diff --git a/js/ui/workspace.js b/js/ui/workspace.js
index acbcd377a..25877b20b 100644
--- a/js/ui/workspace.js
+++ b/js/ui/workspace.js
@@ -557,8 +557,16 @@ const WindowOverlay = new Lang.Class({
         else
             button.set_position(Math.floor(buttonX), Math.floor(buttonY));
 
+        // Clutter.Actor.get_preferred_width() will return the fixed width if one
+        // is set, so we need to reset the width by calling set_width(-1), to forward
+        // the call down to StLabel.
+        // We also need to save and restore the current width, otherwise the animation
+        // starts from the wrong point.
+        let prevTitleWidth = title.width;
+        title.set_width(-1);
         let [titleMinWidth, titleNatWidth] = title.get_preferred_width(-1);
         let titleWidth = Math.max(titleMinWidth, Math.min(titleNatWidth, cloneWidth));
+        title.width = prevTitleWidth;
 
         let titleX = cloneX + (cloneWidth - titleWidth) / 2;
         let titleY = cloneY + cloneHeight + title._spacing;