Article directory
1. Official website description
Official website description of the directory used by the IDE
2. Change the location of the IDE directory
By default, PyCharm stores user-specific files (configuration, cache, plugins, logs, etc.) for each IDE instance in the user's home directory. However, you can change the location where these files are stored if necessary.
1. Go to Help | Edit Custom Properties
It is blank if it has not been set. Here is what it is after setting.
2. Location of each file
| Windows location example | ||
|---|---|---|
| idea.system.path | Configuration directory | C:\Users\JohnS\AppData\Roaming\JetBrains\PyCharm2023.3 |
| idea.system.path | System directory | C:\Users\JohnS\AppData\Local\JetBrains\PyCharm2023.3 |
| idea.plugins.path | Plug-in directory | C:\Users\JohnS\AppData\Roaming\JetBrains\PyCharm2023.3\plugins |
| idea.log.path | Log directory | C:\Users\JohnS\AppData\Local\JetBrains\PyCharm2023.3\log |
3. Take the PyCharm system directory as an example
- System directory location
- PyCharm2022.3：
- PyCharm2022.3：
4. Modify idea.properties
# custom PyCharm properties (expand/override 'bin\idea.properties')
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Uncomment this option if you want to customize a path to the settings directory.
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
idea.config.path=C:/Users/lenovo/AppData/Roaming/JetBrains/PyCharm2022.3
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Uncomment this option if you want to customize a path to the caches directory.
# C:\Users\JohnS\AppData\Local\JetBrains\PyCharm2023.3
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
idea.system.path=F:/Users/lenovo/AppData/Local/JetBrains/PyCharm2022.3
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Uncomment this option if you want to customize a path to the user-installed plugins directory.
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
idea.plugins.path=C:/Users/lenovo/AppData/Roaming/JetBrains/PyCharm2022.3/plugins
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
# Uncomment this option if you want to customize a path to the logs directory.
#C:\Users\JohnS\AppData\Local\JetBrains\PyCharm2023.3\log
#---------------------------------------------------------------------
idea.log.path=F:/Users/lenovo/AppData/Local/JetBrains/PyCharm2022.3/log
After restarting PyCharm, the new location of the corresponding directory set above will be used.
3. Clean up the old IDE directory
Each time you install a new major version of PyCharm, it uses a new set of IDE directories and automatically deletes cache and log directories for older versions of the IDE that have not been updated in the past 180 days. Configuration and plugin directories are retained forever unless you delete them manually.
- Go to Help | Delete the remaining IDE directories.
- In the Delete Leftover IDE Storage Directories dialog box, select the version of the IDE that you do not plan to use, and then click Delete.
