Force.com IDE Developer Guide

Get Started with the Force.com IDE
Install the Force.com IDE Plug-In
Quickstart: Explore the Force.com IDE
Offline and Online Modes
Update the Force.com IDE
Develop with the Force.com IDE
Test Code with the Force.com IDE
Deploy Code with the Force.com IDE
Get Started with the Apex Debugger
Solutions to Common Force.com IDE Problems
Force.com IDE Release Notes
Useful References
PDF

Install the Force.com IDE Plug-In

You can install the Force.com IDE into your existing Eclipse distribution or upgrade from a previous version.

Before installing the Force.com IDE, ensure that you have these items installed on your workstation.

  • A supported operating system
    • Windows 7, 8, or 10
    • macOS 10.7, 10.8, 10.9, 10.10, or 10.11
    • Ubuntu 12.04 LTS or 14.04 LTS
  • Java SE Development Kit (JDK), Runtime Environment 8 (Java download page)

    Be sure to download the full JDK—without it, the plug-in doesn’t load. On macOS, the full JDK is not the default JRE installation.

    If you have Java versions in addition to Java 8 installed, specify a JDK 1.8 version in your eclipse.ini file. For details, see Specifying the JVM in the Eclipse Foundation’s eclipse.ini documentation.

    Important

  • Eclipse Neon (Eclipse download site)

    The Eclipse IDE for Java Developers distribution is recommended.

  1. Launch Eclipse and select Help | Install New Software.
  2. Click Add.
  3. In the Add Repository dialog, set the name to Force.com IDE and the location to https://developer.salesforce.com/media/force-ide/eclipse45.
  4. Click OK.
  5. To install an older version of the plug-in, deselect Show only the latest versions of available software.
    Eclipse downloads the list of available plug-ins and displays them in the Available Software dialog.
  6. Select Force.com IDE.
  7. If you want to install the Apex Debugger or our tools for working with Lightning components, select Force.com Debugger or Force.com Lightning Support.
  8. Click Next.
  9. In the Install Details dialog, click Next.
  10. In the Review Licenses dialog, accept the terms and click Finish.
  11. If you chose to install support for Lightning components, Eclipse displays a warning dialog about installing software that contains unsigned content. We are bundling third-party plug-ins to support Lightning components. Salesforce doesn’t own these third-party plug-ins; hence, we don’t sign them. Click OK to proceed.
  12. Eclipse downloads and installs the Force.com IDE and the required dependencies. When the installation is complete, you are prompted to restart. Click Yes.
  13. When Eclipse restarts, select Window | Open Perspective | Other. Select Force.com and then click OK.

    You are now ready to develop and customize Salesforce applications in Eclipse!

When you create a project, you are sometimes prompted for a new master password. This master password is a separate password of your choosing. It’s required by Eclipse secure storage but not associated with your Force.com IDE credentials. For information on Eclipse secure storage, see the Eclipse Workbench User Guide.

Note