5 best IntelliJ IDEA shortcuts
Tags: intellij, ide, tips, tutorial
Published: 2020-08-10 12:58:15

---

firstPublishedAt: 1597055573902
latestPublishedAt: 1597055573902
slug: 5-best-intellij-idea-shortcuts
title: 5 best IntelliJ IDEA shortcuts

---
[IntelliJ IDEA](https://www.jetbrains.com/idea/) is awesomely large and complex IDE, mastering which can take years. Knowing the essential IntelliJ IDEA shortcuts can drastically increase your productivity and make using a mouse seem obsolete. In this post I will show you 5 IntelliJ IDEA shortcuts that in my opinion are the best. Enjoy!

# [Recent Locations](https://www.jetbrains.com/help/rider/Navigation_and_Search__Navigating_to_Recent_Locations.html#recent_locations) — `Ctrl + Shift + E`

This shortcut shows the popup with the recently accessed files or the files that have been recently changed (Figure 1). Pressing the `Ctrl + Shift + E` shortcut again will show you only the changed files. You can start typing, to filter the files. Useful for quickly jumping through files when working in larger context.

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1434/0*WtUWI_Vj8pBZGHl4.png)

# [Show JavaDoc Popup](https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/viewing-reference-information.html#inline-quick-documentation) — `Ctrl + Q`

Another useful shortcut, for quickly accessing the JavaDoc of a certain class or interface. Just place the caret on a name and press `Ctrl + Q` which will show the popup, as on Figure 2. The availability of JavaDoc depends of course on the framework or library you are using. It is a useful thing to know when working with large frameworks like Spring.

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1488/0*-vlhNgPVJRllHR5t.png)

# [Replace in Path](https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/finding-and-replacing-text-in-project.html#find_in_project) — `Ctrl + Shift + F`

Replace in path shortcut helped me couple times to avoid going through files when trying to change a variable that occurs many times in the project. The `Ctrl + Shift + F` shortcut shows you the popup as on Figure 3. In the first input you can provide the term you are want to replace and in the second one - to what replace with.

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1540/0*3GRl8uOkTytnzrlu.png)

# [Highlight Usages](https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/find-highlight-usages.html#usages_in_file) — `Ctrl + Shift + F7`

Highlighting the usages is especially useful when working with large files. To do this, place a caret on the word you want to highlight and press `Ctrl + Shift + F7`. Depending on the theme you are using, the word may be highlighted differently. In my case, it's bright yellow, like on Figure 4.

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1346/0*bl3zXQT6I8GYoHFa.png)

# [Show File Structure](https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/viewing-structure-of-a-source-file.html) — `Ctrl + F12`

The last shortcut helped me a lot when working with complex classes. All you need to do is to press combination `Ctrl + F12` and a popup like on Figure 5 will be shown to you. Here you can see all method signatures displayed, which is super helpful when you are only interested in skimming through the class. Pressing the `Ctrl + F12` again will also show the members inherited from superclass.

![](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/1216/0*XTuL5ynwli_zw6Yt.png)

# Summary

I hope you have found this post useful. If so, don’t hesitate to like or share this post. Additionally you can follow me on my social media if you fancy so :)

{% twitter 1290313679867539456 %}