User sees all projects and phases listed in the grid in an expanded form and has to click on the arrow icon to hide the phases. Is there a setting to have all the phases hidden in the project list to make the browsing a little easier?
Yes. It is possible to hide the phases by default by clicking More > Collapse Sub Projects in the Projects list view. Check CORE Help Center for details.
If you have already set this option and still see the projects and phases as expanded in the list view, it might be because a filter is applied on the Projects screen. It is by design to expand all projects and phases when you are filtering the list. If you remove the filter, the projects and phases remain in a collapsed state.