How to Fix "PyCharm Slow on Mac"

If PyCharm is running slow on your Mac, there are a few steps you can take to improve performance.

First, try increasing the available memory for PyCharm.

You can adjust this by modifying the idea.vmoptions file.

Open PyCharm, go to Help > Edit Custom VM Options, and increase the values for Xmx (maximum heap size) and Xms (initial heap size).

This will allocate more memory to the IDE, which may speed up performance.

Next, try disabling unnecessary plugins.

Go to Preferences > Plugins, and disable any plugins you don’t need.

Plugins can consume resources, and disabling them will free up some system memory.

If PyCharm is still slow, try clearing the cache and restarting the IDE.

Go to File > Invalidate Caches / Restart, select Invalidate and Restart, and PyCharm will rebuild its cache, which may improve performance.

Additionally, consider excluding certain directories from indexing.

If your project is large, PyCharm may be indexing files in the background, which can take time and resources.

Go to Preferences > Project: <your project name> > Project Structure, select directories to exclude (e.g., __pycache__ or log folders), and mark them as Excluded.

Lastly, ensure that PyCharm is up to date.

Go to PyCharm > Check for Updates to make sure you’re using the latest version.

Updates can bring performance improvements and bug fixes.

If the issue persists, reinstalling PyCharm might help—download the latest version from the official website.