In the recent versions of Microsoft 365, you’ll notice a Start screen appear whenever you open apps like Word, Excel or PowerPoint. It’s designed to give you quick access to things like your Recent files, Favourites, creating a new file and any templates you might want to use.
Some people love this (like me), but others prefer to jump straight into the app and start working right away. I’ve had many instances over the past few years where participants attending training DO NOT see the Start screen and once I show how useful it is, they want to know how to get it back.
So in this post I will walk you through the process or how to enable or disable the Start screen in Excel, PowerPoint and Word. Thankfully the process is the same regardless of which program you open.
To enable or disable the Start Screen, follow these steps:
- Open Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint or Word.
- The Start Screen may be displayed:
- If you see the Start screen and wish to disable it, click the option to create a new Blank file.
- If you do not see the Start screen, you would have been taken straight into a new blank file.
- Click the File tab and select Options.
- Within the General section of the Options dialog box, look at the bottom of the window and locate the checkbox option for Show the start screen when this application starts:
- Untick the box and click OK.
- Close the application and restart it, you should go straight to the main screen with a new blank worksheet/presentation/document displayed.
You have now turned on or off the Start screen option. You always have the option of going back into the Options dialog box and changing this setting if needed. Comment below with any questions.