How to optionally open last intellij project (or not) on startup?

Question

I have just read this question: Stop intellij opening projects on startup

Ideally, I would like to have 2 intellij icons on my desktop - one which opens the last project and one which doesn't.

In other words, I would like the flexibility of both functions.

Perhaps intellij has some command-line argument that specify which "mode" I desire on startup?

I'd rather not have to fire up an editor and edit the xml each time I start up IntelliJ.

Answer 1

File --> Settings --> Appearance '&' Behavior --> System Settings.

CLICK on System Settings, not a sub-tab, and uncheck the box that says "Reopen last project on startup."

As far as separate projects are concerned you could, perhaps, make a shortcut to the IML or intellij project file in it's respective directory to your desktop and use that. This way you could link as many projects as you'd like, though passing arguments to the intellij exe is also viable it may be a bit impractical. A plugin would most likely be best to automate that process, but I don't know the technicalities so take these tips with a few grains of salt.

EDIT: I also think it's worth mentioning that intellij's settings, as is the spirit of java, has pretty close to uniform and connected preferences accross platforms whether windows or linux or mac, but extending features have to be made compatable to the specific platform if it utilizes a native function (like passing parameters to an exe in windows or doing the same with an shell script in linux.)