IntelliJ: Change standard commit message

I fixed this by editing the .idea/workspace.xml in the following row:

<list default="true" readonly="true" id="..." name="Default" comment="CHANGE DEFAULT MESSAGE HERE">

Thanks to Bohuslav Burghardt for pointing out the correct file to edit.

Under "Version Control" and "Confirmation", you have a check button : "Clear initial commit message".

That might be a better solution in case you want to always have an empty text-field to input your commit message. Otherwise you can modify that file.

UPDATE IntelliJ Version:

IntelliJ IDEA 2018.3.5 (Ultimate Edition)
Build #IU-183.5912.21, built on February 26, 2019
macOS 10.14.3

Option Clear initial commit message is now under Version Control > Commit Dialog

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