[intellij-idea] How can I use tabs for indentation in IntelliJ IDEA?

Have you tried .editorconfig? You can create this file in the root of your project and configure indentation for different file types. Your code will be automatically formatted. Here's the example:

# top-most EditorConfig file
root = true

# matches all files
[*]
indent_style = tab
indent_size = 4

# only json
[*.json]
indent_style = space
indent_size = 2