JetBrains Plugin for IntelliJ IDEA (and other IDEs): Recent Projects Organized

I created my first IntelliJ IDEA plugin to fix a minor, personal frustration… I have a long list of projects I’m working on and need to switch between them frequently. But it’s hard to locate a specific project in such a long list. But this problem is now solved! I created a small plugin that adds a new option to the “File” menu: “Recent Projects (Organized)”. It shows your recent projects, organized by the first word of their project name. When multiple projects share the same first word, they get grouped in a submenu.

I already had the habit of giving each of my projects a clear name, starting with the project. You can do the same in your IDE via the “IDE and Project Settings” > “Project Structure” > “Project Settings” > “Project” > “Name”. The code in the plugin splits that name by space, -, _, or . to define the first word. This way, they get grouped, making it much easier to find a project when you have multiple ongoing projects and need to switch between them.

The plugin is free and can be installed within your IDE from the “Settings” > “Plugins” window or from the JetBrains Marketplace. When you find a problem or have an idea for improvement, please let me know through the GitHub repository.

I tested the plugin in my IntelliJ IDEA, but according to the JetBrains validation tool, it should also work in other JetBrains IDEs.