Keyboard shortcut for Jump to Previous View Location (Navigate back/forward) in IntelliJ IDEA
Solution 1:
Alt + Shift + ← (Left Arrow)
or
Ctrl + E (Recent Files pop-up).
Also check:
Ctrl + Shift + E (the Recently Edited Files pop-up).
Mac users, replace Ctrl with ⌘ (command) and Alt with ⌥ (option).
Update In v12.0 it's Alt + Shift +← (Left Arrow) instead of Alt + Ctrl + ← (Left Arrow).
Update 2 In v14.1 (and possibly earlier) it's Ctrl + [
Update 3 In IntelliJ IDEA 2016.3 it's Ctrl + Alt + ← (Left Arrow)
Update 4 In IntelliJ IDEA 2018.3 it's Alt + Shift + ← (Left Arrow)
Update 5 In IntelliJ IDEA 2019.3 it's Ctrl + Alt + ← (Left Arrow)
Solution 2:
The underlying problem is Ctrl+Alt+Left and Right are used by window managers to switch workspace and/or OEM utilities to change the screen orientation.
You can change the assignments using
File / Settings / Keymap
then Main Menu / Navigate
find Back
and Forward
and right click to Add Keyboard Shortcut
to set an alternative key chord.
Alt Graph+Left and Alt Graph+Right works well for me (IDEA 13.1.4 on Ubuntu under IceWM).