How do I get IntelliJ IDEA to display directories?

Question

I\'ve been trying out IntelliJ IDEA for JavaScript editing, and I like it so far, but I\'m having a small problem with a new project.

I can\'t seem to be able to get

Answer 1

It appears I need to manually create a Java module (File->New Module) inside the project to actually see the "proper" directory view. I do wonder why it didn't show up when I created it with the project.

Answer 2

Simplest way to do this!

Reading some of the other answers, they require you to go into Project Structure -> Modules and check that the sources are not excluded.

But in my case - there are no modules defined in the project at all, so that didn't help.

To easily create a module for your project and therefore show the folder structure -

• Go to File menu -> New -> Project...
• Select Static Web. Note: it does not matter if your project is "web" or not!
• Hit next, then fill in the same Project Name: and Project location: as you have already.
• IntelliJ will say "File Already Exists" - "Would you like to overwrite it?" - answer Yes.

Bam! Your Project Pane with the Project view selected should now instantly show the folder structure of your project.

If you have a maven project, you will need to add the root pom.xml in the Maven Projects window.

And if you want to add java to your project later, you should probably configure a JDK also.

Answer 3

Just me own 2c. I used "New" -> "Module from existing sources" to get IntelliJ to show folders and files from inside a Github Java project. Hope this helps someone.

Answer 4

I had a test folder which wasn't displaying in IntelliJ. It turned out that it had no files in it, IntelliJ was only showing folders that had some files in them. When i manually added files in test folder via Explorer, it reflected back in IDE.

Answer 5

Current more straightforward logic:

• remove the .idea/ folder
• select in Idea File -> New project.
• in left menu select Web Module, and then set up project folder
• you're done!

Answer 6

The same problem had me going crazy for a couple of hours as well, coming from Netbeans where I could just start a new project and import any source tree. My project is PHP/JS and has nothing to do with Java, so it was not intuitive to have to create a Java module, just so I could see my files listed.

I found the solution (covered above) here for more insight.