How to prevent open last projects when IntelliJ IDEA starts?

Question

By default IntelliJ IDEA opens the last project when starting.

How to start IntelliJ without opening last project?

Answer 1

Just tick the checkbox:

Settings -> General -> Reopen last project on startup

This is for idea 10.

Answer 2

To manage this setting through the config file in IntelliJ IDEA 2019.1 Community Edition, head to ~/Library/Preferences/IdeaIC2019.1/options/ to use Patrick Wilkes' answer with the ide.general.xml edit.

Answer 3

For Intellij 13 on Mac 10.9 (Mavericks), it is located at ~/Library/Preferences/IntelliJIdea13/options/ide.general.xml as well. ( I don't have enough reputation to vote up Nicholas' answer ).

Answer 4

IntelliJ 14, 15, 16:

Settings -> Appearance & Behaviour -> System Settings -> Reopen last project on startup

Previously:

Settings -> General -> Startup/shutdown -> Reopen last project on startup.

Answer 5

In IntelliJ 14 it is:

Settings -> Appearance & Behaviour -> System Settings -> Startup/Shutdown -> Reopen last project on startup

You can bring the settings window by pressing CTL+ALT+S.

Answer 6

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>

Mac

In the latest version of IntelliJ, the location of this file on a Mac is

~/Library/Preferences/IntelliJIdea2018.2/options/ide.general.xml

Settings Repository

If you have the settings repository enabled, then it can be found here:

~/.IntelliJIdea${idea_version}/config/settingsRepository/repository/ide.general.xml