Is it possible to default to 'main view' of the SDL Tridion 2011 CME instead of the dashboard?

Question

SDL Tridion 2011 introduced the new dashboard (or control panel) in the CME. Under User Preferences > View Settings on that page, it is possible for a user to change their start-up view to load the main view rather than the dashboard. Is it possible to set this as a system wide setting for all users?

We are interested in doing this because we have a default custom page that we want our editors to see, but this page is no longer loaded due to the dashboard being loaded by default.

Answer 1

We can do this in per-user settings:

1. Set: Screen Displayed after starting SDL Tridion to Main View
2. Leave Start on specific folder unselected.
3. Right-click one a custom page and set it to default.

This user will now open Tridion on that default custom page.

However, I've seen organizations want to set this for all users without having to do it manually. I've been able to do so on my personal VM but can NOT recommend it for a production environment:

In %TRIDION_HOME%\web\WebUI\Editors\CME\Configuration\CME.config, set the following to an existing custom page URI.

<settings>
  <defaultpage>/Views/Dashboard/Dashboard.aspx#locationId=cme:0-1-custompg</defaultpage>
  <navigatorurl>/Views/Dashboard/Dashboard.aspx#locationId=cme:0-1-custompg</navigatorurl>
  ...
</settings>

So yes, it's possible to force a default for at least this version of SDL Tridion. But I'm not sure of a supported way.