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…
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 
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.
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
That webpages are outside the “local” scope, is a fun argument 
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
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
But the OP doesn’t get answered like that…
I enjoy conversing nevertheless!
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!
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.
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…
To be accurate, your question was:
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.
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 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).
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.
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…
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.
It does. It makes a whole lot of sense.
Start Center is an (unrecognized) organizer.
It should be available anytime, even when a program is already “open”.
And it should be developed…
Imagine sessions… as in Geany, for example…
You may have 3 or 4 projects that you work on.
Which were those 12 documents that were open when you were last working on one of them? Just open that session! And your 12 documents would be there…
And 10 minutes later, you can open another session of yours, with 8 documents…
and then get back to the main project session…
An organizer is a very-very good functionality…
and the Start Center, even now is already something that reminds me of that
Seems to be tdf#159267
The same with me! Seriously!
It happened after I had closed my last document, and I saw it
I realized that I could pin a document to the top…
I realized I can dismiss the irrelevant documents…
and all of a sudden I felt like, wow, it’d be such a great thing to have a document organizer…
a Document Center… – you name it
I should have mentioned that I meant opening a program, like Writer…
(now I have corrected the OP, indicating that I edited it)
Mike, one more thing: you would be right!
You would be right if the user could open the start center anytime…
But once the desired application (Writer) is running,
the universal Libreoffice starter / launcher doesn’t function… (which makes sense)
Reading back your installation description, I see you’re under Ubuntu, probably with a GNOME-derived desktop (considering your mention of Geany). The Unix design philosophy, inherited by Linux, is small utilities combined to provide a service. This is the opposite of monolithic “universal” applications. Such application are difficult to implement, to maintain and to modify. This is why you have so many different apps: file managers, text editors, web browsers, office suites, CAD programs, DTP apps, …
However developers have recognised that users have a preferential domain. And they created “environments” which overlay the common apps to offer a unified vision of your data.
I am not familiar with GNOME because I prefer KDE. Perhaps, you have an equivalent feature. In KDE you can define Activities where your file system (essentially your home directory, but this is not limitative) is virtually restructured to show only the files of interest. This restructuration does not apply only on files. It is also effective on the desktop: the application menu only shows the apps you’ve chosen, the desktop itself is customised.
The goal is both to protect yourself against your own errors and to be more efficient in your present job. You can of course switch between your activities (with the activities menu) and this changes your desktop environment.
This a lightweight substitute to using different sessions (user-ids) with the added benefit of easily sharing data between activities. It is possible to switch between OS-sessions with Ctrl+Shift+Fn but this is heavier than selecting another activity (however you benefit from a superior separation, protecting more against error). And I you like a sledgehammer for watch making, you can go even further by creating a virtual machine for each of your activities. This offers maximum security but at what price?
I am no developer. I have no influence on the future of LO. Considering the pending bugs, some of them being very important, and the scarcity of developers, I personally (I insist this is really a personal statement) prefer developers focus on bugs rather than a feature which can be replaced but some other procedure outside LO, even if this feature is presently a mess. Of course, if the feature evolves, I’ll evaluate it and see if I can make some use of it.
There is no solution.
In order to make LO star with the start center or with a new document,
we have to add parameters to the launching command (i.e. the louncher / shortcut icon).
This is a workaround. It is also easy to do.
However, when we want to set the preferences of a program / application / app,
we’ll go “Tools / Options”, and look for the option there…
This is what’s not available yet.
Those who are comfortable with making changes to the appearance of an application outside of it, sure, should follow the link below:
(but this is not what the OP was about)
Starting LibreOffice Software With Parameters libreoffice.org
To start Libre Office with the Start Center to Windows > Program Files > LibreOffice
program and find SOFFICE.EXE If Explorer does not show extentions then it’s just the application SOFFICE. Right click that file, show more options, and select PIN TO TASKBAR or mack a SHORTCUT. If you wish to open directly into a new document you will have to chose each type separately. For example SDRAW, SCALC ect. I see that this has been solved, but I found the answer to be confusing, I hope this is simpler.