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I am using IntelliJ IDEA 2017.1 (latest at this time) and am using the dark theme ("Darcula"). The editor window background color can be changed from Settings as per your preference. Though I haven't found a way to change the look-&-feel of the Project Window panel on the left of the editor. Even in dark theme the Project Window has a some kind of grey background which blurs the file/folder names (see screenshot).

How can I change the background color of Project Folder window?enter image description here

Vik
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    Came here for the same reason. The colour contrast of the Dracula theme is bad. I wonder why they just don't allow us to change the background from grey to black. I mean, how hard will that be? Anyways, I have installed Afterglow as a workaround. It unwantedly changed the icons. – Damn Vegetables Jan 15 '18 at 20:26
  • @DamnVegetables - Simpler solution is to just use Color Tree plugin (applies editor background color to project tree view) & best is that you do not have to install any other plugin on top of original IntelliJ. Plugin link: https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/7058-color-tree – Vik Jan 21 '18 at 20:06

3 Answers3

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Go to:

Settings->Appearance & Behavior->File colors

On the right side there will be small '+' button. Add All, Project Files etc. Add your custom colour. Apply, Ok, Voila!

If you have more than one File Color enabled, you can drag the colors to reorder them and change their precedence.

enter image description here

lreeder
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Jnana
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    This is the answer, however in the latest version of PhpStorm anyway, you may have to quit and relaunch the app to see the changes. Clicking the Apply button didn't have any effect. – phpguru Dec 09 '22 at 14:52
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Project view background color depends on the theme selected and cannot be changed:

  • IDEA-132299 Allow custom colors for the built-in UI themes (LAFs Darcula and Default)

Certain folders and files will have different colors based on the Scopes.

scope color

CrazyCoder
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In addition to what @CrazyCoder said.

You may use another GUI Theme. There are at least 2 plugins available that will provide different dark themes:

  • Afterglow Theme
  • Material Theme UI

Since they provided via plugins you will have to disable such plugin if you wish to switch to another GUI Theme.

As for the Project View panel background:

  • That yellowish color can be changed/disabled as per @CrazyCoder's screenshot
  • Actual background color might be changed with the help of one of such plugins (sorry, I do not know if they still work -- but used to work in the past -- last update 4 years ago):
    • Color Ide
    • Color Tree
LazyOne
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  • Installing 'Color Tree' did the trick for Project View panel background. As my Editor background was jet-black, the plugin set the same background in the Project View panel. Thanks!! – Vik Apr 08 '17 at 19:42
  • Color Tree plugin: https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/7058-color-tree – Vik Apr 06 '18 at 22:51
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    @IgorGanapolsky It must be no longer compatible with current IDE versions. Why not try GUI Themes? In recent versions (since 2019.1 I think) the GUI theme is fully customisable (you can make your own theme; plenty already available, installed as ordinary plugins): https://plugins.jetbrains.com/search?tags=Theme . Also check this one (how to): https://blog.jetbrains.com/idea/2019/03/brighten-up-your-day-add-color-to-intellij-idea/ – LazyOne Oct 20 '19 at 20:01