This is really annoying and sad, because this issue is from 2009 and it’s still unsolved.
I tested multiple configurations and find a suitable solution.
For my workaround and a more intuitive behaviour go to Settings -> Editor Tabs
- Placement: Right or Left (show tabs in single row should be checked & frozen)
- check Show directory in editor tabs for non-unique filenames
- change Tab limit to 20 or your desired value
- check Close less frequently used files
- check Activate most recently opend tab
Apply and close the window. Then go to the menu bar: Window -> Editor Tabs and uncheck Alphabetical Mode if checked. This change let you reorder your tabs by drag&drop and new tabs are appended after the active tab. This also annoying, because most editors append it to the end of a list.
Maybe you prefer the Alphabetical Mode but the sorting is not consistent, because only one directory (the closest one) of a file is evaluating for the sorting. The parent folder and parents parent, … are ignored.
There is still an annoying behaviour, which is more annoying when you place the tab bar on top/bottom. When using right/left you have still the same problems, but you get more space and it don’t start to annoy you so fast with a vertical list 😉
- when using single row you are limited to scroll horizontal/vertical, you cannot scroll out of the active tab, you have to change the active tab to scroll further.
- when using single row at the end of the tab is a icon which shows the disappeared tabs with a crazy order and it change the order when you activate another tab.
With top/bottom placement you get another annoying behaviour:
- when you place the bar Top/Bottom and not using single row the order changes in most cases when you switching between tabs, this the most annoying behaviour for me.
tested on IntelliJ Cardea