diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/toc/main.py b/src/calibre/gui2/toc/main.py
index a59751b846..af6a6aee33 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/toc/main.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/toc/main.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ from functools import partial
 from PyQt5.Qt import (QPushButton, QFrame, QMenu, QInputDialog,
     QDialog, QVBoxLayout, QDialogButtonBox, QSize, QStackedWidget, QWidget,
     QLabel, Qt, pyqtSignal, QIcon, QTreeWidget, QGridLayout, QTreeWidgetItem,
-    QToolButton, QItemSelectionModel, QCursor, QKeySequence)
+    QToolButton, QItemSelectionModel, QCursor, QKeySequence, QSizePolicy)
 
 from calibre.ebooks.oeb.polish.container import get_container, AZW3Container
 from calibre.ebooks.oeb.polish.toc import (
@@ -624,6 +624,7 @@ class TOCView(QWidget):  # {{{
         l.addWidget(b, col, 1)
         self.default_msg = _('Double click on an entry to change the text')
         self.hl = hl = QLabel(self.default_msg)
+        hl.setSizePolicy(QSizePolicy.Ignored, QSizePolicy.Preferred)
         l.addWidget(hl, col, 2, 1, -1)
         self.item_view = i = ItemView(self, self.prefs)
         self.item_view.delete_item.connect(self.delete_current_item)