Boost Your Java Productivity: 15 Must-Have IntelliJ IDEA Plugins & Settings

One. Install Plugins

1. Codota Code Completion Plugin

Type a few letters and Codota suggests full statements, showing usage frequency based on learned patterns from your own project code.

2. Key Promoter X Shortcut Hint Plugin

Displays a popup in the bottom‑right corner with shortcut hints, helping you master IDE shortcuts quickly.

3. CodeGlance Mini‑Map Plugin

Shows a thumbnail overview of the entire file, making navigation easier when dealing with large codebases.

4. Lombok Plugin

Eliminates boiler‑plate by generating getters, setters, constructors, toString, hashCode, etc., automatically.

5. Alibaba Java Coding Guidelines Plugin

Checks code against Alibaba’s Java standards, highlights issues with colors, and provides inline suggestions.

6. CamelCase Naming Conversion Plugin

Quickly toggle between camelCase and snake_case using Shift+Alt+U, useful for bulk renaming.

7. MybatisX Plugin

8. SonarLint Code Quality Plugin

Detects issues such as using System.out instead of a logger, helping maintain high code quality.

9. Save Actions Formatting Plugin

Optimizes imports, adds final modifiers, inserts "this" where appropriate, and enforces consistent formatting.

10. CheckStyle Plugin

Provides style checks similar to the Alibaba guidelines.

11. Grep Console Plugin

12. MetricsReloaded Plugin

13. Statistic Plugin

14. Translation Plugin

15. Rainbow Brackets Plugin

Colors matching brackets identically, making code navigation easier.

Two. Custom Live Templates for Faster Coding

Define templates such as typing apr to auto‑expand into an @Autowired statement, tailoring snippets to your coding habits.

Three. Global Settings to Enhance Efficiency

1. Optimize Import Settings

2. Disable Single‑Line Tab Display

Multi‑line tabs show more files simultaneously, improving visibility.

3. Move End‑of‑Line Comments to Code Header

4. Enable Copy‑Whole‑Line

After configuration, copying a line works even without selecting the entire line.

5. Disable Case‑Sensitive Completion

Now typing a lower‑case s also suggests String .

6. Improve VCS Directory Color Scheme

7. Auto‑Insert Author and Timestamp on New Files

8. Show Line Numbers and Method Separators

What other IntelliJ IDEA tricks or plugins have you discovered?