How to edit IntelliJ IDE Registry

Question

What is IntelliJ registry and how to edit its values?

Answer

IntelliJ has its own registry of settings. Mostly they are used during Early Access Preview stage, so that early adopters can try new options hidden by default.

You can enable or disable any registry option as follows:

1. Press Shift+Shift to open 'Search Everywhere'

2. Type "registry" in the search bar and select the first hit from the top:

   

3. In the dialog that opens, start typing the name of the property to find it quickly:

   

   Modified values (different from the defaults) are highlighted in blue and stacked at the top.

How to find out what values I need to edit?

Since the IDE registry is not meant to be edited casually, you will get this information only from technical support engineers or find it in the corresponding YouTrack issues, normally posted as a workaround.

What if I cannot start the IDE, and I expect changing registry to help?

Registry file values are stored in your IDE installation folder, subfolder "options".

Example: /Users/%my_name%/Library/Application Support/JetBrains/IntelliJIdea2025.3/options/ide.general.xml