Solution source: Tiago Candeias on JetBrains forums

The PyCharm IDE now creates a project named "PyCharmMisc" in your home directory. I guess it might be to make the IDE's onboarding experience simpler for novice users, but I don't want it to clutter my home directory.

  1. Save and close all your other open projects in PyCharm
  2. Uncheck the "Enable non-modal Welcome screen" checkbox at the bottom of the "Welcome to PyCharm" tab/screen
  3. Close PyCharm
  4. Delete the "PyCharmMisc" project from your home directory
  5. Open PyCharm, it should now open with the list of your projects (how it used to)
Screenshot of PyCharm with an arrow pointing to the checkbox that needs to be unchecked
Screenshot of PyCharm with an arrow pointing to the checkbox that needs to be unchecked