Open the start page in Visual Studio after closing a project?

Visual Studio

Visual Studio Problem Overview

When you start Visual Studio you get a start page with all the latest projects in a list.
But when you've opened and closed a project, how do you open that start page again?
(Without restarting VS)

Visual Studio Solutions

Solution 1 - Visual Studio

Visual Studio 2010-2015

There's a menu item View -> Start Page

Additionally you can choose to keep the start page open when loading a project. There's a check box below the projects list for that.

(Tested in VS2010, VS2012, VS2013, VS2015)

In current versions, you can also use the Quick Launch (Ctrl+Q) to search for the command
(Just type "Start Page" in Quick Launch)

Visual Studio 2017

There's a menu item File -> Start Page

You can configure the behavior of the IDE on startup via Tools -> Options -> Environment -> Startup.

In Visual Studio 2017, the start page will open automatically when the solution is closed. As far as I know, this cannot be changed directly in the IDE but there's an extension that adds that feature. See this question on SO and this VSIX-Extension (but this will disable the start page completely - if you try to open it manually, it will be immediately closed automatically)

Screenshot Visual studio 2017 Options

Solution 2 - Visual Studio

You also have the Start Page icon in the toolbar : Start Page Icon

Solution 3 - Visual Studio

In VS2013 by default I do not see the "Start Page" command in the View menu but adding it was simple. The icon also looks different in VS2013.

  • Right click on the toolbar and choose Customize... at the bottom then go to Commands

  • Switch to Toolbar/Standard and then click the Add Command button an locate the View group on the left

  • Finally locate the Start Page item and click OK.

Right click on the toolbar and choose Customize... at the bottom then go to Commands

Switch to Toolbar/Standard and then click the Add Command button an locate the View group on the left

Finally locate the Start Page item and click add.

Solution 4 - Visual Studio

In VS 2017 the new location for viewing the start page is under the 'file' menu. as appears in this link:

https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/content/problem/4603/view-start-page-menu-item-is-missing.html

Solution 5 - Visual Studio

In VS 2017 it's in File->Start Page. enter image description here

Solution 6 - Visual Studio

By now there is an extension exactly for that purpose:

https://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/e64380ab-e3aa-4ac7-aa11-95719c5c91e9

I tried it an it works like a charme in VS 2015 :)

Solution 7 - Visual Studio

To get start page in visual studio 2017 Go to File -> Start Page

Solution 8 - Visual Studio

In case of Visual Studio 2019, go to File->Start Window.

Solution 9 - Visual Studio

It used to be automatic in VS2008 - Anything you had open outside of any solution/project (including the start page) would close when you opened a project/solution, then when closed that product/solution it went back to what was open before. That is how it should work, they broke it in VS2010. So all the prior VS users searching for the answer - there is none - technology continues to regress.

Solution 10 - Visual Studio

You can create custom shortcuts in VS under Tools > options > Environment > Keyboard.

makes it super easy to reopen the start page. Here is my setup if you get confused custom start page shortcut

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Attributions

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Content TypeOriginal AuthorOriginal Content on Stackoverflow
QuestionNiklasView Question on Stackoverflow
Solution 1 - Visual StudioStephan BauerView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 2 - Visual StudioDude PascalouView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 3 - Visual StudioGlitchView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 4 - Visual StudioAmitai WeilView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 5 - Visual StudioDeepView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 6 - Visual StudiointertagView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 7 - Visual StudioAbdus Salam AzadView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 8 - Visual StudioGazi RizwanView Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 9 - Visual Studiouser3161924View Answer on Stackoverflow
Solution 10 - Visual StudiodoubleorsevenView Answer on Stackoverflow