How do you move projects around in IntelliJ/Webstorm?

Question

I have a webstorm project which i have in a certain directory. I want to move this project to another directory.

If I move the .idea folder, then nothing works at all. It seems like all the links in the project are absolute, not relative.

Answer 1

The links in a WebStorm project are relative (using $PROJECT_DIR$), not absolute.

To move a WebStorm project:

1. Close all open projects in WebStorm.

2. Close WebStorm.

3. Use a file manager to move (i.e. cut and paste) the project folder to its new location. For example, use Windows Explorer to move C:/dirA/MyProject to C:/dirB/MyProject

4. Start WebStorm. The "Welcome to WebStorm" screen should be displayed.

5. If the old project you just moved is in the "Recent Projects" list then select it, then press Delete to remove it from the list.

6. Select "Open Directory" from the Quick Start list, then select the project folder you just created. Your relocated project will open in WebStorm. That's it.

This approach works under Windows 7 using the latest version of WebStorm (8.0.4).

It looks tempting to select the project within WebStorm, then select Refactor > Move..., but don't go there. That is not relocating the entire project. From the documentation: "The Move refactorings allow you to move files and directories within a project".

Answer 2

You should simply move the entire project folder, that contains the .idea. This works fine for me in every situation I try. The links are relative to the folder containing the .idea, not the .idea folder itself. It's not like git where you can move just the .git folder, and nothing else.