If you find that as many people have that the next folder you open does not conform to the defaults that you set try this fix, open terminal and paste the code below,, this will reset finder for all future windows to be in list view, sorted by kind and then by name
hope this helps
#!/usr/bin/env bash
echo "Closing Finder..."
killall Finder 2>/dev/null
echo "Deleting old .DS_Store files in your home folder..."
find "$HOME" -name ".DS_Store" -type f -delete 2>/dev/null
echo "Setting Finder to List View globally..."
# Set Finder default view to List View
defaults write com.apple.finder FXPreferredViewStyle -string "Nlsv"
# Use List View as the standard view
defaults write com.apple.finder StandardViewSettings -dict-add ListViewSettings -dict \
iconSize 16 \
textSize 13 \
sortColumn kind \
calculateAllSizes false \
useRelativeDates true
# Newer macOS List View settings
defaults write com.apple.finder StandardViewSettings -dict-add ExtendedListViewSettingsV2 -dict \
iconSize 16 \
textSize 13 \
sortColumn kind \
calculateAllSizes false \
useRelativeDates true
# Keep folders on top when sorting
defaults write com.apple.finder _FXSortFoldersFirst -bool true
# Show useful Finder bars
defaults write com.apple.finder ShowPathbar -bool true
defaults write com.apple.finder ShowStatusBar -bool true
echo "Clearing Finder preference cache..."
killall cfprefsd 2>/dev/null
echo "Restarting Finder..."
killall Finder 2>/dev/null
echo "Done. Finder should now open in List View and sort by Kind."
