In Intellij 2017.x, 2016.x, 15.x, 14.x the given solution does not work as the option is removed.

The problem can be solved by changing JDK for Importer to a latest JDK instead of User Internal JRE which was 1.6.0 by default on Mac

The setting JDK For Importer can be found in:

Preferences -> Build, Execution,Deployment -> Build Tools -> Maven -> Importing

Installing JDK

To install JDK, you can refer to help.ubuntu.com/community/Java.

If you want to install openJDK,

sudo apt-get install openjdk-7-jdk 

If you want to install Oracle JDK, you can use PPA from webup8 team.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer

Installing IntelliJ IDEA

[Updated Answer]

Download IntelliJ IDEA CE from www.jetbrains.com/idea/download/.

1. Extract ideaIC-XX.Y.Z.tar.gz using

   tar -zxvf ideaIC-XX.Y.Z.tar.gz
   

2. Run idea.sh in bin directory inside the extracted folder.

3. To create command-line runner, Tools > Create Command-line Launcher
4. To create a desktop entry, Tools > Create Desktop Entry

That's it. Now, you can launch IntelliJ from Ubuntu dash.

[Old Answer]

Download IntelliJ IDEA CE from www.jetbrains.com/idea/download/.

1. Extract ideaIC-XX.Y.Z.tar.gz using

   tar -zxvf ideaIC-XX.Y.Z.tar.gz
   

2. Become root.

   sudo -i
   

3. Move the extracted folder to /opt/idea

   mv ideaIC-XX.Y.Z /opt/idea
   

4. Create a desktop file and install it:

   gedit idea.desktop
   

   and copy the following to the idea.desktop file.

   [Desktop Entry]
   Name=IntelliJ IDEA 
   Type=Application
   Exec=idea.sh
   Terminal=false
   Icon=idea
   Comment=Integrated Development Environment
   NoDisplay=false
   Categories=Development;IDE;
   Name[en]=IntelliJ IDEA
   

   then execute the following command to automatically install it in the unity:

   desktop-file-install idea.desktop
   

5. Create a symlink in /usr/local/bin using

   cd /usr/local/bin
   ln -s /opt/idea/bin/idea.sh
   

6. For idea icon to be displayed in dash, idea icon can be added as

   cp /opt/idea/bin/idea.png /usr/share/pixmaps/idea.png
   

That's it. Now, you can launch IntelliJ from Ubuntu dash.

This is a known issue https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IJPL-43557

Workaround: switch to NewUI ("Settings | Appearance & Behavior | New UI | Enable NewUI")