Custom Debug Log Configuration dialog box, where you have to type the log categories names, separated with new lines.

Refer to the section Reporting Issues and Sharing Your Feedback.

Keymap ReferenceChoose this command to open the default keymap in PDF format.

Refer to the section Keymap Referencefor details.

Developer CommunityChoose this command to open the PyCharm community page.
Diagnostics This command and the items below it are available only when the Performance plugin is installed and activated. The plugin is not bundled with PyCharm, but it can be installed from the JetBrains plugin repository as described in Installing, Updating and Uninstalling Repository Plugins and Enabling and Disabling Plugins.

Use the commands under this menu item to automatically capture snapshots and collect other data related to performance and send this data to JetBrains Support . When you click Diagnostics, a drop-down menu with the following items is displayed:

  • Enable CPU Profiler: choose this option to activate the CPU profiler and capture CPU snapshots. The CPU profiles remains active and the option not available till you restart PyCharm.
  • Change Memory Settings: choose this option to edit the -Xmx setting and thus increase the heap size (the amount of available memory), see Tuning PyCharm for details.
  • Execute Performance Script: choose this option to run special predefined scenarios with the CPU profiler enabled. After a scenario is executed it generates a CPU snapshot that can be used by the support team to analyze your performance issue.
  • Profile Indexing: when you choose this option, CPU profiler is active and captures a CPU snapshot from the moment you reopen the current project till the moment indexing is completed. The snapshot can be used by the support team to analyze a performance issue that arize during indexing.
  • Show Performance Summary: choose this option to collect most relevant information that can affect performance and at the same time does not reveal any private info about the current project and the current file.
Learn more at Performance testing plugin in PhpStorm
Settings Summary Choose this command to collect the PyCharm settings and show all sorted by category so it is easy to locate the settings that are related with a specific problem (debugger, or deployment, or something else does not work) and send this summary to JetBrains Support . To open a request form, click Open Support Request in the dialog box that opens.

This command is available only when the Performance plugin is installed and activated. The plugin is not bundled with PyCharm, but it can be installed from the JetBrains plugin repository as described in Installing, Updating and Uninstalling Repository Plugins and Enabling and Disabling Plugins.

New Support RequestChoose this command to open the support ticket page. Fill out the fields (in particular, use the Settings Summary copy), and click Submit.
JetBrains TVChoose this command to open JetBrains TV page.
RegisterChoose this command to register PyCharm.
Check for UpdateChoose this command to obtain information about the current version, and the availability of newer versions of PyCharm. Refer to Updates page.

This command in available on Windows/Linux. On Mac OS it appears on the PyCharm menu.

AboutChoose this command to obtain information about the current version of PyCharm, current build, etc. Press Escape to close the pop-up window.

This command in available on Windows/Linux. On Mac OS it appears on the PyCharm menu.

See Also

Last modified: 20 April 2016