Boost Your Productivity: Essential IntelliJ IDEA Settings, Tips, and Shortcut Guide

Common Settings

After reinstalling IDEA, the following configurations are highly recommended:

Theme and font: set the theme to Dark via Settings → Appearance & Behavior → Appearance.

Editor font size: adjust under Settings → Editor → Font.

File encoding (global and project): configure via Settings → Editor → File Encodings.

Code templates: create or edit class templates via Settings → Editor → File and Code Templates.

Keymap: customize shortcuts to match your habits via Settings → Keymap.

Usage Tips

The three toolbars (left, middle, right) provide quick access to many actions, eliminating the need to memorize shortcuts.

The core navigation feature is Search Everywhere (double‑press Shift), which lets you find files, classes, actions, and settings instantly.

If you forget an operation, use Search → Action to locate it directly.

When editing MyBatis mapper.xml files without SQL suggestions, add a data source: Database → Data Source → MySQL.

For tags lacking language injection (e.g., <sql>), set Inject Language or Reference → MySQL to enable assistance.

The floating toolbar that appears after selecting code offers quick actions such as surround, extract variable, and format.

Common Shortcuts

Global Search (files/classes/actions/settings) : Shift + Shift – Navigate → Search Everywhere Search Class : Ctrl + N – Navigate → Class Find Action (Execute Command) : Ctrl + Shift + A – Help → Find Action Go to Declaration : Ctrl + Click – Navigate → Declaration Show Implementations : Ctrl + Alt + B – Navigate → Implementation Find Usages : Alt + F7 – Edit → Find Usages Navigate Back/Forward : Alt + ← / → – Navigate → Back/Forward Go to Line : Ctrl + G – Navigate → Line… File Structure (current file method list) : Ctrl + F12 – Navigate → File Structure Basic Code Completion : Ctrl + Space – Code → Completion → Basic Smart Type‑Matching Completion : Ctrl + Shift + Space – Code → Completion → Type Matching Auto‑Import / Show Intentions : Alt + Enter – Right‑click → Show Context Actions Format Code (current file) : Ctrl + Alt + L – Code → Reformat Code Comment/Uncomment Line : Ctrl + / – Code → Comment with Line Comment Comment/Uncomment Block : Ctrl + Shift + / – Code → Comment with Block Comment Copy Current Line : Ctrl + D – Edit → Duplicate Line Delete Current Line : Ctrl + Y – (no additional command needed)

Move Line Up/Down : Alt + Shift + ↑ / ↓ – Edit → Move Line Up / Move Line Down Undo : Ctrl + Z – Edit → Undo Redo : Ctrl + Shift + Z – Edit → Redo Rename (variable/class/method) : Shift + F6 – Right‑click → Refactor → Rename Column (vertical) Selection : hold Alt and drag with the left mouse button – Right‑click → Column Selection Mode Git Commit : Ctrl + K –

Git → Commit

By applying these settings, tips, and shortcuts, you can significantly reduce the amount of memorization required and work more efficiently within IntelliJ IDEA.