Oracle SQL Developer, 2k/4k monitor and font size

September 3, 2025

For me, it’s an ongoing battle to get the GUI and internal editor font sizes right. The GUI font size can be increased/decreased by editing a

/home/user/.sqldeveloper/system24.3.1.347.1826/o.sqldeveloper/ide.properties

file and adjusting the Ide.FontSize.* parameters. SQL Developer doesn’t provide setting to have the internal editor font size larger than 24. This is a pity as it is too small for my new 2k monitor. The idea is to double the size of the GUI and decrease the size of the internal editor font. Edit a file

/opt/sqldeveloper/sqldeveloper/bin/sqldeveloper.conf

to add the following entries:

AddVMOption -Dsun.java2d.uiScale=2

AddVMOption -Dsun.java2d.uiScale.enabled=true

Obviously, the GUI size will double, and you won’t need the internal editor’s 24-point font. A much smaller font will suffice.