[intellij-idea] File size exceeds configured limit (2560000), code insight features not available

I am trying to work on a large Javascript file in Jetbrains WebStorm 8 and I am getting a message at the top of the editing window that says:

File size exceeds configured limit (2560000). Code insight features not available.

How can I increase the 'configured limit' to get access to all features?

This question is related to intellij-idea

The answer is


To clarify Alvaro's answer, you need to add the -D option to the list of command lines. I'm using PyCharm, but the concept is the same:

pycharm{64,.exe,64.exe}.vmoptions:
<code>
    -server
    -Xms128m
    ...
    -Didea.max.intellisense.filesize=999999 # <--- new line
</code>

Edit config file for IDEA: IDEA_HOME/bin/idea.properties

# Maximum file size (kilobytes) IDE should provide code assistance for.
idea.max.intellisense.filesize=60000

# Maximum file size (kilobytes) IDE is able to open.
idea.max.content.load.filesize=60000

Save and restart IDEA


For the 64-bit 2020 version

I tried in vain to find the current location of this file for version 2020. When navigating to Help > Edit Custom Properties a new (empty) file is created at appData/Roaming/JetBrains/IntelliJIdea2020.1/idea.properties. There is no /bin directory as some tutorials suggest. However, neither adding the block from the accepted answer to this file nor adding the same file to /bin resulted in an update to my configuration.

I finally discovered that a reference to the same property exists in appData/Roaming/JetBrains/IntelliJIdea2020.1/idea64.exe.vmoptions. It looks like this:

-Didea.max.intellisense.filesize=3470

I changed it to this, which should be adequate for my needs:

-Didea.max.intellisense.filesize=9999

This strikes me as a bug in this version where the behavior of the menu item doesn't reflect what's needed, but it may also be the case that my particular setup is somehow different than stock. I do have PyCharm and the JDK installed.


Go to IDE:

STEP 1: Open the menu item: click on Help then click on Edit Custom Properties

STEP 2: Set the parameter:

idea.max.intellisense.filesize= 999999999


PhpStorm 2020

  1. Help -> Edit Custom Properties.
  2. File will open in Editor. Paste the section below to the file.
 #---------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Maximum file size (kilobytes) IDE should provide code assistance for.
 # The larger file is the slower its editor works and higher overall system memory 
 requirements are
 # if code assistance is enabled. Remove this property or set to very large number 
 if you need
 # code assistance for any files available regardless their size.
 #---------------------------------------------------------------------
 idea.max.intellisense.filesize=2500
  1. File -> Invalidate / Restart -> Restart

This might not update sometimes and you might need to edit the root idea.properties file.

To edit this file for any version of Idea

  1. Go to application location i.e linux => /opt/PhpStorm[version]/bin
  2. Find file called idea.properties Make backup of file i.e idea.properties.old
  3. Open original with any txt editor.
  4. Find idea.max.intellisense.filesize=
  5. Replace with idea.max.intellisense.filesize=your_required_size i.e idea.max.intellisense.filesize=10480 NB by default this size is in kb
  6. Save and restart the IDE.

This is built from Álvaro González's answer and How to increase IDE memory limit in IntelliJ IDEA on Mac?

Go to Help > Edit Custom Properties

Add:

idea.max.intellisense.filesize=999999

Restart the IDE.


For those who don't know where to find the file they're talking about. On my machine (OSX) it is in:

  • PyCharm CE: /Applications/PyCharm CE.app/Contents/bin/idea.properties
  • WebStorm: /Applications/WebStorm.app/Contents/bin/idea.properties

Windows default install location for Webstorm:

C:\Program Files\JetBrains\WebStorm 2019.1.3\bin\idea.properties

I went x4 default for intellisense and x5 for file size

(my business workstation is a beast though: 8th gen i7, 32Gb RAM, NVMe PCIE3.0x4 SDD, gloat, etc, gloat, etc)

#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Maximum file size (kilobytes) IDE should provide code assistance for.
# The larger file is the slower its editor works and higher overall system memory requirements are
# if code assistance is enabled. Remove this property or set to very large number if you need
# code assistance for any files available regardless their size.
#--------------------------------------------------------------------- 
idea.max.intellisense.filesize=10000

    #---------------------------------------------------------------------
    # Maximum file size (kilobytes) IDE is able to open.
    #--------------------------------------------------------------------- 

idea.max.content.load.filesize=100000

Instructions for changing this settings in latest Jetbrains products

Editing product64.vmoptions didnt worked for me, but editing idea.properties worked ok. Also in order to be able to work with large files you may need to change values for in product64.vmoptions / product.vmoptions for -Xms and -Xmx


Changing the above options form Help menu didn't work for me. You have edit idea.properties file and change to some large no.

MAC: /Applications/<Android studio>.app/Contents/bin[Open App contents] 

Idea.max.intellisense.filesize=999999 

WINDOWS: IDE_HOME\bin\idea.properties