Editor basics

Maximize editor pane

• In the editor, press Ctrl+Shift+F12. WebStorm hides all windows except the active editor.

  You can maximize a split screen as well. In this case the active screen is maximized and other screens are moved aside.

Switch the focus from a window to the editor

• Press Escape. WebStorm moves the focus from any window to the active editor.

Return to the editor from the command-line terminal

• Press Alt+F12. WebStorm closes the terminal window.

• If you need to keep the terminal window open when you switch back to the active editor, press Ctrl+Tab.

Return to the default layout

• Press Shift+F12.

• To save the current layout as the default, from the main menu select Window | Store Current Layout as Default. You can use the same shortcut Shift+F12 to restore the saved layout.

Jump to the last active window

• Press F12.

Use the switcher for navigation

1. To jump between the opened files and tool windows with the switcher, press Ctrl+Tab.

2. Keep Ctrl pressed to leave the switcher popup open.

3. Press Tab to move between elements. Press Backspace to remove the selected file from the list and close it in the editor.

Change the IDE appearance

You can switch between schemes, keymaps, or viewing modes.

1. Press Ctrl+`.

2. In the Switch menu, select the option you need and press Enter. Use the same shortcut Ctrl+` to undo your changes.

You can also find and adjust the color scheme settings including the high contrast color scheme for people with eyesight deficiency on the Editor | Color Scheme page and the keymap settings on the Keymap page of the Settings dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S).

Jump to the navigation bar

• Press Alt+Home.

Open or close tabs

• To close all opened tabs, select Window | Editor Tabs | Close All Tabs from the main menu.

• To close all inactive tabs, press Alt and click on the active tab. In this case, only the active tab stays open.

• To close all inactive tabs except the active one and the pinned tabs, right-click any tab and select Close Other Tabs.

• To close only the active tab, press Ctrl+F4. You can also click the mouse's wheel button anywhere on a tab to close it.

• To reopen the closed tab, right-click any tab, and from the context menu, select Reopen Closed Tab.

• To open a new tab at the end of the already opened one, select the Open new tabs at the end in the tab settings.

Copy path or filename

1. Right-click the tab.

2. From the list that opens, select Copy Path/Reference….

3. From the list that opens, select your copy option.

   

   WebStorm copies the item to the clipboard, and you can paste it (Ctrl+V) wherever you need.

Move, remove, or sort tabs

• To move or remove the icon on a tab, in the Settings dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), go to Editor | General | Editor Tabs and select the appropriate option in the Close button position field.

• To place the editor tabs in a different part of the editor frame or hide the tabs, right-click a tab and select Configure Editor Tabs to open the Editor Tabs settings. In the Appearance section, in the Tab placement list, select the appropriate option.

• To see hidden tabs in the editor, click next to the last visible tab in the editor.

• To sort the editor tabs alphabetically, right-click a tab and select Configure Editor Tabs to open the Editor Tabs settings. In the Tab order section, select Sort tabs alphabetically.

Pin or unpin a tab

You can pin an active tab in the editor so that it will stay open when the tab limit is reached or when you use the Close Other Tabs command.

• To pin or unpin an active tab, right-click it and select Pin Tab or Unpin Tab from the context menu.

• To close all tabs, but the pinned ones, right-click any tab and select Close All but Pinned.

• To assign a keyboard shortcut for the Pin Tab action, in the Settings dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), go to Keymap, find the Pin Active Tab action, right-click it, select Add Keyboard Shortcut, and press the key combination you want to use.

• To keep pinned tabs on the left side, in the Settings dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), go to Advanced Settings, and select the Keep pinned tabs on the left in the Editor Tabs section.

Detach a tab

When you detach a tab, the tab opens in a separated window and the window becomes reserved for the detached tab.

If you try to detach another tab from the main frame, it will be opened in the window with already detached tab. You can position the newly detached tab anywhere you'd like such as left, right, bottom, or top. To that frame you can also drag different tool windows.

• Drag the tab you need outside of the main window and drag the tab back to attach it.

• To detach an active tab, press Shift+F4.

• You can also use Alt+mouse for the same action.

Switch between tabs

• To move between tabs, press Alt+Right or Alt+Left.

  

• You can also switch between recently viewed tabs or files.

  In the editor, press Ctrl+Tab. Keep pressing Ctrl for the Switcher window to stay open. Use Tab to switch between tabs and other files.

Assign a shortcut for the opened tab

1. In the Settings dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), go to Keymap.

2. In the list of directories, click the Other directory and from the list of tabs, select the one for which you need to add a shortcut. The limit of tabs to which you can assign shortcuts is 9.

   

Change the default tab limit

WebStorm limits number of tabs that you can open in the editor simultaneously (the default tab limit is 10).

1. In the Settings dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), go to Editor | General | Editor Tabs.

2. In the Tab closing policy section, adjust the settings according to your preferences and click OK.

Open files in the preview tab

The preview tab allows you to view files in a single tab one by one without opening each file in a new tab. This is helpful if you need to look through several files without exceeding the tab limit.

1. In the Project tool window Alt+1, click and select Enable Preview Tab.

   You can also enable the preview tab in Settings | General | Editor Tabs | Opening Policy.

2. In the Project tool window, select a file that is not already open in any other tab.

   The name of the file is written in italic to indicate the preview mode. Any other file that you select will replace the previous one in the preview tab.

   Start editing the file or double-click the file's tab to exit the preview mode and convert the preview tab into a regular tab.

   

   Note that when the preview tab is enabled, the Open Files with Single Click option is ignored. Double-click a file to open it in a regular tab.

Alternatively, preview files in a popup without opening a separate tab. Select the necessary file in the Project tool window and press Space, see Preview files from the Project tool window for details.

Hide editor tabs if there is no more space

1. In the Settings dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), go to Editor | General | Editor Tabs.

2. Select the Hide tabs if there is no space option. Extra tabs will be placed in the drop-down list () located in the upper right part of the editor.

Change the font size in tabs

1. In the Settings dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), go to Appearance & Behavior | Appearance.

2. In the Size field, specify the font size and click OK to save the changes.

   Keep in mind that the font size will change not only for tabs, but for tool windows as well.

• In the editor, right-click the desired tab and select how you want to split the editor window and move the selected file: Split Right, Split and Move Right, Split Down, Split and Move Down.

  WebStorm creates a split view of the editor and places the file according to your selection.

  

• As an alternative, select similar options from Window | Editor Tabs from the main menu.

  You can also assign keyboard shortcuts for these actions. Go to Settings | Keymap and find one of the actions: Split Right, Split and Move Right, Split Down, Split and Move Down. Right-click it, select Add Keyboard Shortcut, and press the key combination you want to use. Learn more from Configure keyboard shortcuts.

• You can drag a tab vertically or horizontally in order to split the editor, and drag the tab back to unsplit the screen.

  

• You can open a file in the editor in the right split.

  In the Project tool window, right-click a file and select Open in Right Split from the context menu (or press Shift+Enter). WebStorm will open a file in the split on the right of the editor.

  

  If there are two splits and focus is in the left split, the file will be opened in the existing right split. If the focus is in the right split, the file will be opened in the next right split.

• You can move files between split screens. Right-click the needed file tab in the editor and from the context menu select Move To Opposite Group or Open In Opposite Group.

• You can close all the open tool windows at once and thus enlarge the split screens. Position the caret in an editor tab and press Ctrl+Shift+F12 or just double-click the tab. WebStorm hides all the open tool windows so all the space is shared by split screens.

  

• You can split the editor equally multiple times with the Equalize proportions in nested splits option.

• To unsplit the screen, from the context menu, select Unsplit or Unsplit All to unsplit all the split frames.

Move the split screen

1. Place the caret inside the desired split frame.

2. From the main menu, select Window | Editor Tabs.

3. From the list of options, select one of the following options:

   • Stretch Editor to Top

   • Stretch Editor to Left

   • Stretch Editor to Bottom

   • Stretch Editor to Right

   You can assign a shortcut to each option and use a keyboard to stretch the split frame.

   To move between the split frames which you've created, from the main menu, select Window | Editor Tabs. From the list of options select Goto Next Splitter ⌥ ⇥ or Goto Previous Splitter ⌥ ⇧ ⇥ respectively.

Configure the font and font ligatures

1. In the Settings dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), go to Editor | Font.

2. Select the needed font from the list, specify its size and the line heights. You can also enable ligatures and configure typography settings.

3. Click OK to save the changes.

Change the font size in the editor

1. In the Settings dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), go to Editor | General (Mouse Control section).

2. Select the Change font size with Ctrl+Mouse Wheel in option.

3. Return to the editor, press and hold Ctrl, and using the mouse wheel, adjust the font size.

Increase or decrease font size for all the editors

• In the editor, press Alt+Shift+. to increase the font size globally or press Alt+Shift+Comma to decrease it.

  WebStorm displays a zoom indicator on the bottom of the editor that shows the current font size and the default one to which you can reset the current font size.

  

• The zoom indicator is enabled by default. To disable it, open the Settings dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), go to Advanced Settings, and clear the Show zoom indicator option in the Editor section.

Configure code formatting

1. In the Settings dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), go to Editor | Code Style.

2. From the list of languages select the appropriate one and on the language page, configure settings for tabs and indents, spaces, wrapping and braces, hard and soft margins, and so on.

Configure the color scheme settings for different languages and frameworks

1. In the Settings dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), go to Editor | Color Scheme.

2. Open the Color Scheme node and select the needed language or framework. You can also select the General option from the node's list to configure the color scheme settings for general items such as code, editor, errors and warnings, popups and hints, search results, and so on.

Configure code completion options

• In the Settings dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), go to Editor | General | Code Completion. Here you can configure the case sensitive completion, auto-display options, code sorting, and so on.

Configure the caret placement

• In the Settings dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), go to Editor | General. In the Virtual Space section, you can configure the caret placement options.

  Select the Allow placement of caret after end of line option to place the caret at the next line in the same position as the end of the previous line. If this option is cleared, the caret at the next line is placed at the end of the actual line.

  Select the Allow placement of caret inside tabs option to help you move the caret up or down inside the file while keeping it in the same position.

Configure the behavior of trailing spaces on save

• In the Settings dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), go to Editor | General. In the Other section, you can configure options for trailing spaces.

  For example, when you save your code either manually or automatically and want to preserve trailing spaces on the caret line regardless of what option is selected in the Strip trailing spaces on save list, select the Always keep trailing spaces on caret line option.

Configure the editor appearance options

• In the Settings dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), go to Editor | General | Appearance.

  For example, you can configure showing the hard wrap guide, or showing parameter hints.

Manage the appearance for long lines

1. In the Settings dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), go to Editor | General.

2. In the Soft Wraps section, specify the appropriate options.

Configure smart keys

You can configure a certain behavior for different basic editor actions depending on the language you use.

• In the Settings dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), go to Editor | General | Smart keys.