diff --git a/src/Gui/OverlayWidgets.cpp b/src/Gui/OverlayWidgets.cpp
index 61b8f21df8..643076db79 100644
--- a/src/Gui/OverlayWidgets.cpp
+++ b/src/Gui/OverlayWidgets.cpp
@@ -755,10 +755,19 @@ void OverlayTabWidget::restore(ParameterGrp::handle handle)
         hGrp = handle;
         return;
     }
-    if (!parentWidget())
-        return;
 
-    std::string widgets = handle->GetASCII("Widgets", getDockArea() == Qt::RightDockWidgetArea ? "Tasks," : "");
+    if (!parentWidget()) {
+        return;
+    }
+
+    const char* defaultWidgets = "";
+
+    // If overlay was ever used and disabled by the user it should respect that choice
+    if (handle->GetInt("Width", 0) == 0 || handle->GetInt("Height", 0) == 0) {
+        defaultWidgets = getDockArea() == Qt::RightDockWidgetArea ? "Tasks," : "";
+    }
+
+    std::string widgets = handle->GetASCII("Widgets", defaultWidgets);
 
     for(auto &name : QString::fromUtf8(widgets.c_str()).split(QLatin1Char(','))) {
         if(name.isEmpty())