The Word application in Microsoft Office displays a page named “Start” after the program is launched. The Start screen (not to be confused with the Windows Start screen) appears every time you open Word.

The home page displays all available templates, recently opened documents, pinned documents, and documents shared with you, if any.

If you always use a blank document, you can set Word always how to open a null file instead of showing the Start screen when you start the program.

Setting Word always to open a blank document is easy. You need to turn off the start screen in the Word program to automatically open a blank document every time you start the Word program.

While the Start screen in Word is useful for quickly viewing and opening recently opened documents, you can still view recent documents even after turning off the Start screen. To view and open recently opened documents, you can always right-click the Word icon on the taskbar and click on a document item to open it or use the Ctrl+O hotkey to view recent documents quickly.

How to Open a null file by default in Office Word.

Here’s how to force Office Word to open a blank document by default.

Step 1: Open a blank text document. Open the File menu and choose Options.

Step 2: On the General tab, scroll down to the Startup Options section.

Step 3: Uncheck the box next to the Show start screen when the app starts. Click on the OK button.

Restart Word. The Word should now automatically open a blank document instead of showing the Start screen.

Setting Word as the default program in the Windows 10 guide may also interest you.