Daily Hack #day118 - Increasing IntelliJ IDEA IntelliSense File Size

Increasing IntelliJ IDEA IntelliSense File Size

IntelliJ IDEA’s IntelliSense, or code completion feature, is a powerful tool that assists in writing code more efficiently by providing suggestions, autocompletions, and insights into the code. However, in large projects or with extensive codebases, the default memory settings might not be sufficient, causing IntelliSense to slow down or become less responsive. Increasing the IntelliSense file size can help mitigate these issues.

Steps to Increase IntelliSense File Size

1. Open IntelliJ IDEA:

   • Start your IntelliJ IDEA IDE.

2. Access the idea.properties File:

   • The idea.properties file is located in the bin directory of your IntelliJ IDEA installation. You can typically find it here:

     • Windows: C:\Program Files\JetBrains\IntelliJ IDEA\bin\idea.properties

     • macOS: /Applications/IntelliJ IDEA.app/Contents/bin/idea.properties

     • Linux: /opt/idea/bin/idea.properties

   • If the idea.properties file does not exist, you can create it.

3. Edit the idea.properties File:

   • Open the idea.properties file in a text editor.

   • Add or modify the following lines to increase the IntelliSense cache size:

       idea.max.intellisense.filesize=2500
     

     • The value 2500 represents the file size limit in kilobytes (KB). You can adjust this value according to your needs.

4. Save and Restart IntelliJ IDEA:

   • Save the changes to the idea.properties file.

   • Restart IntelliJ IDEA for the changes to take effect.

Additional Tips

• Adjust JVM Memory Settings:

  • In addition to increasing the IntelliSense file size, you might also need to adjust the JVM memory settings for IntelliJ IDEA to ensure it has enough memory to handle large projects. You can do this by modifying the idea.vmoptions file:

    • Windows: C:\Users\<YourUsername>\.IntelliJIdea<version>\idea64.exe.vmoptions

    • macOS: ~/Library/Preferences/IntelliJIdea<version>/idea.vmoptions

    • Linux: ~/.IntelliJIdea<version>/idea64.vmoptions

  • Add or modify the following lines to increase the heap size:

      -Xms1024m
      -Xmx4096m
      -XX:ReservedCodeCacheSize=512m
    

Increasing the IntelliSense file size and adjusting JVM memory settings can significantly enhance IntelliJ IDEA's performance, particularly for large projects, ensuring smoother and more efficient coding sessions.