How to open projects as tabs in IntelliJ IDE on Mac OS

October 29, 2026 10:15 Updated

Question

How to open more than one project in the same window?

Answer

For Mac, there is a feature called "Project as tabs". You may merge multiple project windows as tabs of the same window To merge currently opened separate windows, go to the main menu "Window | Merge all project windows" To keep newly opened projects as tabs, go to your Mac System Settings, and set "Desktop & Dock | Windows | Prefer tabs when opening documents | Always"

Note: make sure you have an opportunity to open another project in the new window - that is, under Settings | Appearance & Behavior | System Settings, Project you have New window or Ask: If a project is opened in the same window, it will replace the current one and no project tab will be created.

This feature is currently unavailable for Linux and Windows. Upvote the corresponding feature request Introduce "Projects as tabs" feature in Linux and Windows