PyCharm 2019.3 Help

Appearance

File | Settings | Appearance and Behavior | Appearance for Windows and Linux
PyCharm | Preferences | Appearance and Behavior | Appearance for macOS
Ctrl+Alt+S the Settings/Preferences icon


Use this page to change the overall look and feel of your IDE.

Option

Description

Theme

Select the desired theme from the list. The high contrast theme is available for those who have the eyesight deficiency.

Use custom font

Select the checkbox to specify custom font family and size.

When first installed, PyCharm takes Windows default font size and style.

Accessibility

Option

Description

Support screen readers

(requires restart)

Enable a screen reader for PyCharm.

Use contrast scrollbars

Select this checkbox to make the editor scrollbar more visible.

Adjust colors for red-green vision deficiency (protanopia, deuteranopia)

Adjust colors if you have red-green color vision deficiency.

UI Options

Option

Description

Background Image

This option allows you to configure a custom background image for the IDE.

Cyclic scrolling in list

Enable scrolling through a list by jumping from the last item to the first one and vice versa.

Show icons in quick navigation

Shown icons in the quick navigation popup Ctrl/ Ctrl+Shift/Ctrl+Shift+Alt+N.

Automatically position mouse cursor on default button

Place the mouse pointer at the default button when a dialog opens.

If this checkbox is selected, the navigation popup frames (go to class/file/symbol) close, when any other PyCharm component gets the focus.

If this checkbox is not selected, the navigation popup frames persist on changing the focus, and the only way to close such popup lays with pressing Escape.

Drag-n-Drop with pressed only

If this checkbox is not selected (by default), PyCharm allows moving editor tabs, tool window buttons, files and folders in the Project Tool Window, using drag-n-drop.

Select this checkbox to avoid accidental moving of a file or folder, or a UI component. Thus drag-n-drop only works while Alt key is pressed.

Tooltip initial delay (ms)

Use this slider to specify the time to pass between the moment you hover the mouse over an item in the editor and the moment when the tooltip with its value appears. This settings is especially important during debugging. If the delay is too short using the mouse becomes inconvenient because every mouse move across the screen brings forward a number of tooltips with the values of all the variables.

Antialiasing

Option

Description

IDE

Select which antialising mode you want to apply to the IDE (including menus, tool windows, and so on):

  • Subpixel: this option is recommended for LCD displays and takes advantage of the fact that each pixel on a color LCD is composed of red, green and blue sub-pixels. This allows smoothing text and rendering it with greater detail.

  • Greyscale: this option is recommended for non-LCD displays or displays positioned vertically. It deals with text at the pixel level.

  • No antialiasing: this option can be used for displays with high resolution, where non-antialiased fonts are rendered faster and may look better.

Editor

Select which antialiasing mode you want to apply to the editor:

  • Subpixel: this option is recommended for LCD displays and takes advantage of the fact that each pixel on a color LCD is composed of red, green and blue sub-pixels. This allows smoothing text and rendering it with greater detail.

  • Greyscale: this option is recommended for non-LCD displays or displays positioned vertically. It deals with text at the pixel level.

  • No antialiasing: this option can be used for displays with high resolution, where non-antialiased fonts are rendered faster and may look better.

Window Options

Item

Description

Animate windows

Select this checkbox to have undocked tool windows slide with the animation effect.

This option applies only when a tool window is undocked.

Show memory indicator

Show the Memory Indicator on the status bar.

Disable mnemonics in menu

Hide underlining of hot keys in the PyCharm menus.

Disable mnemonics in controls

Hide underlining of hot keys in the PyCharm controls.

Display icons in menu items

If this checkbox is selected (by default), the icons are displayed to the left of the menu options.

If this checkbox is not selected, the menu options are displayed without icons.

Side by side layout on the left/right

When these checkboxes are selected, the way the tool windows are positioned is optimized for a wide-screen display.

Side-by-side layout is off
Side-by-side layout is on

Toggle layout by Ctrl+Click the splitter between the tool windows.

Smooth scrolling

Enable by-pixel scrolling instead of by-line scrolling when you turn your mouse wheel.

Show tool window bars

Select this checkbox to display tool window bars.

Show tool window numbers

Select this checkbox to show tool window quick access numbers on the tool window buttons.

You can use the Alt+number shortcuts regardless of this setting and change the shortcuts on the Keymap page.

Note that the tool window mnemonics show up only when the corresponding key bindings have the format Alt+number, where number is an integer number in the range from 1 to 9. In the case of a different keyboard shortcut, the mnemonics are not displayed.

Allow merging buttons on dialogs

  • If this checkbox is selected, the multiple options in a dialog are grouped under a single button with a down arrow.

    You can view all merged commands by clicking the list or pressing Shift+Alt+Enter.

  • If this checkbox is not selected, the buttons will be shown in a row.

A dialog with merged buttons
A regular dialog with split buttons

Widescreen tool window layout

If this checkbox is selected, the way the tool windows are positioned is optimized for a wide-screen display.

The Widescreen tool window layout option is disabled
The Widescreen tool window layout option is enabled

Presentation Mode

Item

Description

Font size

Select the font size for the presentation mode.

Last modified: 2 April 2020