IntelliJ is not formatting HTML

Question

Have been using IntelliJ for years, and been happy and hope this is a fluke. IntelliJ is not formatting HTML code when I do Ctrl-Alt-L. The dialog pops, and it pretends to format, but no code is actually moved. I switched extension of the file from HTML to XML, and formatting worked as expected. Actually I noticed this in Freemarker templates, but then experimented with pure HTML with the same results. My version is 13.0.2

Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

Had the same problem, the statements under the tag were not indented by default. Reformatting and auto-indentation worked after I changed the following:

Settings -> Editor -> Code Style -> HTML -> Other (tab) -> Do not indent children of: -> remove "body" from the list.

Maybe it is the same for you or something related at this section. Hope it works for you aswell.

Answer 2

Settings > Editor > Code Style > HTML.
Check your "tabs and indents", but most important, "other".

For example, the default "insert new lines before" value is "body,div,p,form,h1,h2,h3"

When I export my code style as .xml, (Settings > Editor > Code Style > Html > Manage button), I get a file default.xml with the following contents:

<code_scheme name="Default" />

You could try creating a "default.xml" file with this content, and using "import scheme". The fact that it's empty points out that all settings are IntelliJ default (as far as I know).

Also, make sure your extension is .html, as this is what intelliJ uses to detect languages. Make sure you format the whole file (in case it'd be formatting an empty selection, or it could be trying to format VCS changed text while there is none.

You could also try checking Settings > Editor > File types > Html:
This list should contain all extensions for which HTML syntax check and formatting is used. (see also How can I open a file and see the HTML highlights in Intellij IDEA? )

I use IntelliJ 2016.1, but this part shouldn't be any different from IntelliJ 13

Answer 3

Note that invalid HTML will not be reformatted. So if your badly outlined HTML is actually invalid as well, you can reformat all you like, but the lines that are not valid will not change.

This can be confusing at times, but once you know it it makes for good eye-catchers hinting at invalid code.

Common example, misuse of block elements:

<span>
    <span>1</span>
    <span>1</span>
</span>

Answer 4

You can also check if you are using any Code Style plugins and try turning them off - looks like they take precedence over and may give unexpected results. At least for me, it was the solution.

In the Settings/Preferences dialog (Ctrl+Alt+S), click Plugins.