Fetch deletes my deployment (and other) settings

Hiya,

I'm using the latest version of PHPStorm.

Lately, for the life of me, I couldn't figure out why my deployment settings kept getting deleted. I use a dedicated development server and I work from different locations on different computers (hence the online development server).

I just now figured out that every time I update my project through PHPStorm's git options, it deletes my deployment settings.

Is there any way I can prevent all of this from happening? I very much prefer to keep my PHPStorm settings seperated on seperate computers.

I don't feel like the .idea folder has any place in my repo's, so those are added to ignore by default. I feel like this may be related to why my fetches delete my deployment settings? I switch between computers about 3-4 times a day, so I could really use some pointers. Thanks!

For more information;
Whenever I switch PC's, I first use “Fetch” to pull in the branches, then I use “Update Project” to get the changes.

I'm starting to wonder whether that's where my mistake is? Should I right-click in the explorer and use “Pull” specifically?

If so, why isn't “Pull” an option in the git quick-buttons, top-left of the screen?

— Added some screenshots for clarity. What is it that “Update project” does, exactly? And why isn't the “Pull” option in the quick-button for git? Seems to me like it's a very basic must, no? I'm confused as to why the git options are so extremely different in what they do, when they're both git options. And then there's the dedicated commit tab which is very different again. Why is this all so different and not more streamlined? It's honestly quite confusing.