Intellij Idea - Installation and Configuration



In this chapter, we will understand how to install and configure IntelliJ IDEA. The first step of the process starts with choosing the edition. As per your requirements, you can download community or ultimate edition. As name suggests, community edition is absolutely free and we can use it for commercial development as well. However, ultimate edition is paid version and we can evaluate it freely for 30 days.

Installation on Windows

IntelliJ is compatible with almost all versions of Windows prior to 2003. A comprehensive list will be: Windows 10/8/7/Vista/2003/XP. It is recommended that you shut down all other applications before you install IntelliJ on Windows.

System Requirements

  • A minimum 2 GB of RAM capacity is recommended for seamless performance.

  • For better visualization, 1024x768 screen resolution is recommended.

  • Minimum 300 MB disk space for installation and additional 1 GB for cache.

Downloading and Installation

  • Downloading − You can download windows installer from their official website.

  • Installation − Let us begin with the installation followed by the configuration steps. Installation of IntelliJ is similar to other software packages. Just double-click on the installer and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation process.

Installation on Linux

For installation of IntelliJ on Linux platforms, you need to note that a 32-bit JDK is not bundled, so a 64-bit system is recommended.

System Requirements

  • GNOME, KDE or XFCE desktop environment

  • Minimum 2 GB of RAM is recommended for seamless usage

  • 300 MB of disk space for installation and addition 1 GB for caches

  • For better visualization, 1024x768 screen resolution is recommended

Downloading and Installation

  • Downloading − You can download IntelliJ for Linux from their official website.

  • Installation − We have downloaded tar.gz bundle. Note that in our case bundle’s name was ideaIC-2017.2.5.tar.gz. It may change with the edition/version. Please use the appropriate bundle name.

First extract it using following command:
$ tar xvf ideaIC-2017.2.5.tar.gz
It will create new directory with idea-IC-172.4343.14 name. 
Now change directory to idea-IC-172.4343.14/bin/ and execute idea.sh shell script as shown below:
$ cd idea-IC-172.4343.14/bin/
$ ./idea.sh
Follow on-screen instructions to complete installation procedure.

Configure IntelliJ

The configuration steps are similar on both platforms. To begin configuration, launch IntelliJ application. Optionally, you can import the existing configuration from this wizard. Click on the next button to continue.

Step1 − If you are using the ultimate edition, then a license activation window will pop-up. Select evaluate for free option and click on the evaluate button as shown in the following image.

License Activation

Step 2 − Accept the license agreement to proceed and follow on-screen instruction to start IntelliJ. You will see the Welcome screen of IntelliJ.

Step 3 − Now, it is time to configure the Java Development Kit (hereafter, we will refer to it as JDK) with IntelliJ. If JDK is not installed already then follow the instruction as in here.

  • On the Welcome screen, click on ‘configure’

  • Select ‘project defaults’ from the drop-down list

  • Select the ‘project structure’ option

Project Structure
  • Select the ‘SDKs’ option from the ‘platform settings’ menu.

  • Click on the ‘plus’ icon and select the ‘JDK’ option.

  • Select JDK’s home directory and follow the on-screen instructions.

Platform Settings
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