Having used Eclipse for more years than I care to admit, I'm currently trying to get adjusted to IntelliJ 12 but I'm having a hard time with the totally different UI metaphors/concepts.
I'd like to be able to have a window layout like this:
+--------+------------------------
| | |
| (1) | |
| | |
|+-------+ Source editor |
| | |
| (2) | |
| | |
+--------+-----------------------+
| |
| Console output etc. |
+--------------------------------+
With (1) being the "Project" tool window and (2) being the "Structure" tool window. I tried to follow the instructions given at http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/webhelp/viewing-modes.html but changing the "Split" mode doesn't seem to have any noticeable effect. Clicking on the "Structure" or "Project" toolbar buttons always hides the current tool window and displays the other one.
Ok. I worked it all out with googling and https://www.jetbrains.com/idea/help/viewing-modes.html . It's not obvious at all.
In Setting->Appearance & Behavior->Appearance:
Side-by-side layouts on left and right will control whether left and right side splits are horizontal or vertical - you can also Control-click on the divider to switch.
Widescreen tool window layout switches whether vertical or horizontal toolbars get full height/width: on gives full height to side tool windows and off gives full width to bottom(top?).
Ok, by some more or less random combination of the "docked" , "pinned" , "view as tab" and "split mode" modifiers I got it to work. I wonder why they didn't simply implement dragging the window where you'd like it to appear...
I love Intellij IDEA, but every once in a while there is some glitch like this. Anyway, here is a key point that you need to know from this writeup:
To be able to see two windows simultaneously, the corresponding
windows should belong to different groups, that is, one of the windows
should have the split mode off and the other one on
.
My problem was I had split mode ON for both the Project Tool window and the Structure Tool window. If one tool window has that mode OFF, and the other ON, that will help them show together correctly. However, this is NOT guaranteed to work, which negatively impacts usability. I have filed a usability enhancement request with our friends at Intellij. I hope others in my situation will help me vote it up: https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-144963
Usually setting split on the structure and toggle the windows method that Trillian mentioned above works.
However for the case where it does not, I've had some success with editing the project's .idea/workspace.xml file directly and replacing the lines (with all settings) for id="Project" and id="Structure" from a project that has the window layout I want them into the project that I can't get the layout working correctly.
First, set the desired two tool windows to be pinned and docked (not floating, not windowed).
Second, the window to be above, set no split mode, the window below, set to split mode.