Index: src/mainwindow.c
===================================================================
--- src/mainwindow.c	(revision 2362)
+++ src/mainwindow.c	(working copy)
@@ -930,6 +930,7 @@
 	GtkWidget *ac_menu;
 	GtkWidget *menuitem;
 	gint i;
+	gboolean real_vision;
 
 	static GdkGeometry geometry;
 
@@ -1114,8 +1115,8 @@
 			g_warning(_("MainWindow: color allocation %d failed\n"), i);
 	}
 
-	messageview->visible = prefs_common.msgview_visible;
-
+	real_vision = prefs_common.msgview_visible;
+	messageview->visible = TRUE; /* needs this space anyway */
 	main_window_set_widgets(mainwin, prefs_common.layout_type, type);
 
 	if (prefs_common.mainwin_maximized)
@@ -1169,6 +1170,8 @@
 
 	/* show main window */
 	gtk_widget_show(mainwin->window);
+	if (!real_vision)
+		main_window_toggle_message_view(mainwin);
 
 #if !GTK_CHECK_VERSION(2, 6, 0)
 	{
@@ -1588,7 +1601,8 @@
 	allocation = &(GTK_WIDGET_PTR(mainwin->summaryview)->allocation);
 	if (allocation->width > 1 && allocation->height > 1) {
 		if (vlayout) {
-			if (!(mainwin->type & SEPARATE_MESSAGE))
+			if (!(mainwin->type & SEPARATE_MESSAGE) &&
+			    messageview_is_visible(mainwin->messageview))
 				prefs_common.summaryview_vwidth = allocation->width;
 			prefs_common.summaryview_vheight = allocation->height;
 		} else {
