How to open projects as tabs in IntelliJ

Question

Can anyone please let me know how to open multiple projects as tabs in IntelliJ.

In my previous laptop I am able to do. Please find the attached screenshot.

However, in my new laptop whenever I try open multiple projects, it always open in a new window rather than in tabs like above.

The feature isn't available right now in the 2020.3.1 release and lower. — s0xzwasd, Dec 22 '20 at 09:24
@s0xzwasd My IntelliJ version is 2020.3. I think it is latest version, because I downloaded it from their official website. — harsh pamnani, Dec 22 '20 at 18:35
@harshpamnani, the feature is not available on 2020.3 too. it was available after the big sure release (2020.2.3 IntelliJ IDEA I guess) and then temporarily disabled for future bug-fixing. — s0xzwasd, Dec 23 '20 at 06:16

score 164 · Accepted Answer · edited May 05 '22 at 18:00

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"In macOS Big Sur projects can be opened in separate tabs, both in full screen and normal state. This feature is available when Prefer tabs when opening documents option in macOS preferences is set to always" (JBR-2893).

This is shown in the first image:

In order to open the project in the same window, change the IntelliJ preferences seen in the second image:

edited May 05 '22 at 18:00

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answered Dec 25 '20 at 20:49

StackOverFlowerProgrammer

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Thank you for the solution. I tried updating both system preferences and IntelliJ preferences according to your suggestion. However, now it open in the same window and overrides the existing project. So, at a time, I am able to view only 1 project now. – harsh pamnani Dec 29 '20 at 17:08
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This answer is mostly correct. However, I just had this problem myself and in IntelliJ, under System Settings, the "Open Project in" setting needs to be set to New Window. Mac will then treat windows as tabs. – Matt Reichard Jan 27 '21 at 19:44
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This no longer works for me in BigSur `11.4` – Norgul May 27 '21 at 06:24
Thanks man, this was exactly what I searching for, but didn't know it was possible. – Edwin Clement Jul 21 '21 at 19:16
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You'd think GoLand and IntelliJ function the same way, but I had to do it differently. I enabled "Prefer tabs: Always" in Big Sur (11.5), but had to set "Open project in: New window" in GoLand (2021.2). – Rónán Ó Braonáin Aug 05 '21 at 23:41
@harshpamnani Try with selecting `Reopen projects on startup` option. – duplex143 Nov 15 '21 at 07:22
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second setting is not required, let it be in new window. – Vipul Pandey Nov 17 '21 at 07:36
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This feature no longer works for me! I have macOS Monterey 12.0.1. IntelliJ IDEA 2021.2.3 (Community Edition) If I use settings in intelliJ as Open in -> New Window - then it opens the project in 2nd window, and if I use Open in -> Current window, then it just replaces the existing project. In either of the case, it does not open the projects in multiple tabs in the same window. – Ajay Singh Jan 17 '22 at 05:23
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I could get this working finally. mac -> General settings need to be 'Prefer tabs- always' and intelliJ settings need to be -> Open Project in 'New Window'. It opens up multiple projects in tabs in the same window then. – Ajay Singh Jan 17 '22 at 05:47
Is there a shortcut to switch between project tabs? – Muhammed Ozdogan May 30 '22 at 11:14
@Matt Reichard, would be nice to update the current answer, or create a new answer with Matt's caveat seeing as 44 people have upvoted the comment – Viragos Aug 03 '22 at 16:37
@MuhammedOzdogan CMD+` (backtick, above Tab) – Ben Aug 04 '22 at 14:27
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This is no longer possible in the new UI. All projects are opened in a new window. – user2233706 Jun 17 '23 at 14:55

Saif · Answer 2 · 2023-04-09T20:59:36.467

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Merge All Project Windows action on macOS

For macOS, Jetbrains introduced the Merge All Project Windows action that pools all opened project windows into one, turning each window into its own tab.

For macOS, we’ve introduced the ability to organize your working space by merging all opened project windows into one, turning each window into its own tab. To perform this action go to Window | Merge All Project Windows.

Compatibility: IntelliJ IDEA 2022.2+, MacOS

~~The new UI may not have a support for this~~

Edit: Even the new UI now supports this.

edited Apr 09 '23 at 20:59

answered Jul 29 '22 at 12:04

Saif

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Using Rider on 2022.2 and I don't have the `Merge All Project Windows` option. Any clues? I have it in my other IDE's running 2022.2, but not Rider. – Ben Aug 04 '22 at 14:24
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What if we need for any new project to be opened in the merged mode as opposed to doing so manually? – Mostafa Armandi Oct 04 '22 at 08:49
@MostafaArmandi Not sure if there's a way to do that. I have added a keyboard shortcut for now so that I can merge it while the new project is still loading. – Saif Oct 04 '22 at 09:09
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Please upvote [this](https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-303069/Enable-Auto-Merge-All-Project-Windows-for-macOS) issue to make it more visible. – Mostafa Armandi Oct 04 '22 at 20:11
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100 points to you. This worked with latest versions of osx and intelliJ. Thanks! – Gonan Oct 18 '22 at 08:52
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answer of the year – Sina Miandashti Jan 30 '23 at 10:48
Short & easy no need to search detail in preferences, Thanks @saif – slhklc May 05 '23 at 08:24

score 43 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 27 '22 at 22:56

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I'm using macOS Monterey (version 12.2.1) and IntelliJ IDEA 2021.3.2 (Community Edition) (build #IC-213.6777.52, built on January 27, 2022). Following settings work for me:

macOS: the apple icon on top left corner -> System Preference... -> General -> Prefer tabs -> select always when opening documents
IntelliJ: click on IntelliJ IDEA on top left corner of the screen when it is the current window -> Preferences... -> Expand Appearance & Behavior tab to find System Settings tab, click on it (no need to expand) -> Select Open project in New Window -> Click OK to save current settings

answered Feb 27 '22 at 22:56

fishstick

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Thank you. Monterey didnt open it up the same way as on big sur without adjusting the intellij settings. – Aleks Mar 24 '22 at 11:25
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This solution worked as explained. – sevvalai Apr 18 '22 at 21:54
Problem is: I don't want to generally prefer tabs for all my programs, just PhpStorm. @Saif answer below worked like a charm. – henk Mar 08 '23 at 09:26

score 25 · Answer 4 · answered Mar 24 '22 at 13:08

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Above solutions did not work for me, Try checking this:

Go to help -> findAction -> type Registry

look for key "ide.mac.transparentTitleBarAppearance", if it is false value, set this to true.

just toggle this key (false to true or true to false), and restart, it worked for me

Reference : intellij

answered Mar 24 '22 at 13:08

Prateek Mittal

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This worked! It is important to add that you need to go to preference > Appearance & Behavior > System Settings and set 'open project in' = New window – Macdonald Apr 21 '22 at 11:05
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This worked for me, it was on and I turned it off WebStorm 2022.1 Build #WS-221.5080.193, built on April 10, 2022 – Trapcode May 06 '22 at 13:58
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This worked! but i have to set it to false other than true to make it work. – richselian May 23 '22 at 04:10
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Worked on Rider after turning **off** – Mostafa Armandi Jun 06 '22 at 11:54
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This worked for me after the above solutions did not. I am on Big Sur 11.6 w/ Webstorm 2021.3.2 – wilson208 Jun 09 '22 at 10:26
This worked for me after the above solutions did not. I am on Monterey 12.4, IDEA 2022.1.3 CE – teabot Jul 14 '22 at 12:47
It no longer works for me on macOs Monterey, Rider 2022.2.3 – Mostafa Armandi Oct 04 '22 at 13:09
Worked for me after i set this flag to `false` on macOs Monterey 12.6, PyCharm 2022.2.3 Professional Edition. Above solutions didn't work. – Igor Hwang Oct 24 '22 at 15:56

Andrey Semakin · Answer 5 · 2023-04-04T15:44:11.577

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If you're using IDE with New UI, make sure to put your vote here: https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-290850

Seems like tabs feature is only available in the old UI at the moment.

UPD: they have added this feature in 2023.1, now you can use it along with the New UI

edited Apr 04 '23 at 15:44

answered Dec 08 '22 at 13:19

Andrey Semakin

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This worked for me , thanks – chenlangping Jul 06 '23 at 06:49

score 5 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 20 '23 at 18:52

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There's a simple method. If you have two IntelliJ projects open in different windows, simply select:
Window > Merge All Project Windows

This will merge the projects into a single window with multiple tabs:

You will then be able to open new Projects as tabs.

Current setup:

Mac OS Ventura 13.2.1
IntelliJ IDEA 2022.3.1 (Ultimate Edition)

answered Apr 20 '23 at 18:52

Keegan Fisher

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I missed the answer with this method. Sorry about that. However, I'm unable to delete this post. – Keegan Fisher Apr 20 '23 at 18:55

score 4 · Answer 7 · answered Mar 24 '22 at 11:56

There are a few factors, I noticed:

works only if you open several projects by yourself (reopening of closed projects when IDEA starts don't collect projects to tabs)
app should be maximised before opening a next project. Even if you have already a few windows opened, opening a next project from maximised window group them (the number of windows won't be changed).

Mac OS Big Sur, IDEA 2021.2.4

score 4 · Answer 8 · answered Jan 24 '23 at 18:22

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Update for MacOS Ventura 13.0.1. Following settings work for me and Goland 2021.1:

MacOS Ventura (*): Apple icon in the top left corner -> System Preferences... -> Desktop and Dock -> "Prefer tabs" = "Always"

Goland preferences: Preferences | Appearance & Behavior | System Settings -> "Open project in" = "New window" or "Ask".

(*) Actually I have a German localization. I assume you will find the "Dock" settings.

answered Jan 24 '23 at 18:22

Simon

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This worked for me on Ventura 13.2.1 (22D68). – Kaliyug Antagonist Mar 02 '23 at 10:46
Worked for me on Ventura – pouyada Mar 20 '23 at 10:37

score 2 · Answer 9 · edited Feb 11 '21 at 16:46

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This feature is now available on IntelliJ 2020.3.2 for MacOS Big Sur. Below are the full details of the IntelliJ and MacOS version on which this feature is working:

IntelliJ IDEA 2020.3.2 (Ultimate Edition)
Build #IU-203.7148.57, built on January 25, 2021

Runtime version: 11.0.9.1+11-b1145.77 x86_64
VM: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM by JetBrains s.r.o.
macOS 10.16
GC: ParNew, ConcurrentMarkSweep
Memory: 1979M
Cores: 12

edited Feb 11 '21 at 16:46

Dharman

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answered Feb 11 '21 at 16:40

harsh pamnani

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What settings are required for it to work correctly? – orome Jul 13 '21 at 16:06
When I updated the IntelliJ, it started working without any changes. My current IntelliJ version is IntelliJ IDEA 2021.1.2 (Ultimate Edition) Build #IU-211.7442.40, built on May 31, 2021. If it still does not work, you might have to configure your Mac to make it work. For configuration, I have followed StackOverFlowerProgrammer's answer from above. – harsh pamnani Jul 13 '21 at 21:36

score 2 · Answer 10 · answered Mar 03 '21 at 08:19

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This feature is now available on IntelliJ 2020.3.2 for MacOS Big Sur. Simply open a new Project in New Window. Mac will then treat windows as tabs.

answered Mar 03 '21 at 08:19

jonathan ohayon

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score 1 · Answer 11 · answered Jul 07 '22 at 12:44

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It works for me with MacOS Monterrey version 12.3.1 and IntelliJ IDEA 2022.1.3 using above configuration for the OS and selecting the New window option on the IDEA preferences instead of Current window option.

answered Jul 07 '22 at 12:44

user19502964

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please use links instead of saying "above answer". orders change and sort order can be configured. – starball May 15 '23 at 03:15

How to open projects as tabs in IntelliJ

11 Answers11

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