Unlock IntelliJ IDEA Productivity: 10 Hidden Shortcuts You Must Know

Overview

IntelliJ IDEA continuously surprises developers with useful shortcuts. This series shares several practical tips to improve coding efficiency.

Presentation Mode

Use Alt+V → View → Enter Presentation Mode to enlarge the editor and focus on a single class. Exit with Alt+V → Exit Presentation Mode. While in this mode you can switch files with CTRL+E (recent files), CTRL+N (class), or CTRL+SHIFT+N (file).

Inject Language

When editing JSON strings, avoid manual escaping. Place the cursor inside the quotes, press Alt+Enter, select Inject language or reference, choose json, then press Enter. The JSON fragment opens for editing, and IDEA automatically escapes double quotes. Exit with Ctrl+F4.

Move Splitter with Keyboard

Focus the Project view with Alt+1, then adjust the splitter using Ctrl+Shift+←/→ for faster navigation.

Ctrl+Shift+Enter – Not Just a Semicolon

This shortcut automatically adds missing braces to complete statements, e.g., turning an if without braces into a compilable block.

Avoid Overusing Refactor

For simple bulk text changes, use Ctrl+W to select the target (e.g., rabbitTemplate) and Alt+J to add the next occurrence, then edit all selections simultaneously.

Hide Navigation Bar

Press Alt+V, deselect Navigation Bar to clean the UI. Show it temporarily with Alt+Home and hide again with Esc.

Locate Class in Project View

Press Alt+F1, choose Select in Project View, then Enter to jump to the class location. Return to the editor with Esc or F4.

Powerful Symbol Search

Press Ctrl+Shift+Alt+N to open the Symbol dialog, type a fragment (e.g., user) to find methods like checkUser. You can also type the class name followed by a dot and the method name.

Find Directory Quickly

Use Ctrl+Shift+N, type / followed by the directory name to locate it instantly.

Auto‑Generate Not‑Null Checks

After typing rabbitTemplate., enter notnull and press Enter to let IDEA generate an if statement that checks for null.

Search Code by Template

Press Ctrl+Shift+A, type Search Struct, choose Search Structurally, then select an existing template (e.g., try). Adjust the template variables—set Maximum count of CatchStatement to 1—to find try‑catch blocks without handling the exception.

After configuring, click Find to list all matching code fragments.