I don´t understand exactly why when you try to install IntelliJ IDEA in a Windows System or a Linux System the requirements say something like “JDK 1.6 or higher“, but when you try to install it in a Mac OS X System, it says “Java 6“. I guess it is something related with Apple and Oracle licenses and support but I am not sure.

In any case, it is clear that Java / Scala developers want to install the IDE with the latests JDK version. Probably, there are a lot of solutions, but the one that I am going to explain has work for me and it is pretty simple:

1. Download the latest version of IntelliJ IDEA (in my case, I have downloaded the community edition)
2. Install it in your system. Copy to your  Applications folder.
3. Click with the secondary button in the file IntelliJ IDEA 14 CE.app and select Show package content.
4. Edit the file Contents/Info.plist.
5. Find the section with the key JVMVersion.
6. Replace 1.6* with 1.8* (1.7* if you are using JDK 7)

That’s all. Now you can run IntelliJ IDEA with your installed JDK without the need to install the JDK 6.

See you.

Update: In the IntelliJ IDEA supports page, there is a thread about all of this, you can find it here. Thanks to Trisha Gee for her quick answer through twitter.