How to Change Java version in Intelli

In this blog post, You are going to learn to change the java version for

  • Intelli Boot Run time to start the application.
  • Intelli java project
  • maven project.

How to change the java version to the project in Intelli IDE?

Here is a sequence of steps

  • Go to the File menu

  • Select Project Structure, An popup window is displayed seen below

    Intelli IDEA Change jdk runtime version
  • Select SDKs under platform Settings

  • Change the JDK version or add new versions and change to it

This way, It is easy to change the JDK version in the latest Intelli 2021.1.2 Version.

How to change the java runtime used to run Intelli IDE?

Intelli IDE is written in java and uses default java 11 as a runtime.

You can check the current runtime version using the Help Menu - About and displays popup as follows

Intelli IDEA help about Change jdk runtime

Sometimes, You want to upgrade or downgrade the Intelli java runtime version. Here are steps to do

  • Go to the Help Menu and Select the Find Action item or Shortcut is Ctrl + Shift + A.

  • It opens the search box as below and types Choose Boot Java Runtime for the IDE.

    Intelli IDEA Choose Boot Java Runtime for the IDE
  • Select this, popup window opened like below

    Intelli IDEA Change jdk runtime version
  • It shows Current and new versions. Please select a value from the new dropdown and clicks Ok

  • Finally, Restarts Intelli to take the new boot runtime

How to change the java version in the maven project in Intelli?

In the maven project opened in Intelli IDE, Open pom.xml

add maven-compiler-plugin to pom.xml with source and target versions to valid JDK version

<build>
  <plugins>
    <plugin>
      <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
      <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
      <version>3.8.1</version>
      <configuration>
        <source>1.12</source>
        <target>1.12</target>
      </configuration>
    </plugin>
  </plugins>
</build>