Intellij IDEA shortcuts

I absolutely love working with Intellij IDEA. I switched from Eclipse to Intellij ~4 years ago and have never looked back. Its fast, smart and a boon for productivity. I endorse it profusely to my team (as if I am being paid money for it; I don’t). Yes, they all tease me about it :)

I have created few videos of my most frequently used shortcuts. Hope it helps you.

All the shortcuts discussed in the video are listed below. Printable PDF version can be downloaded here

JetBrains’s list of suggested shortcuts can be found here (PDF)

Working with Panels

Action	Shortcut
Toggle Open/Close of Project Panel	Alt + 1
Toggle Open/Close of Run Panel	Alt + 4
Toggle Open/Close of Debug Panel	Alt + 5
Toggle Open/Close of Version Control Panel	Alt + 9
Take cursor back to Editor	Esc
Minimize current panel and take cursor back to Editor	Shift + Esc
Open Terminal	Alt + F12
Open Next Project Window	Alt + Ctrl + [
Open Previous Project Window	Alt + Ctrl + ]
Expand Bottom Panel Size	Ctrl + Shift + Up
Shrink Bottom Panel Size	Ctrl + Shift + Down
Expand Left Panel Size	Ctrl + Shift + Right
Shrink Left Panel Size	Ctrl + Shift + Left

Working with Files

Action	Shortcut
Open a class	Ctrl + N
Open a file	Ctrl + Shift + N
Open anything (class, file, symbol)	Double + Shift
Open Recent Files (partials, abbreviations and wildcards)	Ctrl + E
Open Recently Edited Files	Ctrl + Shift + E
Create new file/package.	Alt + Ins (within project panel)

Working with Java Code

Action	Shortcut
Find Action	Ctrl + Shift + A
Open suggested solutions for errors	Alt + Enter
Move between errors	F2
Rename variable/method/class	Shift + F6
Autocomplete	Ctrl + Shift + Enter
Autocomplete suggestions	Ctrl + Space
Smart Autocomplete	Ctrl + Shift + Space
Comment / Uncomment	Ctrl + /
Extract Variable	Alt + Ctrl + V
Extract Field	Ctrl + Alt + F
Extract Method	Ctrl + Alt + M
To replace existing word instead of appending	Tab
Split into variable and declaration	Alt + Enter
Join lines.	Ctrl + Shift + J
Organize imports	Ctrl + Alt + O
Format code	Ctrl + Alt + L
Template for iterating	iter
Template for for-loop	fori
Template for main method	psvm
Templates for if null and if not null	ifn, inn
Templates for System.out and System.err print	sout, serr
Show Parameters	Ctrl + P
Navigate to declaration (variable) or open class	Ctrl + B
Show usages of class	Alt + Ctrl + F7
Override parent methods	Ctrl + O
Display all methods of class	Ctrl + F12 (press Ctrl + F12 again to show super class)
Move between methods	Alt + Up/Down arrow

Text Editing

Action	Shortcut
Find Action	Ctrl + Shift + A
	w/ New Scratch Buffer
	w/ Change File Language
Format	Ctrl + Alt + L
Move one Word at a time	Ctrl + Left/Right
Delete one Word at a time	Ctrl + Backspace
Move line	Alt + Shift + Up/Down
Delete Line	Ctrl + Y
Duplicate Line	Ctrl + D
Join Lines	Ctrl + Shift + J
Clone Caret Below (custom shortcut)	Ctrl + Shift + X
Select Next occurrence	Alt + J
Select All occurrences	Ctrl + Shift + Alt + J
Expand Selection	Ctrl + W
Shrink Selection	Ctrl + Shift + W
Toggle Case	Ctrl + Shift + U
Find	Ctrl + F
Replace	Ctrl + R
	Alt + P to replace selected
	Alt + A to replace all
Find in Project	Ctrl + Shift + F
	then Tab, then Enter to open

Working with Run/Debug

Action	Shortcut
Run Menu	Ctrl + Shift + F10
Run last app	Shift + F10
Debug Menu	Ctrl + Shift + F9
Debug last app	Shift + F9
Toggle Breakpoint	Ctrl + F8
Continue execution (until next debug)	F9
Next statement	F8
Go inside method	F7
Restart	Ctrl + F5
Force Stop	Ctrl + F2
Reload	Ctrl + F9

Conclusion

That’s it. Learning about only ~80 shortcuts will help you code much much faster and you will hardly have to use the mouse.

Start slow, maybe with 5 or 10 shortcuts and ramp up from there. If you forget a shortcut, use Ctrl + Shift + A to open Action window and type in your command instead of using the mouse.

Slowly they all become muscle memory. I promise.

Happy coding!

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