InDesign 2024 Windows version option show home screen is gone, and more.

[willcampbell7]

For me anyway, InDesign 2024 on Windows 11 preferences, General, the option "Show Home Screen When No Documents Are Open" is absent. It still appears macOS version. So the home screen would always show and I couldn't disable it. Also, the workspace would reset to Essentials instead of my custom workspace every time a new document was opened. So I uninstalled, restarted, and reinstalled without keeping preferences from 2023 version. That didn't work. Still no way to disable the home screen. Then unstalled and reinstalled and did keep previous preferences, and now the home screen is gone and my workspace loads and doesn't reset. So my problem is solved for now, but the question remains, where is the option to enable/disable the home screen in Window InDesign 2024?

Has anyone else experienced this?

[Barb Binder]

Hi Will:

This is InDesign 19.2 (2024) on Windows 11 below and no issues.

My guess is corrupt preferences. See if working thorugh this post straightens it out. Adobe InDesign: Rebuilding Preferences and Cache Files – Rocky Mountain Training

~Barb

[willcampbell7]

Well the good news is it's just me. However, I did all the steps suggested and no good. Still no option to disable the home screen. Worse, the same glitch then happened to ID 2023. I uninstalled both, dumped all preferences for both versions completely, restarted Windows, and installed 2024. Still doesn't have the option. And now I'm back to having a home screen I can't disable.

Edit: most annoying is that every time a document is opened, the workspace resets to "Essentials" instead of my custom workspace.

[HARSHIKA_VERMA]

Hi there,

Thanks for reaching out and highlighting the issue. I am checking with the team regarding the option being missing and will get back to you as soon as I hear back from them.

Thanks,

Harshika

[Peter Spier]

try deleting the cache file: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Local\Adobe\InDesign\Version [no]\[lang]\Caches

[willcampbell7]

Already did that (and more) as instructed in the first reply. And since that uninstalled and deleted every preference associated with any version of InDesign anywhere on the computer. Then reinstalled fresh. That didn't work. Nevertheless, I've taken your advice and cleared the cache folder. Still the same. No option to disable home screen, and every time create new or opening existing document, workspace resets to Essentials.

[Peter Spier]

Have you tried the "nuclear" solution (Use the Creative Cloud Cleaner tool to solve installation problems )? Might be something hidden away in the registry.

[willcampbell7]

Haven't tried it yet. When I have more time I will try it. An avalance of projects just landed on my desk.

[leo.r · Accepted solution]

I've seen this issue with disappearing option to disable the home screen a few times before.

Normally, you should be able to disable it via a script even if it doesn't appear in preferences.

app.generalPreferences.showWhatsNewOnStartup = false;

EDIT: it's actually showStartWorkspace

[willcampbell7]

Brilliant suggestion.

"showWhatsNewOnStartup" doesn't work. Perhaps leftover from older version.

However, this does work:

app.generalPreferences.showStartWorkspace = false;

Also, this works to force the workspace:

app.applyWorkspace("William");

Put both in a startup script and it makes a suitable workaround for now.

Thanks again for the suggestion.

[leo.r]

Glad it helped and good to know it's actually showStartWorkspace.

[Moyer DesignWorks]

Thanks so much for posting the solution! I had the same two problems running ID 19.4 on my 2017 iMac. The hardest part for me was figuring out how to create and install the script, but after a bit of searching I got it.