Photoshop 2015.1: My workspace is empty when I launch app by opening an image

Howdy Alexandra,

You're running the US English, Continental French, German, or Japanese version of the product, right?  What you SHOULD be seeing is the new Start screen.  You weren't, by chance, a prerelease user, were you?  Do you have multiple language versions of the application installed?  Are you logged in as the same user account that you used to install Photoshop?  Are you getting any error messages?  

To fix the problem in the interim, launch the app and click Windows > Workspace.  Is Essentials (Default) checked?  Click on it (either way).  You should now see the default setup.  And, honestly, that might clear the problem too -- it sounds like the application is getting confused.  Please let us know how this works for you -- this information helps us narrow down the bug, fix it, and/or help other users.

Thanks,
David

Not sure what version I am running. I just tried this and it didn't work. I have a custom workspace. My home computers both have this problem but the one I use at work doesn't that is running Windows 7 though maybe a conflict with Windows 10.

Adobe Photoshop Version: 2015.1 20151114.r.301 2015/11/14:23:59:59 CL 1053036 x64
Operating System: Windows 10 64-bit
Version: 10 or greater

Howdy Alexandra,

I'm inclined to "blame" your custom workspace, particularly if its older.  If this is working for you on a machine without a custom workspace, then that would seem to validate that the problem lies with the custom workspace.

When you say that click Essential doesn't work, what happens?  Doesn't the UI change?  Also, Essentials is not checked in your UI, right?

I just set up my custom workspace about a month ago. That is only set up on one of my two home computers not the other and neither has a workspace showing when opening Photoshop. I tried turning on essentials then closing the program and reopening and still no workspace is showing.

I found that starting Photoshop by double-clicking a .PSD file caused Photoshop to open that file with the "Start" workspace selected. I had to re-select my custom workspace every single time. It was annoying.

I solved the problem by going into Preferences -> General and un-selecting "Show 'Start' workspace when no documents are open"

Hope this helps you.