Binder pane items become squished/compressed after reopening a project

[cansmile]

Description:

When I create a new project, the Binder pane displays correctly with all items properly spaced and readable. However, when I close and reopen the same project, the Binder items become squished and compressed — the text and folder/document icons overlap each other, making the Binder almost unreadable.

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Create a new Scrivener project with several folders and documents in the Binder (including nested items).

2. Confirm that the Binder displays correctly with proper spacing.

3. Close the project (or quit Scrivener).

4. Reopen the same project.

5. Observe that the Binder items are now squished/compressed together.

Expected Behavior: The Binder should display items with consistent, readable spacing every time the project is opened — matching the layout from when the project was first created.

Actual Behavior: After reopening, the Binder items are compressed vertically, with text and icons overlapping or truncated. See the attached screenshots:

• Screenshot 1: Normal Binder display when the project is first created.

• Screenshot 2: Squished/compressed Binder after closing and reopening the same project.

Environment:

• Scrivener 3.5.2(17486) for macOS

• macOS (Tahoe 26.3.1)

• Project contains Korean (한글) text in Binder item names

Additional Notes: This issue appears consistently on every reopen. The Binder content is correct — it’s purely a display/rendering issue with the row height of Binder items.

[rodneygates]

How frustrating - I haven’t run into this myself when opening a project repeatedly on the same iMac, but ended up setting up and using Layouts since I switch between the iMac and MacBook Air often. In my case, not only do the two computers use different fonts for the Binder, their screen sizes are vastly different, and a saved Layout for each machine handles that for me (sadly, it doesn’t save my Main Editor zoom percentage, so I need to adjust that every time when switching).

[AmberV]

Before going too far into troubleshooting, you should reset your interface settings; the first thing to try whenever the project window is acting strange.

[cansmile]

Thank you for the suggestion. It’s working and made it my custom layout again.