How to exclude a file extension from IntelliJ IDEA search?

You can create custom scope there: In 'Find in Path' dialog you can check radio button 'Custom' and open scopes window. There you can customize path and search pattern.

Examples of Patterns for Pattern field:

• !file:*.css - exclude CSS files
• file[MyMod]:src/main/java/com/example/my_package//* - include files from the directory in a project.
• src[MyMod]:com.example.my_package..* - recursively include all files in a package.
• file:*.js||file:*.coffee - include all JavaScript and CoffeeScript files.
• file:*js&&!file:*.min.* - include all JavaScript files except those that were generated through minification, which is indicated by the min extension.

Or check the official documentation.

Good luck!

In intellij 16 there is a section "File name Filter" to exclude an extension use !*.java. You can give more detailed patterns as well for example I use the pattern below to only return .java files except those with a name starting or ending with test. Pattern: !*test.java,*.java,!Test*.java

In recent versions of Intellij the GUI has been updated a bit but the same still applies see the "File mask" on the top right hand corner see image below:

In "Find in Path" and "Find in Files" (Ctrl+Shift+F) you can use the "File mask" input.

For example, this would exclude all js, css and twig:

!*.js, !*.css, !*.twig

It's handy cause it also keeps a list of previous inputs, but it gets messy easily when you add a lot of extensions. If it gets too crowded, consider excluding some folders as well (right-click -> "Mark directory as" -> "Excluded")