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One of my favorite features in Snow Leopard was the fact that Finder would always open a new window in the "List View". Lion instead opens the multi-column view by default.

Is there any way I can make the Finder window open in "List View" by default?

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This has got to be supported..? If you go in to Finder's Preferences, maybe you can do it in there? Click on a Finder window, then click Finder (on the Menu Bar) and select Preferences.. Do you not see such an option in there? – Doc Aug 9 '11 at 17:19
Did you try checking Always open in list view in the view options (⌘J) of the default folder (preferences → General → New Finder windows show)? – Lri Aug 9 '11 at 17:26
Yep, it doesn't work anymore. – Raphael Caixeta Aug 10 '11 at 3:53
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Try defaults write com.apple.Finder FXPreferredViewStyle Nlsv. (The four letter codes for the view modes are icnv, Nlsv, clmv and Flwv.) – Lri Aug 10 '11 at 13:22
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@Nano8Blazex This is because Macs use .DS_store to store Finder view information. You can remove all these files from your harddrive (it might take a few minutes), after using Lri's answer, and they shouldn't be overridden anymore unless you switch views within the Finder itself. – jrhorn424 Mar 21 at 1:36
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I remember doing this before on SL. I haven't tested this yet on Lion.

  • First, recursively delete all .DS_Store files. these files contains per-folder settings. Do this according to this guide
  • Restart

  • Now you have one of two options:

    1. In Terminal type: defaults write com.apple.Finder FXPreferredViewStyle Nlsv (The four letter codes for the view modes are icnv, Nlsv, clmv and Flwv.)

    2. Open the finder windows and cmd J to open view pref. Change the setting to Always open in list view and then use as default button at the bottom

Hope this help.

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I tried this and it worked at first, but shortly thereafter some folders reverted to column view. I wonder if this has to do with selectors in application dialogs (e.g. download, print-to-pdf) defaulting to column view and changing the folder view setting? – Philip Apr 19 at 20:49
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protected by nhinkle♦ Oct 3 '11 at 5:40

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