By default IntelliJ IDEA opens the last project when starting.
How to start IntelliJ without opening last project?
If for any reason you need to change this setting without using the UI (for example if IDEA is hanging when it opens your project), you can find the setting in eg
/.IntelliJIdea10/config/options/ide.general.xml
The location of the file is documented in http://devnet.jetbrains.net/docs/DOC-181
The specific setting you need to change (or add) is
<application>
<component name="GeneralSettings">
<option name="reopenLastProject" value="false" />
</component>
</application>
In the latest version of IntelliJ, the location of this file on a Mac is
~/Library/Preferences/IntelliJIdea2018.2/options/ide.general.xml
If you have the settings repository enabled, then it can be found here:
~/.IntelliJIdea${idea_version}/config/settingsRepository/repository/ide.general.xml
IntelliJ 2016.x keeps this information in its own file now. On my MacBook Pro w/OSX:
~/Library/Preferences/IntelliJIdea2016.2/options/recentProjects.xml
If IntelliJ hangs on startup, force quit the app then rename this file to something like "recentProjects.xml.bak."
Upon restart you'll get the option screen for creating or opening a project.
Note: the actual path may vary depending upon which version of IntelliJ you have installed eg.
IntelliJIdea2016.1/ IntelliJIdea2016.2/ IntelliJIdea2016.3/
On WINDOWS
, the path is:
C:\Users\[USERNAME]\.IntelliJIdea[VERSION]\config\options\ide.general.xml
Then set reopenLastProject
to false
, i.e.:
<application>
<component name="GeneralSettings">
<option name="reopenLastProject" value="false" />
</component>
</application>
PS: You may have to create the option if it doesn't exist.
If you're just trying to start up IntelliJ once without opening any previous projects (eg due to IntelliJ crashing with a specific project), you can use the dontReopenProjects
option from the command line.
Example:
C:\dev\ide\IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition 2020.2\bin\idea64.exe dontReopenProjects
Source (credit to mikebridge for pointing it out in a comment on this answer): https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/working-with-the-ide-features-from-command-line.html#arguments
Note: There are also a bunch of other useful command line options as well, eg noSplash
and disableNonBundledPlugins
.