PhpStorm 2018.2 Help

Opening, Reopening, and Closing Projects

PhpStorm lets you open several projects simultaneously in different windows. By default, each time you open a project while another one is opened, PhpStorm prompts you to choose whether to open the project in the same window or in a new window. If necessary, you can change this behavior using controls on the System Settings page.

In the Project Opening section of the System Settings page, choose one of the following options:

  • Open project in a new window to open a new PhpStorm window each time a new project is opened.

  • Open project in the same window to stay in the same PhpStorm window.

  • Confirm window to open project in to keep the default behavior and display a dialog box to choose how to open each new project.

Opening projects

To open a project

  1. Click Open on the Welcome screen or File | Open on the main menu.

  2. In the Select Path dialog box, select the directory that contains the project to open.

  3. Specify whether you want to open the project in a new frame, close the current project and reuse the existing frame, or open the new project in the same frame with the current one. Refer to the section Opening Multiple Projects for details.

To open a project from the command line

Reopening recent projects

PhpStorm keeps the history list of the recent projects, from which you can select the desired one.

When PhpStorm starts, the most recent project reopens by default (unless this option is disabled in System Settings page of the Settings/Preferences dialog).

To reopen a recent project

  • Click Open Recent on the File menu and select the desired project from the list. Specify whether you want to open the project in a new frame, or reuse the current frame.

  • On the Welcome screen, click the project of interest in the left-hand pane where the list of your recent projects is shown. Start typing in the Welcome screen to filter the list of recent projects.

To remove recent projects

  • To remove all projects from the list of recent projects, click Open Recent on the File menu, and then click Clear List.

  • Select project in the list on the Welcome screen, press Delete on your keyboard, and confirm deletion in the Remove Recent Project dialog box that opens.

Closing projects

When the only open project is closed, the Welcome screen is displayed. In case of multiple projects, each one is closed with its frame.

  • On the main menu, click Close Project on the File menu.

Last modified: 21 November 2018

See Also

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