How to Set Finder Views for Folders and Sub-Folders

Control how you browse files and directories on your Mac

What to Know

  • Open Finder, select desired view, then set it as the default for your system.
  • Use Automator to assign a group of sub-folders to same Finder view as parent folder.

This article describes how to adjust Finder settings so that you see folders and sub-folders exactly as you wish in Mac OS X 10.4 and later.

How to Set the Default Finder View

Here's how to set the Mac Finder view default.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

    Finder views in macOS
  3. After you select a Finder view, choose Show View Options from the Finder's View menu.

    The keyboard shortcut is Command+J.

    The Show View Options command in macOS
  4. 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.

    The Use as Defaults button
  5. 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.

  1. Open a Finder window and browse to a folder whose view option you wish to set.

  2. Use one of the four view buttons at the top of the folder window to set the view for the folder.

    Finder views in macOS
  3. To make it permanent, select View, Show View Options from the Finder menu or press Command+J on your keyboard.

    The Show View Options command in macOS
  4. Place a checkmark in the box labeled Always open in X view (where X is the name of the current Finder view).

    The "Always open in" option in View Options
  5. 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.

  1. Start by browsing to the parent folder whose viewing options you wish to set and propagate to all of its sub-folders.

    Don't worry if you already set the parent folder's view options earlier. It's always a good idea to double-check a folder's settings before you propagate them to all of its sub-folders.

  2. Use the view icons to set the view you want to use for this folder and its subfolders.

    The View option icons
  3. Open the Show View Options window by selecting it under the View menu or pressing Command+J on your keyboard.

    The Show View Options command in macOS
  4. Place a checkmark in the box labeled Always open in X view.

    The "Always open in" option in View Options
  5. Once the parent folder's Finder view is set, launch Automator, located in the /Applications folder.

    Automator in Finder
  6. Click New Document when Automator opens.

    In Automator for earlier versions of the Mac OS, this window doesn't open. You can skip this step.

    The New Document button in Automator
  7. Select the Workflow template from the list.

    The Workflow template in Automator
  8. Click the Choose button.

    The Choose button in Automator
  9. Select the Files & Folders item in the Library of available actions.

    The Files & Folders option in Library
  10. In the second column, grab the Get Specified Finder Items action and drag it to the workflow pane.

    Drag the "Get Specified Finder Items" command into the workspace
  11. Click the Add button in the Get Specified Finder Items action you just placed in the workflow pane.

    The Add button in Automator workflow
  12. Browse to the folder whose view settings you wish to propagate to all of its sub-folders, and then click the Add button.

    The Add button
  13. Return to the Library pane and drag the Set Folder Views action to the Workflow pane. Drop the action just below the Get Specified Finder Items action already in the Workflow pane.

    Drag the "Set Folder View" action to the workspace
  14. Use the options displayed in the Set Folder Views action to tweak how you want the specified folder to display. It should already show the current folder's configuration for views, but you can fine-tune some parameters here.

    The Folder View drop-down menu in Automator
  15. Place a checkmark in the Apply Changes to Subfolders box.

    The "Apply Changes to Sub-folders" box
  16. Once you have everything configured the way you want it, click the Run button in the top-right corner.

    The Run button
  17. The Finder View options will copy to all sub-folders.

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