How to set Finder to *always* use list view

I'm using Finder on macOS, and one major frustration I have is the disorganized grid view that always ends up cluttered and messy until I right click and 'Clean Up by Name'.

I don't mind the grid view in itself, but I'm also fine with list view. What I want is a system where it will use list view 100% of the time, NOT on a folder-by-folder basis, which is what happens when I click on the list view icon in the title bar.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Solution 1:

• Open finder
• Select your hard disc
• CommandJ
• Check the top two check boxes (Always open in list view, browse in list view)
• Click use as defaults
• Open Applications->Utilities->Terminal

sudo find / -name ".DS_Store"  -exec rm {} \;

• Enter your root password, press enter

Solution 2:

We use this in scripts to set up our Macs (you may also execute the defaults... from Terminal.app):

# Use list view in all Finder windows by default
# Four-letter codes for the other view modes: `icnv`, `clmv`, `glyv`
defaults write com.apple.finder FXPreferredViewStyle -string "Nlsv"

As mentioned above, this helps to remove other views, which Finder remembered because of the .DS_Store files:

sudo find / -name ".DS_Store" -exec rm {} \;