Is there a way to run multiple instances of IDEA?

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I would like to be able to run multiple instances of IDEA for a number of reasons, but I haven't been able to find a way. Is this possible? It seems that IDEA always tries to reuse the existing process, and I failed to find any description of how to change this behavior in the documentation.

If this isn't currently possible, has this already been reported as a feature request? I'd like it for the following reasons:
1. Each process in 32-bit Java is limited to around 1GB on Windows, and I'm hitting that limit fairly frequently because I have large projects that I need to have open at the same time.
2. I find it annoying that if you have a dialog up in one IDEA window then you can't interact with the other window. For example, copying settings from one project to another is very painful because you have to open the dialog, copy the setting, close the dialog, switch windows, open the dialog, paste the setting, close the dialog, and then repeat for the next setting.
3. I work frequently with multiple branches of my software and I often need to have more than one open at a time. It is painful to have to use the Reopen window and then click "New Window" each time.
4. In Windows 7, I have IDEA pinned to the taskbar, and the context menu offers me my recently opened projects (and I can pin those too). However, IDEA ignores Windows requests to open these if it is already open.

My job requires that I work with both IDEA and Eclipse, and this is one area where I prefer Eclipse (there aren't many!). I can have multiple workspaces open at once in different processes each with its own memory. I can easily close and reopen just the ones I need, and I don't run out of memory when I have to open several.

Thanks for any advice you can give me.

- Andy

P.S. Let me know if there is a JIRA issue I should vote for, or if I should submit a new request.

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11 comments

well
I beleive IDEA stores pid of runinng process in it's settings folder
I beleive Eclipse does the same
when your run second Eclipse it will say that workspace is busy and will ask you for other workspace to open

unfortunately IDEA doesn't ask for another settings folder on start
you are to do it yourself: past command line options pointing to another wsettings folder

btw
I beleive you also must pass path to another config folder
or two running ideas can simultaneously write some config and thus can corrupt it


P.S.
omg, i just started second eclipse, it said that workspace is locked and then it exited ! Eclipse didn't ask for workspace change
it means you are pass option to use other workspace in command line. it means Eclipse isn't better then IDEA :)


P.P.S.
here are parameters:

-Didea.config.path=C:\prj\.IntelliJIdea9\config   -Didea.system.path=C:\prj\.IntelliJIdea9\system   -Didea.plugins.path=C:\prj\.IntelliJIdea9\config\plugins


Message was edited by: Wi Wi

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I agree that:

-it should be possible to have a separate IntelliJ process instance for each open project. This is better in just so many ways (many listed in the original post)

-each project should have its own database (now when IntelliJ crashes or you need to kill the java process for any reason, it needs to reparse everything, even projects you didn't have open). And I guess the fact that the database is shared between all projects is also the reason that they don't allow multiple projects...

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Thanks for the comments. I've created a feature request to track this issue:

http://youtrack.jetbrains.net/issue/IDEA-58926

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To open a new window, a new project needs to be created. Seems they added this feature upon your request.

https://www.jetbrains.com/help/pycharm/opening-multiple-projects.html

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Having multiple large java projects that often slow down everything from intelli-sense autocompletion to opening an existing file I too looked for a way to launch multiple instances of intellij.  However I discovered that the default intellij heapsize (java xmx) of 750m was too low for multiple projects.  Upon finding out that intellij doesn't automatically grow to expand the available RAM available I changed Help -> Edit Custom VM Options -> Xmx to be value that matched the amount of RAM available on my machine (restart intellij after editing the value).  I no longer needed to run multiple instances of intellij.

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"2. I find it annoying that if you have a dialog up in one IDEA window then you can't interact with the other window. For example, copying settings from one project to another is very painful because you have to open the dialog, copy the setting, close the dialog, switch windows, open the dialog, paste the setting, close the dialog, and then repeat for the next setting."

 

I just encountered this and it's really tedious to compare settings between two projects. I wonder if there is a technical reason why things are that way. 

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I feel your pain for the exact reason you mention here, but...

...there is a technical reason. It's because Settings is an example of a modal dialog that must be "satisfied" (accepted/submitted or dismissed, ok'd or cancel'd, etc.) before continuing. It would be a pretty big refactor with considerable implications for application function and stability to change this.

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@Russel, the technical reason only explains why is the modal window blocking other projects. This is exactly why allowing us to run several processes will solve the issue.

I often encounter the same pain point as Hans.

Currently my workaround is to have two different versions installed. This makes things a lot easier in certain aspects but the drawback is managing IDEA settings twice 

 

Jetbrains, please let us run separate processes!

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RobertG, I do the same thing. Use 2019.1 for one project, and 2019.2.x for another.  Then I can compare most settings side-by-side.  *And* run different colour schemes (which is something I wish could be defined at the project level, as eclipse used to do at the workspace level (something I believe they no longer do).

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I simply (at this time) want to compare settings between projects.  I can open the second project in a new window, but the settings (and I presume other dialogues I want to compare) are modal and won't allow me to open them for both projects at the same time. Any way I can do the comparison another way? I am new to IDEA so any feedback would be great. Thanks!

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David Wahlroos See https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-35480/Per-project-frame-modality and the linked issues. There is no easy way to do it right now, unfortunately.

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