Maybe you want your folders to display in the Finder in List view, but want the Pictures folder to display in Cover Flow view, and when you open the root folder of a hard drive, you want to see Column view. You can use Automator or menu items to define which view appears in particular windows as soon as you open them.

Instructions in this article apply to Mac OS X 10.4 and later.

How to Set the Default Finder View

Setting the Mac Finder view default is a simple task: Open a Finder window, select the view you want, and then set it as the default for your system. Once you've done that, all Finder windows will open using the default view you set, unless a specific folder has a different preset view.

Open a Finder window by clicking the Finder icon in the Dock, or by clicking on an empty space on the desktop and selecting New Finder Window from the Finder's File menu. In the Finder window that opens, select one of the four view icons in the Finder window toolbar, or select the Finder view type you want from the Finder's View menu. Use your keyboard to switch Finder views by holding Command and pressing the numbers 1 through 4. After you select a Finder view, choose Show View Options from the Finder's View menu. The keyboard shortcut is Command+J. In the View Options dialog box that opens, set any parameters you wish for the selected view type, and then click the Use as Defaults button near the bottom of the dialog box. The "Use As Defaults" button won't appear if you're currently using Column View. That's it. You have defined the default view for the Finder to display whenever you open a folder that hasn't had a specific view assigned to it.

How to Permanently Set a Folder View in Finder

You've set a system-wide default to using for Finder windows, but that doesn't mean you can't assign a different view to specific folders.

Open a Finder window and browse to a folder whose view option you wish to set. Use one of the four view buttons at the top of the folder window to set the view for the folder. To make it permanent, select View, Show View Options from the Finder menu or press Command+J on your keyboard. Place a checkmark in the box labeled Always open in X view (where X is the name of the current Finder view). This folder will always use the view you just selected whenever you open it.

How to Automatically Assign a Finder View to All Sub-Folders

The Finder has no method for easily setting a group of subfolders to the same Finder view as the parent folder. If you want all subfolders to match the parent folder, you could spend a few hours manually assigning views to each of the sub-folders, but luckily, there's a better way.

You can do this quickly using Automator, an application Apple includes with macOS to automate workflows, set folder view options for the Pictures folder, and propagate those settings to all of its sub-folders. Here's what to do.