diff --git a/Lib/idlelib/IOBinding.py b/Lib/idlelib/IOBinding.py
index a8c351fa8c6..c515432ddc6 100644
--- a/Lib/idlelib/IOBinding.py
+++ b/Lib/idlelib/IOBinding.py
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ class IOBinding:
         self.reset_undo()
         self.set_filename(filename)
         self.text.mark_set("insert", "1.0")
-        self.text.see("insert")
+        self.text.yview("insert")
         self.updaterecentfileslist(filename)
         return True
 
diff --git a/Misc/NEWS b/Misc/NEWS
index 6e7bc535f60..d2d0f89df19 100644
--- a/Misc/NEWS
+++ b/Misc/NEWS
@@ -277,6 +277,9 @@ Core and Builtins
 Library
 -------
 
+- Issue #12590: IDLE editor window now always displays the first line
+  when opening a long file.  With Tk 8.5, the first line was hidden.
+
 - Issue #12161: Cause StringIO.getvalue() to raise a ValueError when used on a
   closed StringIO instance.