diff --git a/ui/src/views/Forecast.jsx b/ui/src/views/Forecast.jsx
index 4fbd522..ffedd80 100644
--- a/ui/src/views/Forecast.jsx
+++ b/ui/src/views/Forecast.jsx
@@ -796,7 +796,14 @@ export default function Forecast({ sources = [], sourceId, versions = [], versio
       // `expressions` wholesale, so expressions applied earlier were being wiped
       // by the very next line and the ordering columns never appeared in the
       // column list.
-      await syncOrderExpressions()
+      try {
+        await syncOrderExpressions()
+      } 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.
+        console.error('[pf-order] threw', err)
+        flash(`Column ordering failed: ${err.message || err}`, 'error')
+      }
 
       if (viewer._pspUpdate) viewer.removeEventListener('perspective-config-update', viewer._pspUpdate)
       viewer._pspUpdate = async () => {