Does IntelliJ IDEA have the concept of 'workspace' similar to eclipse with multiple maven projects open in parallel?

Question

I have used Eclipse for years and started using IntelliJ IDEA today.

I'm used to being able to import multiple maven projects into a workspace and see them all in parallel.

I imported a maven project into IntelliJ IDEA today - no problem.

I imported a second one - and it appears to create what to me looked like a new work space - I could see the new maven project but the old one was hidden (except under File | Open Recent).

I'd like to view them both on the screen at once - particularly to manage dependencies.

My question is: IntelliJ IDEA have the concept of workspace similar to eclipse with multiple maven projects open in parallel?

Answer 1

I used Eclipse for about 5 years and have now been using IntelliJ for about one year. I eventually came to the conclusion that what IntelliJ calls a "project" is basically what Eclipse calls a "workspace", and what Eclipse calls a "project" is basically what IntelliJ calls a "module".

This can cause confusion to start with, because you tell IntelliJ that you want to add a new "Maven project", which IntelliJ understands to mean you want to add a new "Maven workspace" in Eclipse terminology. So what you really need to tell IntelliJ to do is to create a new module (aka equivalent of an Eclipse project) in the workspace (IntelliJ project).

Because we come from an Eclipse background, most of us just refer to IntelliJ projects as "workspaces" in my organisation, and explicitly qualify "IntelliJ project" if we need to use the word "project". I think this reduces confusion, because an "IntelliJ project" has a different scope from a "Maven project", unlike in Eclipse.