diff --git a/ui/src/views/Forecast.jsx b/ui/src/views/Forecast.jsx
index 778266a..02d7aa1 100644
--- a/ui/src/views/Forecast.jsx
+++ b/ui/src/views/Forecast.jsx
@@ -811,6 +811,7 @@ export default function Forecast({ sources = [], sourceId, versions = [], versio
       // column list.
       try {
           await syncOrderExpressions()
+        await ensureRowLabelWidth()
       } catch (err) {
         // Its own try covers only restore(); save() and the builders sit outside
         // it, and a throw there would abort the rest of initViewer silently.
@@ -1085,6 +1086,40 @@ export default function Forecast({ sources = [], sourceId, versions = [], versio
     }
   }
 
+  // A floor under the row-label columns, not a fit.
+  //
+  // Restoring a layout resets the widths, and the row-header columns are then
+  // sized from their *header* — which for row headers is a blank corner cell —
+  // so they come back a few pixels wide and have to be dragged open by hand.
+  // Fitting them to content is the other extreme: each group_by level is its own
+  // column, so the first widens to its longest label and shoves the second
+  // rightwards.
+  //
+  // A minimum leaves the default spacing alone where it is already reasonable and
+  // only intervenes where a column came back unusably narrow. Anything already
+  // wider — set by dragging, or recorded in a layout — is untouched.
+  const MIN_ROW_LABEL_W = 130
+
+  async function ensureRowLabelWidth() {
+    const grid = (await viewerRef.current?.getPlugin())?.regular_table
+    if (!grid?.saveColumnSizes) return
+    const idxs = new Set()
+    for (const cell of grid.querySelectorAll('tbody th')) {
+      const m = [...cell.classList].map(c => /^rt-col-(\d+)$/.exec(c)).find(Boolean)
+      if (m) idxs.add(Number(m[1]))
+    }
+    if (idxs.size === 0) return
+
+    const sizes = { ...grid.saveColumnSizes() }
+    let changed = false
+    for (const idx of idxs) {
+      if ((sizes[idx] ?? 0) < MIN_ROW_LABEL_W) { sizes[idx] = MIN_ROW_LABEL_W; changed = true }
+    }
+    if (!changed) return
+    grid.restoreColumnSizes(sizes)
+    await grid.draw({ invalid_columns: true })
+  }
+
   // Pin the row-label columns wide enough for the labels they show.
   //
   // Measured with a canvas rather than the DOM: the cell is clipped, so reading
@@ -1336,6 +1371,7 @@ export default function Forecast({ sources = [], sourceId, versions = [], versio
     // back. Re-applied after every restore that comes from a saved config, which
     // is the general form of the fix initViewer already needed.
     await syncOrderExpressions()
+    await ensureRowLabelWidth()
 
     setActiveLayoutId(layout.id)
     // After the sync, so the persisted copy carries the expressions too.