User interface themes

Last modified: 08 March 2021

The interface theme defines the appearance of windows, dialogs, buttons, and all visual elements of the user interface.

note

The interface theme is not the same as the color scheme, which defines the colors, fonts, and syntax-highlight for various text resources: the source code, search results, and so on.

Change the UI theme

  1. In the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S, select Appearance & Behavior | Appearance.

  2. Select the UI theme from the Theme list:

    • IntelliJ Light: Traditional light theme for IntelliJ-based IDEs

    • macOS Light or Windows 10 Light: OS-specific light theme available as a bundled plugin

    • Darcula: Default dark theme

    • High contrast: Theme designed for users with color vision deficiency

Select Sync with OS to let MPS detect the current system settings and use the default dark or light theme accordingly.

It is also possible to create your own UI themes for MPS and customize the built-in themes. For more information, see IntelliJ Platform SDK Documentation.