Hi Rebecca, Sorry, the New Molecules preferences currently don't include an option to hide all atoms… <http://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimera/docs/UsersGuide/preferences.html#New%20Molecules> One possibility is to make an aliased command that both opens the structure and hides atoms, for example: alias ^test open; ~disp alias ^test2 open $1;~disp The first alias, test, doesn't take an argument, so it could be accessed from the Aliases menu or used in the command line (command: test). Since the file isn't specified, it would open a file browser for you to choose the file, then open the indicated file, then hide atoms. The second alias, test2, takes an argument, so you could only use it in the command line (command: test2 /pathname/filename). It would open the file and then hide atoms. <http://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimera/docs/UsersGuide/midas/alias.html> Although you can define your own presets, that would still require a separate step after opening a structure to apply the preset. <http://www.rbvi.ucsf.edu/chimera/docs/UsersGuide/preferences.html#Presets> I hope this helps, Elaine ---------- Elaine C. Meng, Ph.D. UCSF Computer Graphics Lab (Chimera team) and Babbitt Lab Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry University of California, San Francisco On Jul 7, 2014, at 12:49 PM, rswett@chem.wayne.edu wrote:

Hi, I was wondering if there was a way to change my startup preferences so that the default is to show only ribbons? No atoms?