diff --git a/src/DodoSSH.Client.App/Views/TransfersScreen.axaml b/src/DodoSSH.Client.App/Views/TransfersScreen.axaml
index 6b86b65..f003f5c 100644
--- a/src/DodoSSH.Client.App/Views/TransfersScreen.axaml
+++ b/src/DodoSSH.Client.App/Views/TransfersScreen.axaml
@@ -33,6 +33,43 @@
     layer has not got. See docs/design-import-gaps.md.
   -->
 
+  <!--
+    ══ THE TWO LISTINGS' COLUMNS ═════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
+    ◆ They were fixed pixel widths, and fixed was wrong at both ends of the range this screen actually gets.
+
+    The numbers — 20/*/60/56 here and 20/*/56/52/48 across the arrow column — were chosen against the 204
+    pixels the session shell's own QUICK ACCESS sidebar leaves a pane at the window's minimum. Measured,
+    they were wrong in both directions at once:
+
+      · MODIFIED prints "2026-08-21 11:36", which needs 116 pixels, and never had more than 48. So the
+        column was truncated at every width this screen has ever been drawn at — a maximised window showed
+        "2026-08" beside a NAME column with four hundred empty pixels in it. PERMS needs 60 for a
+        ten-character mode and had 48; SIZE needs 58 for "999.9 GB" and had 56.
+      · At 204 the remote pane's NAME column measured **zero pixels wide**. Twenty for the glyph plus
+        56+52+48 for the numbers is 176 of the 180 a row has, so the file names — the one column a file
+        browser exists to show — were not drawn at all.
+
+    Star columns with a MaxWidth fix both, because the cap is what makes "share the width" mean the right
+    thing at each end. Wide, the three numeric columns stop growing at what their own text needs and NAME
+    keeps every remaining pixel. Narrow, nothing has a MinWidth to overflow with, so all four give ground
+    together and NAME — weighted heaviest — keeps enough to read a name by.
+
+    MODIFIED carries the extra weight (1.6) so that it reaches its cap first: it is the widest content and
+    the column somebody is most often actually reading. The local pane's NAME is 3* against the remote's 2*,
+    which is the remote's PERMS weight folded into it — that is what makes SIZE and MODIFIED come out the
+    same width on both sides of the arrow column, so the same amount of a timestamp is visible in each. See
+    Timestamps.Format for why both panes write one the same way in the first place; a shared format read at
+    two different widths would have made that argument for nothing.
+
+    ◆ FOUR COPIES OF THIS, and they have to stay in step: a heading row and a row template per pane. Avalonia
+    cannot share one ColumnDefinitions instance between two Grids — each mutates its own computed sizes —
+    and SharedSizeGroup only applies to Auto columns. What catches a copy that drifts is measurement rather
+    than discipline: ScreenLayoutTests holds every cell against the width its own text needs
+    (TheListingColumnsShowTheirContentInFullWhenThereIsRoom), the headings against each other
+    (TheListingHeadingsDoNotRunIntoEachOther), and NAME against zero at the narrowest budget
+    (TheNameColumnSurvivesTheNarrowestBudget).
+  -->
+
   <UserControl.Styles>
     <!--
       ── v5b ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
@@ -259,10 +296,18 @@
           the row template below for why the whole column set was chosen against 204 pixels rather than the
           design's own 1920-pixel canvas.
         -->
-        <Grid Grid.Row="2" ColumnDefinitions="20,*,60,56" Margin="0,2,10,4">
+        <Grid Grid.Row="2" Margin="0,2,10,4">
+          <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
+            <ColumnDefinition Width="20" />
+            <ColumnDefinition Width="3*" />
+            <ColumnDefinition Width="*" MaxWidth="66" />
+            <ColumnDefinition Width="1.6*" MaxWidth="124" />
+          </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
           <TextBlock Grid.Column="1" Classes="label" Text="NAME" FontSize="9.5" Margin="8,0,8,0" />
-          <TextBlock Grid.Column="2" Classes="label" Text="SIZE" FontSize="9.5" HorizontalAlignment="Right" />
-          <TextBlock Grid.Column="3" Classes="label" Text="MODIFIED" FontSize="9.5" HorizontalAlignment="Right" />
+          <TextBlock Grid.Column="2" Classes="label" Text="SIZE" FontSize="9.5" Margin="8,0,0,0"
+                     HorizontalAlignment="Right" TextTrimming="CharacterEllipsis" />
+          <TextBlock Grid.Column="3" Classes="label" Text="MODIFIED" FontSize="9.5" Margin="8,0,0,0"
+                     HorizontalAlignment="Right" TextTrimming="CharacterEllipsis" />
         </Grid>
 
         <!--
@@ -274,13 +319,19 @@
                  SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedLocalEntry}">
           <ListBox.ItemTemplate>
             <DataTemplate x:DataType="vm:LocalEntryRowViewModel">
-              <Grid ColumnDefinitions="20,*,60,56" Height="38" Margin="14,0,10,0">
+              <Grid Height="38" Margin="14,0,10,0">
+                <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
+                  <ColumnDefinition Width="20" />
+                  <ColumnDefinition Width="3*" />
+                  <ColumnDefinition Width="*" MaxWidth="66" />
+                  <ColumnDefinition Width="1.6*" MaxWidth="124" />
+                </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                 <TextBlock Grid.Column="0" Classes="entryicon" Text="{Binding IconGlyph}" />
                 <TextBlock Grid.Column="1" Classes="mono entry" Classes.dir="{Binding IsNavigable}"
                            Text="{Binding Name}" FontSize="13.5"
                            Margin="10,0,8,0" VerticalAlignment="Center" TextTrimming="CharacterEllipsis" />
                 <TextBlock Grid.Column="2" Classes="mono entrysize" Text="{Binding Size}" FontSize="12"
-                           HorizontalAlignment="Right" VerticalAlignment="Center" />
+                           Margin="8,0,0,0" HorizontalAlignment="Right" VerticalAlignment="Center" />
                 <TextBlock Grid.Column="3" Classes="mono entrydate" Text="{Binding Modified}" FontSize="12"
                            Margin="8,0,0,0" HorizontalAlignment="Right" VerticalAlignment="Center" />
               </Grid>
@@ -374,8 +425,14 @@
             </StackPanel>
             <TextBox Grid.Column="1" Classes="pathbox" VerticalAlignment="Center"
                      Text="{Binding RemotePathDraft}" IsEnabled="{Binding IsConnected}"
-                     PlaceholderText="/path/to/somewhere"
+                     PlaceholderText="path"
                      ToolTip.Tip="Type a path and press Enter. A relative path is taken from here; ~ is the account's home directory.">
+              <!--
+                One word, because the only time this placeholder shows is on a pane with nothing connected,
+                where the box is disabled and the invitation below is doing the explaining. "/path/to/
+                somewhere" needs 146 pixels and had 91 at the session shell's narrowest, so it drew as a
+                path cut off mid-segment. What the box is for is in the tooltip, where there is room for it.
+              -->
               <TextBox.KeyBindings>
                 <KeyBinding Gesture="Enter" Command="{Binding GoToTypedRemotePathCommand}" />
                 <KeyBinding Gesture="Escape" Command="{Binding RevertTypedRemotePathCommand}" />
@@ -584,10 +641,16 @@
             is showing, 140 plus MKDIR plus the spacing between them ran past the pane's own edge. Still wide
             enough for a real directory name to be typed and read back, which is what this box is for; a
             name that outgrows it scrolls inside the box the way every TextBox already does.
+
+            ◆ The placeholder says "directory" rather than "new directory", which is what it said until it
+            was measured: the longer text needs 101 pixels inside a box that has 74, so it drew as "new
+            directo" — a placeholder cut off mid-word, which reads as a rendering fault rather than as a
+            hint. MKDIR is right beside it and carries the "new" half already. The path box in the header
+            above lost the same argument and for the same reason; see its own PlaceholderText.
           -->
           <StackPanel Grid.Column="1" Orientation="Horizontal" Spacing="6"
                       IsVisible="{Binding IsConnected}">
-            <TextBox Width="90" Text="{Binding NewRemoteFolder}" PlaceholderText="new directory" />
+            <TextBox Width="90" Text="{Binding NewRemoteFolder}" PlaceholderText="directory" />
             <Button Classes="ghost" Content="MKDIR" Command="{Binding CreateRemoteFolderCommand}" />
           </StackPanel>
         </Grid>
@@ -597,25 +660,42 @@
           48 pixels rather than the drawer's own wider habit, and SIZE/MODIFIED shrink to match the local
           pane's narrower numbers. See the local pane's own remark on why 204 rather than the design's 1920.
         -->
-        <Grid Grid.Row="5" ColumnDefinitions="20,*,56,52,48" Margin="0,2,10,4">
+        <Grid Grid.Row="5" Margin="0,2,10,4">
+          <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
+            <ColumnDefinition Width="20" />
+            <ColumnDefinition Width="2*" />
+            <ColumnDefinition Width="*" MaxWidth="66" />
+            <ColumnDefinition Width="1.6*" MaxWidth="124" />
+            <ColumnDefinition Width="*" MaxWidth="66" />
+          </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
           <TextBlock Grid.Column="1" Classes="label" Text="NAME" FontSize="9.5" Margin="8,0,8,0" />
-          <TextBlock Grid.Column="2" Classes="label" Text="SIZE" FontSize="9.5" HorizontalAlignment="Right" />
-          <TextBlock Grid.Column="3" Classes="label" Text="MODIFIED" FontSize="9.5" HorizontalAlignment="Right" />
-          <TextBlock Grid.Column="4" Classes="label" Text="PERMS" FontSize="9.5" HorizontalAlignment="Right" />
+          <TextBlock Grid.Column="2" Classes="label" Text="SIZE" FontSize="9.5" Margin="8,0,0,0"
+                     HorizontalAlignment="Right" TextTrimming="CharacterEllipsis" />
+          <TextBlock Grid.Column="3" Classes="label" Text="MODIFIED" FontSize="9.5" Margin="8,0,0,0"
+                     HorizontalAlignment="Right" TextTrimming="CharacterEllipsis" />
+          <TextBlock Grid.Column="4" Classes="label" Text="PERMS" FontSize="9.5" Margin="6,0,0,0"
+                     HorizontalAlignment="Right" TextTrimming="CharacterEllipsis" />
         </Grid>
 
         <ListBox Grid.Row="6" x:Name="RemoteList" Classes="filerows" ItemsSource="{Binding RemoteEntries}"
                  SelectedItem="{Binding SelectedRemoteEntry}">
           <ListBox.ItemTemplate>
             <DataTemplate x:DataType="vm:RemoteEntryRowViewModel">
-              <Grid ColumnDefinitions="20,*,56,52,48" Height="38" Margin="14,0,10,0">
+              <Grid Height="38" Margin="14,0,10,0">
+                <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
+                  <ColumnDefinition Width="20" />
+                  <ColumnDefinition Width="2*" />
+                  <ColumnDefinition Width="*" MaxWidth="66" />
+                  <ColumnDefinition Width="1.6*" MaxWidth="124" />
+                  <ColumnDefinition Width="*" MaxWidth="66" />
+                </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
                 <TextBlock Grid.Column="0" Classes="entryicon" Text="{Binding IconGlyph}" />
                 <TextBlock Grid.Column="1" Classes="mono entry" Classes.dir="{Binding IsNavigable}"
                            Classes.exec="{Binding IsExecutable}"
                            Text="{Binding Name}" FontSize="13.5"
                            Margin="10,0,8,0" VerticalAlignment="Center" TextTrimming="CharacterEllipsis" />
                 <TextBlock Grid.Column="2" Classes="mono entrysize" Text="{Binding Size}" FontSize="12"
-                           HorizontalAlignment="Right" VerticalAlignment="Center" />
+                           Margin="8,0,0,0" HorizontalAlignment="Right" VerticalAlignment="Center" />
                 <TextBlock Grid.Column="3" Classes="mono entrydate" Text="{Binding Modified}" FontSize="12"
                            Margin="8,0,0,0" HorizontalAlignment="Right" VerticalAlignment="Center" />
                 <TextBlock Grid.Column="4" Classes="mono perms" Classes.loose="{Binding IsWorldWritable}"
diff --git a/tests/DodoSSH.Client.App.Layout.Tests/ScreenLayoutTests.cs b/tests/DodoSSH.Client.App.Layout.Tests/ScreenLayoutTests.cs
index 2e0c8d3..de5904a 100644
--- a/tests/DodoSSH.Client.App.Layout.Tests/ScreenLayoutTests.cs
+++ b/tests/DodoSSH.Client.App.Layout.Tests/ScreenLayoutTests.cs
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 using Avalonia;
 using Avalonia.Controls;
+using Avalonia.Controls.Primitives;
 using Avalonia.Headless;
 using Avalonia.Input;
 using Avalonia.Threading;
@@ -2171,6 +2172,262 @@ public sealed class ScreenLayoutTests : IAsyncLifetime
     /// runtime — see <see cref="LayoutHarness.SessionScreenWidth"/> — so a test that connects before calling
     /// this measures the tighter, sidebar-narrowed shape without having to say so twice.
     /// </remarks>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+    // ---- ◆ The listings' columns ----
+
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// <b>Every cell shows what it holds, at a width this screen actually gets.</b> The columns were fixed
+    /// pixel widths until they were measured against their own content: MODIFIED prints a sixteen-character
+    /// timestamp needing 116 pixels and had 52, so it was truncated at every width the application has ever
+    /// been drawn at — on a maximised window it read "2026-08" beside a NAME column with four hundred empty
+    /// pixels in it. PERMS and SIZE were short by the same kind of margin.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Asserted by measuring each cell's own text unconstrained and holding the rendered width against it,
+    /// rather than against numbers written down here: a column that fits is a column at least as wide as
+    /// what it has to draw, and any other formulation is this test agreeing with the markup about an
+    /// arithmetic they both got from the same place.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task TheListingColumnsShowTheirContentInFullWhenThereIsRoom()
+    {
+        SeedBothListings();
+
+        await LayoutHarness.OnTheUiThreadAsync(
+            () =>
+            {
+                var screen = new TransfersScreen { DataContext = transfers };
+                var window = LayoutHarness.HostAtMinimumSize(
+                    screen, MaximisedSessionScreenWidth, LayoutHarness.SessionScreenHeight);
+
+                try
+                {
+                    foreach (var text in new[] { "2.1 KB", "2026-08-21 11:36", "-rw-r--r--", "2026-07-04 09:00" })
+                    {
+                        var cell = screen.GetVisualDescendants()
+                            .OfType<TextBlock>()
+                            .First(block => string.Equals(block.Text, text, StringComparison.Ordinal));
+
+                        cell.Bounds.Width.ShouldBeGreaterThanOrEqualTo(
+                            Unconstrained(cell) - 0.5, $"'{text}' has to fit the column it is drawn in");
+                    }
+                }
+                finally
+                {
+                    window.Close();
+                }
+            },
+            Token);
+    }
+
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The headings are right-aligned in their own columns, so two of them whose columns are exactly the
+    /// width of their text run together: SIZE ended on the pixel MODIFIED began at, and the row read
+    /// "SIZEMODIFIED". This holds the gap that fixes it — a left margin on each of the three, which does not
+    /// move a right-aligned label but does stop the column before it reaching this one.
+    /// </remarks>
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task TheListingHeadingsDoNotRunIntoEachOther()
+    {
+        SeedBothListings();
+
+        await LayoutHarness.OnTheUiThreadAsync(
+            () =>
+            {
+                var screen = new TransfersScreen { DataContext = transfers };
+                var window = LayoutHarness.HostAtMinimumSize(
+                    screen, MaximisedSessionScreenWidth, LayoutHarness.SessionScreenHeight);
+
+                try
+                {
+                    // Per pane, not across both. Each has its own NAME at its own left edge, and a list of
+                    // all seven sorted by position pairs the local pane's last heading with the remote
+                    // pane's first — two labels in different panes, which no amount of margin separates.
+                    var rows = screen.GetVisualDescendants()
+                        .OfType<Grid>()
+                        .Where(grid => grid.Children.OfType<TextBlock>().Any(
+                            block => block.Classes.Contains("label")
+                                && string.Equals(block.Text, "NAME", StringComparison.Ordinal)))
+                        .ToList();
+
+                    rows.Count.ShouldBe(2, "one heading row per pane");
+
+                    foreach (var row in rows)
+                    {
+                        var headings = row.Children
+                            .OfType<TextBlock>()
+                            .Where(block => block.Classes.Contains("label"))
+                            .Select(block => (block.Text, Left: block.Bounds.X, Right: block.Bounds.Right))
+                            .OrderBy(heading => heading.Left)
+                            .ToList();
+
+                        foreach (var (before, after) in headings.Zip(headings.Skip(1)))
+                        {
+                            after.Left.ShouldBeGreaterThan(
+                                before.Right, $"'{before.Text}' must not touch '{after.Text}'");
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+                finally
+                {
+                    window.Close();
+                }
+            },
+            Token);
+    }
+
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// The other end of the same fault. At the 204 pixels the session shell's own sidebar leaves a pane, the
+    /// fixed columns took 176 of a row's 180 and the remote pane's NAME cell measured <b>zero</b> — a file
+    /// browser drawing sizes, timestamps and modes for rows whose names were not on screen at all.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// No column carries a MinWidth, which is what keeps this from being a fight the row can lose: at any
+    /// width all four give ground together, and NAME — weighted heaviest — is the last to run out. What is
+    /// asserted is only that it has not run out, because how much of a name fits in 204 pixels is a question
+    /// with no good answer.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task TheNameColumnSurvivesTheNarrowestBudget()
+    {
+        SeedBothListings();
+
+        await LayoutHarness.OnTheUiThreadAsync(
+            () =>
+            {
+                var screen = new TransfersScreen { DataContext = transfers };
+                var window = LayoutHarness.HostAtMinimumSize(
+                    screen, LayoutHarness.SessionScreenWidth(sidebarVisible: true), LayoutHarness.SessionScreenHeight);
+
+                try
+                {
+                    foreach (var name in new[] { ".bash_history", ".azure-devops" })
+                    {
+                        var cell = screen.GetVisualDescendants()
+                            .OfType<TextBlock>()
+                            .First(block => string.Equals(block.Text, name, StringComparison.Ordinal));
+
+                        cell.Bounds.Width.ShouldBeGreaterThan(20, $"'{name}' must be readable at all");
+                    }
+                }
+                finally
+                {
+                    window.Close();
+                }
+            },
+            Token);
+    }
+
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// A placeholder cut off mid-word reads as a rendering fault rather than as a hint — MKDIR's box drew
+    /// "new directo" and the pane header's drew a path ending mid-segment. Both are boxes whose width is
+    /// fixed by the pane's own narrowest budget, so the text is what had to give.
+    /// </remarks>
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task ThePaneBoxesPlaceholdersFitTheBoxesTheyAreIn()
+    {
+        transfers.IsConnected = true;
+
+        await LayoutHarness.OnTheUiThreadAsync(
+            () =>
+            {
+                var screen = new TransfersScreen { DataContext = transfers };
+                var window = LayoutHarness.HostAtMinimumSize(
+                    screen, LayoutHarness.SessionScreenWidth(sidebarVisible: true), LayoutHarness.SessionScreenHeight);
+
+                try
+                {
+                    foreach (var box in screen.GetVisualDescendants().OfType<TextBox>())
+                    {
+                        // The picker's own password box is in the collapsed half of the invitation, so it
+                        // lays out at zero width and has no room for anything. Only what is on screen.
+                        if (box.Watermark is not { Length: > 0 } mark || !box.IsEffectivelyVisible)
+                        {
+                            continue;
+                        }
+
+                        var room = box.Bounds.Width - box.Padding.Left - box.Padding.Right;
+
+                        room.ShouldBeGreaterThanOrEqualTo(
+                            Measured(mark, box.FontSize, box.FontFamily),
+                            $"the placeholder '{mark}' has to fit its own box");
+                    }
+                }
+                finally
+                {
+                    window.Close();
+                }
+            },
+            Token);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Puts one row of each pane's own shape in, with content of a real length.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The local pane is cleared first for the reason <see cref="TheRowTemplateShowsSizeAndDateColumns"/>
+    /// gives: it lists this fixture's real home directory, and a virtualizing ListBox realises only the rows
+    /// that fit — a row appended after those would never be built, and the assertion would find nothing to
+    /// have missed.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private void SeedBothListings()
+    {
+        transfers.IsConnected = true;
+        transfers.RemotePath = "/root";
+
+        transfers.RemoteEntries.Add(new RemoteEntryRowViewModel(new SftpEntry(
+            ".bash_history",
+            "/root/.bash_history",
+            SftpEntryKind.File,
+            2_150,
+            new DateTimeOffset(2026, 8, 21, 11, 36, 0, TimeSpan.Zero),
+            "-rw-r--r--")));
+
+        transfers.LocalEntries.Clear();
+        transfers.LocalEntries.Add(new LocalEntryRowViewModel(new LocalEntry(
+            ".azure-devops",
+            Path.Combine(Path.GetTempPath(), ".azure-devops"),
+            IsDirectory: true,
+            Length: 0,
+            new DateTimeOffset(2026, 7, 4, 9, 0, 0, TimeSpan.Zero))));
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// What a session-shell screen gets on a maximised window, which is where the columns were reported
+    /// wrong.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// A 1843-pixel window less the shell's own 26-pixel padding a side, its 1-pixel border a side, and
+    /// QUICK ACCESS's 300 — the arithmetic <see cref="LayoutHarness.SessionScreenWidth"/> does, at a width
+    /// that constant cannot express because it is pinned to the window's <em>minimum</em>. Both belong in
+    /// this file: the minimum is what everything else here measures against, and this is the width at which
+    /// the numeric columns reach their caps and the question "does the content fit" has a yes to give.
+    /// Below it they share the width instead, which is what
+    /// <see cref="TheNameColumnSurvivesTheNarrowestBudget"/> holds the other end of.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private const double MaximisedSessionScreenWidth = 1843 - (2 * 26) - (2 * 1) - 300;
+
+    /// <summary>What a rendered block would want if nothing bounded it.</summary>
+    private static double Unconstrained(TextBlock block) =>
+        Measured(block.Text ?? string.Empty, block.FontSize, block.FontFamily);
+
+    /// <inheritdoc cref="Unconstrained" />
+    private static double Measured(string text, double fontSize, Avalonia.Media.FontFamily family)
+    {
+        var block = new TextBlock { Text = text, FontSize = fontSize, FontFamily = family };
+
+        block.Measure(new Size(double.PositiveInfinity, double.PositiveInfinity));
+
+        return block.DesiredSize.Width;
+    }
+
     private Task MeasureTransfersAsync(Action<IReadOnlyList<string>> assert) =>
         LayoutHarness.OnTheUiThreadAsync(
             () =>