diff --git a/ui/src/views/Forecast.jsx b/ui/src/views/Forecast.jsx
index f3c6832..7bad8c1 100644
--- a/ui/src/views/Forecast.jsx
+++ b/ui/src/views/Forecast.jsx
@@ -192,9 +192,7 @@ export default function Forecast({ sources = [], sourceId, versions = [], versio
   // The column axis has no set_depth() — collapsing it means restoring a shorter
   // split_by, so the full hierarchy has to be remembered separately to expand again.
   const splitFullRef   = useRef([])
-  // set while our own restore is in flight, so the config-update listener can tell
   // a collapse from the user rearranging split_by themselves
-  const collapsingRef  = useRef(false)
   const initIdRef      = useRef(0)
   const modifierRef    = useRef(false)
   // the datagrid plugin element, for reading cell coordinates and driving its
@@ -670,9 +668,9 @@ export default function Forecast({ sources = [], sourceId, versions = [], versio
         const { table: _t, ...rest } = cleanLayout(JSON.parse(saved), validCols)
         const cfg = { ...rest, plugin_config: { ...(rest.plugin_config || {}), edit_mode: 'SELECT_REGION' } }
         await viewer.restore(cfg)
-        // split_full outlives split_by: a layout saved while collapsed still knows
-        // the levels it was collapsed from
-        adoptSplit(cfg.split_full?.length ? cfg.split_full : cfg.split_by, (cfg.split_by || []).length)
+        // split_full is the legacy key, from when collapsing truncated split_by
+        adoptSplit(cfg.split_full?.length ? cfg.split_full : cfg.split_by,
+                   cfg.split_by_depth != null ? cfg.split_by_depth - 1 : null)
         // restore() has already applied group_by_depth; this only syncs the
         // toolbar. expand_depth is the legacy key, from when depth was imperative
         // and had to be stored beside the config rather than in it.
@@ -701,22 +699,12 @@ export default function Forecast({ sources = [], sourceId, versions = [], versio
       if (viewer._pspUpdate) viewer.removeEventListener('perspective-config-update', viewer._pspUpdate)
       viewer._pspUpdate = async () => {
         try {
-          // A split_by change that is not ours is the user rearranging the pivot, and
-          // it redefines the hierarchy. Ours is a collapse, and must not overwrite it.
-          if (!collapsingRef.current) {
-            const live = await viewer.save()
-            const next = live.split_by || []
-            const full = splitFullRef.current || []
-            // This event fires for anything in the config -- opening the settings
-            // sidebar included -- not only for split_by. While collapsed, the live
-            // split_by is a prefix of the full hierarchy, and adopting it would
-            // record the truncation as the hierarchy and make the deeper levels
-            // unreachable. A genuine rearrangement is not a prefix of what we hold.
-            const isCollapsedPrefix =
-              next.length < full.length && next.every((c, i) => c === full[i])
-            if (!isCollapsedPrefix) adoptSplit(next, next.length)
-            // else: our own collapse, so the full hierarchy stands
-          }
+          // split_by is never truncated now, so the live value is always the real
+          // hierarchy and can be adopted unconditionally -- no need to tell our own
+          // collapse apart from the user rearranging the pivot.
+          const live = await viewer.save()
+          adoptSplit(live.split_by || [],
+                     live.split_by_depth != null ? live.split_by_depth - 1 : null)
           const cfg = await captureConfig()
           if (cfg) await persistLayout(vid, cfg)
         } catch {}
@@ -771,46 +759,51 @@ export default function Forecast({ sources = [], sourceId, versions = [], versio
   // Record the column hierarchy as the uncollapsed truth. Called whenever a layout
   // arrives or the user rearranges split_by themselves — but never for our own
   // collapse, which would otherwise overwrite the full list with the short one.
-  function adoptSplit(full, depth) {
-    const list = Array.isArray(full) ? full : []
-    splitFullRef.current = list
-    setSplitFull(list)
-    setSplitDepth(depth == null ? list.length : Math.min(depth, list.length))
+  // The column axis as it stands, for rendering the collapse buttons. split_by is
+  // no longer truncated to collapse, so it *is* the hierarchy -- nothing has to be
+  // remembered alongside it.
+  function adoptSplit(list, depth) {
+    const cols = Array.isArray(list) ? list : []
+    splitFullRef.current = cols
+    setSplitFull(cols)
+    setSplitDepth(depth == null ? cols.length : Math.min(depth, cols.length))
   }
 
   // Collapse or expand the column axis to `n` split_by levels.
   //
-  // The row axis gets this for free: its GROUP BY ROLLUP view holds every level at
-  // once and view.set_depth() hides the deeper ones. The column axis has no
-  // equivalent — there is no split_by_depth in ViewConfig and expand()/collapse()
-  // take a row index — so collapsing means restoring a truncated split_by, which
-  // rebuilds the view. Two consequences fall out of that: the row depth has to be
-  // re-applied afterwards (it lives on the discarded view), and it is whole-axis,
-  // not per-branch — every column group collapses to the same level together.
+  // Both axes are now the same shape: a depth in ViewConfig. This used to restore
+  // a *truncated* split_by instead, because split_by_depth was accepted and then
+  // dropped by ViewConfig::apply_update -- see ui/vendor's patch. Truncating had
+  // to be undone to expand again, which is why the full hierarchy needed
+  // remembering separately (splitFull, persisted as split_full), why our own
+  // collapse had to be told apart from the user rearranging the pivot
+  // (collapsingRef and the prefix test), and why the selection was cleared each
+  // time the axis changed shape.
+  //
+  // None of that is needed for a depth. split_by keeps every level, so the
+  // hierarchy is simply `cfg.split_by`; the depth rides along in saved layouts and
+  // survives a view rebuild; and the dimensions a slice was cut from are still
+  // there, so the selection can stay.
   async function applySplitDepth(n) {
     const viewer = viewerRef.current
-    const full   = splitFullRef.current
-    if (!viewer || !full.length) return
-    const depth = Math.max(0, Math.min(n, full.length))
-    collapsingRef.current = true
+    if (!viewer) return
+    const { table: _t, ...cfg } = await viewer.save()
+    const levels = (cfg.split_by || []).length
+    if (!levels) return
+    const depth = Math.max(0, Math.min(n, levels))
     try {
-      await viewer.restore({ split_by: full.slice(0, depth) })
+      // 1-based, as with group_by_depth: server.cpp does
+      // ctx2->set_depth(HEADER_COLUMN, column_pivot_depth - 1)
+      await viewer.restore({ ...cfg, split_by_depth: depth + 1 })
       setSplitDepth(depth)
-      // No need to re-apply the row depth: group_by_depth is part of the config the
-      // view is rebuilt from, so it comes back with it.
     } catch (err) {
       console.error('[applySplitDepth]', err)
       flash(err.message || String(err), 'error')
       return
-    } finally {
-      collapsingRef.current = false
     }
-    // a slice names the split_by dimensions it was cut from, and the highlight is
-    // keyed on grid coordinates — neither survives a column axis that just changed
-    setSlices([])
     try {
-      const cfg = await captureConfig()
-      if (cfg) await persistLayout(versionId, cfg)
+      const cfg2 = await captureConfig()
+      if (cfg2) await persistLayout(versionId, cfg2)
     } catch (err) {
       console.error('[applySplitDepth persist]', err)
     }
@@ -871,10 +864,10 @@ export default function Forecast({ sources = [], sourceId, versions = [], versio
     const viewer = viewerRef.current
     if (!viewer) return null
     const cfg = await viewer.save()
-    // group_by_depth is already in cfg, straight from save(). Only split_full is
-    // ours: it outlives split_by, so a layout saved while collapsed still knows
-    // the levels it was collapsed from.
-    return { ...cfg, split_full: splitFullRef.current }
+    // Both depths are already in cfg, straight from save(). Nothing of ours needs
+    // to travel beside it any more -- split_full existed only because collapsing
+    // truncated split_by and the discarded levels had to be remembered.
+    return cfg
   }
 
   async function persistLayout(vid, cfg) {
@@ -932,7 +925,8 @@ export default function Forecast({ sources = [], sourceId, versions = [], versio
     const cfg = cleanLayout(layout.config, validCols)
     cfg.plugin_config = { ...(cfg.plugin_config || {}), edit_mode: 'SELECT_REGION' }
     await viewer.restore(cfg)
-    adoptSplit(cfg.split_full?.length ? cfg.split_full : cfg.split_by, (cfg.split_by || []).length)
+    adoptSplit(cfg.split_full?.length ? cfg.split_full : cfg.split_by,
+               cfg.split_by_depth != null ? cfg.split_by_depth - 1 : null)
     if (cfg.group_by_depth != null) setExpandDepth(cfg.group_by_depth - 1)
     else if (cfg.expand_depth != null) await applyDepth(cfg.expand_depth)
     setActiveLayoutId(layout.id)