Tuning PyCharm

In this part:

• Tuning PyCharm
  • Changing PyCharm properties
  • Managing the *.vmoptions file
    • Example: Increasing the heap size
  • Example: Increasing the heap size
  • Managing the idea.properties file
    • Example: Changing the case of unicode literals
  • Example: Changing the case of unicode literals
  • Specifying custom JDK, properties, or vmoptions files across platforms
• File 'idea.properties'
• Project and IDE Settings
• Directories Used by PyCharm to Store Settings, Caches, Plugins and Logs
• Networking in PyCharm
• Color-Deficiency Adjustment

Changing PyCharm properties

PyCharm makes it possible to change the *.vmoptions and the idea.properties files without editing them in the PyCharm installation folder.

To create an empty idea.properties file or to copy the *.vmoptions file, choose Help | Edit Custom Properties... or Help | Edit Custom VM Options... from the main menu respectively.

Managing the *.vmoptions file

The location of the *.vmoptions file depends on your operating system:

• For Windows: <PyCharm installation folder>/bin/pycharm.exe.vmoptions or <PyCharm installation folder>/bin/pycharm64.exe.vmoptions
• For *NIX: <PyCharm installation folder>/bin/pycharm.vmoptions or <PyCharm installation folder>/bin/pycharm64.vmoptions
• For macOS, you need to make a copy of the pycharm.vmoptions file in the IDE preferences folder and then edit this copy. The reason is that the app bundle is signed and you should not modify any files inside the bundle.
  

  For older versions, the settings are stored in /Applications/PyCharm <version>.app/Contents/Info.plist.

To avoid editing files in the PyCharm installation folder, do one of the following:

• From the main menu, choose Help | Edit Custom VM Options to create a copy of the pycharm.vmoptions file in the user home directory.
• Copy the existing file from the PyCharm installation folder somewhere and save the path to this location in the PYCHARM_VM_OPTIONS environment variable (IDEA64_VM_OPTIONS for 64 bit systems).
• Copy the existing <PyCharm installation folder>/bin/pycharm.exe.vmoptions or the <PyCharm installation folder>/bin/pycharm64.exe.vmoptions file from the PyCharm installation folder into your user home directory.

Then edit this file in the new location.

If the PYCHARM_VM_OPTIONS environment variable is defined, or the *.vmoptions file exists, this file is used instead of the one located in the PyCharm installation folder.

Example: Increasing the heap size

To increase PyCharm heap size, you should copy the original pycharm.vmoptions file to the above-mentioned location, and then modify the -Xmx setting.

Managing the idea.properties file

The idea.properties file located in the bin directory of the PyCharm installation folder should not be edited. Instead of editing the original idea.properties file, create an idea.properties file in the following location, open it for editing and add the required properties:

• For Windows: %\USERPROFILE%\\.PyCharmXXXX.X\config or %\USERPROFILE%\\.PyCharmCEXXXX.X\config
• For *NIX: ~/.PyCharmXXXX.X/config or ~/.PyCharmCEXXXX.X/config
• For macOS: ~/Library/Preferences/PyCharmXXXX.X/config or ~/Library/Preferences/PyCharmCEXXXX.X/config

To open the idea.properties file in the editor, choose Help | Edit Custom Properties. If the file does not exist yet, PyCharm creates it and opens in the editor.

Example: Changing the case of unicode literals

PyCharm allows defining whether non-ascii characters should use literals like '\u00AB' or '\00ab'.

This behavior is controlled by the idea.native2ascii.lowercase system property. By default, upper-case characters are used.

If you wish to use lower-case characters, create the idea.properties file in the location specified above, open it for editing and add the following line:

Specifying custom JDK, properties, or vmoptions files across platforms

A custom JDK, as well as *.properties and *.vmoptions files are specified across platforms in a unified way.

All launchers look at the following environment variables:

• $<IDE-NAME>_JDK (<IDE-NAME>_JDK_64)
• $<IDE-NAME>_PROPERTIES
• $<IDE-NAME>_VM_OPTIONS