when you hit F7 what happens to the folders panel? have you tried unlocking it, sizing it how you want and then locking it again?
my folders panel pops in and out in the same place at the same size as before and this all persists from one instance to the next of dolphin… it could be a config file issue with your system if it’s not doing that.
also helps if you can paste your “about” system info
The folder panel will always resize, no matter how you do the settings in Dolphin. It will revert to its default. With that I mean that if you opened a subfolder and scrolled down, it won’t be saved when you start dolphin again. It will restart in default view. The panel height will remain, not the section.
Doesn’t work for me on kubuntu 23.10. Then again, a lot doesn’t work on that one. Works on debian. That is, when dolphin is set to open previous state, the folder view is where I left it, but the panel height does reset to small(er).