Make Finder always open in list view on Mac

"Always" takes two settings, because macOS tracks views at two levels. Set the default view for new windows, then tell Finder to apply that view to every folder that doesn't already have its own. Do both and folders stop springing open as icon grids. Here is each lever, and why one alone isn't enough.

Set list as the default view

1. Open any folder in Finder.
2. Choose View → as List, or press Cmd+2. The window switches to a column list.
3. Choose View → Show View Options (Cmd+J).
4. At the bottom of the panel, click Use as Defaults.

That button is the important one. It makes list view the default for every folder that has never been given its own view, in one action — you don't visit them one by one. The panel also lets you pick which columns show and how big the icons are; those choices become the default too. This is the same on macOS 13 Ventura, 14 Sonoma, and 15 Sequoia.

Also set the new-window default

The step above covers folders you browse into. A separate preference controls the view a brand-new Finder window opens with. In the Terminal it is one key — Nlsv is the code for list view:

# new Finder windows open as a list
defaults write com.apple.finder FXPreferredViewStyle -string "Nlsv"
killall Finder

# undo — back to icon view
defaults write com.apple.finder FXPreferredViewStyle -string "icnv"
killall Finder

The four view codes are Nlsv (List), icnv (Icon), clmv (Column), and Flwv (Gallery). Setting FXPreferredViewStyle plus clicking Use as Defaults is what makes "always" actually stick across both new windows and existing folders.

Why some folders still open as icons

If a folder keeps ignoring the default, it has its own saved view. macOS remembers a per-folder choice the moment you change a folder's view manually, and that saved setting always wins over the global default. It is stored in a hidden .DS_Store file inside the folder. To fix a stubborn folder:

• Open it, press Cmd+2 to force list view — the folder now remembers list instead of icon.
• Special folders behave differently on purpose: Photos-heavy folders and the Downloads stack often default to icon or gallery so thumbnails read well.

Once you have both levers set, list view becomes the honest default, and only the folders you deliberately changed keep something else.

Prefer columns instead?

List view is great for sorting; column view is great for deep hierarchies. If columns suit you better, the same "Use as Defaults" trick applies — see how to set Finder to column view by default.