Set list view as the default in Finder on Mac

Setting the default view controls what a brand-new Finder window opens with. To make that list view: open a folder, press Cmd+2, then open View → Show View Options (Cmd+J) and click Use as Defaults. Or set it in one Terminal line with FXPreferredViewStyle. Here is each route, plus the view codes macOS uses under the hood.

Set it from View Options

1. Open any Finder folder and press Cmd+2 to put it in list view.
2. Choose View → Show View Options (Cmd+J).
3. Click Use as Defaults at the bottom of the panel.
4. Open a new window with Cmd+N to confirm it opens as a list.

The same panel lets you set which columns appear, text size, and sort order, and those settings ride along as part of the default. It behaves the same on macOS 13 Ventura, 14 Sonoma, and 15 Sequoia.

Set it from the Terminal

The default for new windows lives in one preference key, FXPreferredViewStyle. Write the list-view code and restart Finder:

# default new windows to list view
defaults write com.apple.finder FXPreferredViewStyle -string "Nlsv"
killall Finder

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

The four Finder view codes

That -string value is a short code, one per view. Swap it to make any view the default:

• Nlsv — List view (rows with sortable columns).
• icnv — Icon view (the default grid of thumbnails).
• clmv — Column view (nested panes for deep folders).
• Flwv — Gallery view (a large preview above a filmstrip).

They match the Cmd+1 through Cmd+4 shortcuts in order. Knowing the codes means you can retarget the default in a script without touching the menus.

New windows vs. existing folders

One nuance worth naming: FXPreferredViewStyle and Use as Defaults govern new windows and folders that have no view of their own. A folder whose view you changed by hand keeps that choice, because macOS stores it per folder. If a specific folder ignores your new default, open it and press Cmd+2 to overwrite its saved view with list.

Make new windows open where you want too

While you're tuning the default view, you can also choose which folder new windows open to. See how to change the new Finder window location to pair the right view with the right starting folder.