How to change color of the active Editor Tab

Problem

In IntelliJ IDE, the active tab in the editor does not stand out enough. It is hard to distinguish the active tab from inactive tabs.

Note: The solutions below are applicable to these built-in IDE themes: Dark, Light, Light with Light Header, Darcula, High Contrast

⚠️ They do NOT apply to the Islands Dark/Light themes yet. We are working on adding it in Islands: Selected tab background color has no effect.

Solution 1

Change the active tab background color:

1. Go to Settings | Editor | Color Scheme | General -> Editor | Tabs | Selected tab
2. Enable the 'Background' option on the right and choose a color for it

Solution 2

Change the color of the active tab underline to make it more visible:

1. Go to Settings | Editor | Color Scheme | General -> Editor | Tabs | Underline
2. Enable the 'Background' option on the right and choose a color for it

Result:

Troubleshooting

In case the colors fail to change, try the following fixes:

• In the same dialog, click the gear icon next to the color scheme name -> 'Restore Defaults' to reset everything. Close the dialog, restart the IDE, then attempt the change again.
• Reset all IDE settings to defaults (a backup copy will be created in the process): File | Manage IDE Settings | Restore Default Settings