Be sure to highlight a folder from the account, one that has your preferred settings. Then follow the steps to apply common view and you should, at the end, receive a confirming prompt to set all local folders to the new setting. That process should do it.

Been there, done that, does not work - hence my query. I was using the Inbox as the 'master'. Should I perhaps start with another subsidiary folder instead ?

Correction: Apply to a parent folder in Local Folders, not Local Folders itself.

Tried that, but still no success :-(

I agree the process is clumsy, and sometimes takes a few tries. I did the crude video, and maybe it will help. https://davidkirk.org/SettingDefaultFolderView.mp4 good luck.

Thanks. Ironically I could not see the very bottom of your screen in the video, so I did it with the 'column' option (by mistake) rather than the 'view' option as previously - and that worked ! Getting there slowly....:-)