Today’s Question: After a recent update when I launch Photoshop I see a bunch of thumbnails from images I’ve worked on recently. I used to just see the empty window, and I find the new display distracting. Is there a way to go back to the old style?
Tim’s Quick Answer: Yes, you can disable the Home Screen you’re seeing by turning off the “Auto show the Home Screen” checkbox in Preferences.
More Detail: The Home Screen is not a new feature in Photoshop, so if you only started seeing it recently it was probably caused by either installing a clean (without existing Preferences) version of Photoshop or from resetting the Preferences.
I also find the Home Screen to be distracting and not particularly helpful, so I prefer to turn off the “Auto show the Home Screen” checkbox, which can be found on the General tab of the Preferences dialog. You can bring up the Preferences dialog by choosing Edit > Preferences > General from the menu on Windows or Photoshop > Settings > General on Macintosh.
If you disable the Home Screen but find that you sometimes want to make use of it, you can click the house icon at the far left of the Options bar to bring it up.
I similarly find the newer New Document dialog to be cluttered and distracting, so I prefer not to use it. If you similarly prefer the older version of the New Document dialog you can turn on the “Use Legacy ‘New Document’ Interface” checkbox that is also found on the General tab of the Preferences dialog.
