"Update and Restart" not showing in update dialog in IntelliJ IDEA

Question

When I start my IntelliJ IDEA I have a dialog about a new release build version.

But I have only three options:

• More info...
• Remind me later
• Ignore this update

The "Update and Restart" option is not present in this dialog.

Is it a problem in my release build or is it maybe configured options?

However, how can I update my IntelliJ IDEA without downloading a new release from the site?

Answer 1

IntelliJ IDEA update dialog would show "Download" button instead of "Update and Restart" in case your installation is several minor versions behind the most recent one. But it still can be updated inplace with several consequtive patch-based updates by following this instruction from the official docs:

https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/keep-product-up-to-date.html#apply_patch

Answer 2

I disagree with the checked answer. I was googling because this exact thing was happening to me. I eventually just went to settings > Appearance & Behavior > System Settings > Updates and hit check now with New Major Version Releases selected. I then hit cancel and the same box appeared that you speak of. But this time around I hit the exit button and it gave me the option to update and restart. So it might just take some tinkering but downloading the full release is not your only option.

Answer 3

Click on "check updates" multiple times and you should see the "Update and Restart" option.

Answer 4

From my experience you can only do an incremental update (which is what the update and restart option is) when you're only stepping up one version. It sounds like you haven't updated in a while, so your only option is to download the full release.

My guess would be that they only want to keep the incremental update package around for the most recent upgrade as keeping all the incremental update packages would take quite a bit of storage.