How do I enable / disable start center to appear as default on startup? (no solution as of Q1, 2024)

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#1

hi,

I assume that this is an OS-independent behavior.
(I’m saying this because lots of Ask LO threads are are filled with “specify your OS, edit your question”, etc. comments, which makes it hard to read and get the info, it it has it eventually.)

THE QUESTION:

How do we enable / disable start center on startup?
Meaning (thanks to mikekaganski for pointing out the missing piece of info) in a specific LO program, say, Writer. (<- EDITED: jan 23. 2024)

additional clarification:
When start center is NOT the default, you’ll land at a new blank document…
I’d like to know how you set the “new document” (instead of start center) “on startup” option?
And I’d like to know how you set the opposite: the “show start center on startup” (or similar) as default?

I’m looking for the menu item and its location in the menu. (of Writer, for example)(<-- edited Jan 23. 2024)
Like, Tools / Options / …

For I can’t find it…

Thanks in advance!

Peter

#2

And which operating system and LO version are you working with?

Can that help?

Starting LibreOffice Software With Parameters

1 Like
#3

For example, in Windows, in the LibreOffice folder with the name \program there are several executable files with the extension .exe
image
In this case, we are interested in files whose names begin with S, and whose icons look like familiar images of documents of different types. This soffice.exe with a white sheet is the “office in general”, the same start center. For example, scalc.exe is a Calc spreadsheet. We simply create a shortcut for this file in a convenient place (on the taskbar or desktop) and use it in cases where we want to start working immediately from an empty spreadsheet, and not from selecting previous files. In Linux or MacOS this is located in a different place and is arranged somewhat differently. I hope you now understand why the first follow-up question will almost always be “which operating system?”

3 Likes
#4

Oh, this means that no Tools / Options setting can be used to set this preference, right?

#5

hi,

Your question seems to indicate that there’s no available setting in the Tools/Options menu to handle this, is that the case?

I use:
Version: 7.6.4.1 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 60(Build:1)
CPU threads: 2; OS: Linux 5.4; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3
Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); UI: en-US
Ubuntu package version: 4:7.6.4-0ubuntu0.20.04.1~lo2
Calc: threaded

#6

To be honest, I don’t know for sure - I’ve never tried to find this option there.

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#7

Hm, I have, but without success…
I’d expect something like with Firefox: “startup: open previous session”,
i.e.:
startup: |_| open a new document
|_| show start center

#8

Generally, I double-click on a document icon and the associated component (Writer, Calc, Draw, …) opens. I never felt the necessity of the start center. When I want a blank document, I have an entry for Writer, Calc, … in my OS application menu.

Think over your routine and see how you could use more efficiently your computer. Most OSes are flexible enough to allow for various workflows through menus, shortcuts and others.

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#9

Well, I’m trying to use my computers more… elegantly, and fluently…
and as I’ve mentioned, Firefox, for example, gives you control over what you see first on startup… I mean, what I’m asking about has been justified billion times (billions of Firefoxers) on a daily basis…

If Libreoffice doesn’t have this, very probably it will have it in the future…

I figure it doesn’t…

#10

Firefox is a different case. It is intended to reference the outside world (internet), therefore it is utterly necessary to designate a start page. This is less true for LO. The Start center, from a “semantic” point of view is an awful mess of most recently used documents, all mixed together Writer, Calc, … Usually, you don’t work randomly. You organise your time in sessions during the day: one hour on house management, one hour on your mail, one hour for such a customer, … Then all documents pertaining to these activities are cleanly ordered :wink: in various directories (folders). Just like in a office, you oopn these directories on your desktop to start your session. It is then easy to directly open the required document.

If you search this site, you’ll see criticisms against the Start center. Many users request filtering what appears there by LO application (this addresses the “awful mix”), some want to configure the number of entries, others want a file file manager there (which is much better done by the OS-provided file manager), …

My feeling is the Start manager has not been thoroughly specified because there is no consensus between users. It presently behaves as a poor non-configurable substitute for a file manager and, unfortunately, does not encourage using better-defined features provided by other programs (such as the OS file manager already mentioned) and a methodic organisation of one’s documents.

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#11

I think the important thing to remember here is the icon you click to open LibreOffice is just a shortcut.

By default, a shortcut is created to the start centre. You don’t have to keep that shortcut, replace it with one or several shortcuts to the individual components as @JohnSUN mentioned. You get slightly better control over your window’s initial size and position as an added benefit

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#12

That webpages are outside the “local” scope, is a fun argument :slight_smile: :slight_smile:
I take them as documents / info packages regardless of their locations…
not to mention that Libreoffice can also open remotely located documents…
and most documents are up in the clouds (located on servers) this or that way

Firefox, just like Libreoffice is a piece of software, a computer program, an application…
which users use…
Humans are (potentially) far more intelligent that getting ideas only based on strict analogies… like, using a program which deals with documents hosted on your PC will give you the idea that it’d be good to have a functionality that this program has in Libreoffice too…
No, humans might get the idea from anywhere… based on very subtle analogies…
This is how I got this idea in the first place :slight_smile:

You say that start center is a mess… Sure, I agree…
but I look at things in 4D – they can change by time
Start Center is not yet what it should be… it badly needs development…
But the question is simply whether we can use it…
and whether we can set the preferences so that it’ll open instead of a blank document…

Your answer appears to be : you don’t need that
I respect your opinion :slight_smile:
But the OP doesn’t get answered like that…

I enjoy conversing nevertheless!

#13

Hi, sure, I’m aware of that, too…
But the question I have posed here in the OP is about setting this option from the menu…

“I’m looking for the menu item and its location in the menu.
Like, Tools / Options / …”

thanks anyhow!

#15

This is a proposal, probably not what you expect.

OS file managers have very powerful features. You can replace the Start Center with a directory or folder you’ll put on your desktop so that it is always available. You can even “tidy up” what the Start Center offers by using several directories, e.g. one for Writer docs, one for Calc sheets, … or one directory for customer A with all the various documents, one for customer B, …

You can organise your workflow the way you like.

You can leave these directories open so that their (open) state is restored when you restart your computer, giving you the view of your desktop exactly the same as when you logged off.

Now, back to a strict equivalent to the Start Center. I assume that your documents are stored in specific directories. You have organised your documents by year, topic, person, … and this can be hierarchical. So it becomes tiresome to open a whole bunch of directories to find the document you are looking for. Usually, you work at any time on a small number of documents. Create a shortcut to these in the Start Center equivalent directory which then behaves like a cache for your working set.

All you have to do is double-click on any icon in the “Start Center directory”. You no longer need the LO one. And what you set inside is fully under your control.

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#16

I don’t understand, how people imagine to themselves the absurd idea of “configuring” LibreOffice, that is - from the UI point of view - a set of different programs - to act as just one of these programs. It is the same absurd, as if you require a single icon for MS Office, and expect it to be Excel or Word, depending on a program setting rather than on the specific shortcut you clicked…

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#17

To be accurate, your question was:

How do I enable / disable start center to appear as default on startup?

Or

And

The only answer that works for both of those last questions is a shortcut to the individual program for which you want a new document. How else will LibreOffice know what type of new document you want?

Your complementary question is answered by a shortcut to the start centre.

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#18

Then, Mike, what are you doing? Attempting to give a helpful answer – to something you don’t understand?

Let me help you, I meant opening a libreoffice program, say, Writer.
…
I don’t say, however, that I don’t understand your approach. You must have been looking for a week point of the question. And you have spotted it :slight_smile: Since there is an icon / a launcher in the office program suite, called “Libreoffice” (icon/launcher), which means you can actually start Libreoffice without starting any specific program of it, you can interpret the OP as someone wants to open “Libreoffice” (clicking on the eponymous icon / launcher), and wants to configure how “Libreoffice” (core) is being loaded…

But this makes no real sense, as you know, cause when you click on the Libreoffice icon / launcher, you’ll land in the Start Center. You can certainly configure this launcher with an additional parameter, but that’s outside of the scope of the OP’s interest.

In short: imagine a user opening a libreoffice program, say, Writer.
(and imagine that this user wants to land at the Start Center, not a new document, and he wants to configure “it” – the application, the program – to start in that desired way).

#19

If the user wants to land at start center, let the user launch the start center. Launching Writer, but expecting to land in start center, makes no more sense.

But tdf#77590 might be what you actually look for … or not.

#20

You’re right, what you say makes sense.
Only the OP was meant to ask about if there was a way to configure Libreoffice (Writer) from the menu to start up with the Start center window instead of a new document.

I’m aware that the launcher / icon can be added a parameter, my PCs work like that, too…
this is why my Writer starts up with a new document, I have "( --writer %U), which is stock these days, but I remember once making this mod…

But I was curious about whether we can do the configuration of the first window on startup from within the APP… “Tools / Options”…

Why? Because Start Center, despite its being an undeveloped feature that must have been brought about – as I imagine – by the a mere logical necessity… (that if you don’t open any application but the libreoffice core, that is, if you omit “-- writer”, what would happen?), is a very good thing… I mean, it could be!

A visual organizer!
You see your last edited documents!
You see them visually… so you can (sometimes) distinguish versions…
You can dismiss them…
and you can pin some of them at the top!

This is, as I see, the core of a possible good functionality…

BUT if it’s being treated as a deprecated, superfluous function, it stands no chance…

So, this is the reason for my curiosity…

Of course, I’ve made an enhancement request at Libreoffice’s bugzilla site…

#21

Yes, but for which purpose? The Start Center is nothing but a cache for most recently used documents, irrespective of their nature. You find the same list in File>Open Recent. These are two modalities, graphical and textual, of the same feature.
And if you want the Start Center for the “Create new document” buttons, this is equivalent to File>New>sub-menu in any component.

The weak (your “week”?) point in your question, the missing key point, is the ultimate semantic reason why you want the Start Center. The Start Center appears when LO has absolutely no clue about your purpose instead of displaying an empty window with only a menu bar. This could be described has 0-knowledge level. The next level is reached when you launch LO through a shortcut to a component (Writer, Calc, …) clearly indicating you intend to work with this component. An empty document is presented to “spare time” but this empty document is not really created yet because it will vanish if you open an existing one. The final full-knowledge level occurs when LO is launched with a double-click (or similar) on an existing document.

Consider the Start Center is a graphical fallback for various initial actions available with menu items in a context where LO has been launched without usable information.

In short, there is no real configuration for the Start Center. You indirectly control it by the way you launch LO. The configuration is not inside LO but in the OS desktop. It is up to you to define your preferred application shortcuts and use the desktop or file manager in a way which suits your needs and personal workflow.

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