diff --git a/src/blackgui/models/statusmessagelistmodel.cpp b/src/blackgui/models/statusmessagelistmodel.cpp
index b5253b723..451499be7 100644
--- a/src/blackgui/models/statusmessagelistmodel.cpp
+++ b/src/blackgui/models/statusmessagelistmodel.cpp
@@ -25,9 +25,10 @@ namespace BlackGui
         CStatusMessageListModel::CStatusMessageListModel(QObject *parent) :
             CListModelTimestampObjects<CStatusMessageList, true>("ViewStatusMessageList", parent)
         {
-            this->setMode(Detailed);
+            this->setSorting(CStatusMessage::IndexUtcTimestamp, Qt::DescendingOrder);
             m_sortTieBreakers.push_front(CStatusMessage::IndexMessage);
             m_sortTieBreakers.push_front(CStatusMessage::IndexSeverity);
+            this->setMode(Detailed);
 
             // force strings for translation in resource files
             (void)QT_TRANSLATE_NOOP("ViewStatusMessageList", "time");
@@ -57,18 +58,30 @@ namespace BlackGui
             this->setMode(m_mode, messages);
         }
 
+        bool CStatusMessageListModel::isSortedByTimestampOrOrder() const
+        {
+            const CPropertyIndex p = this->getSortProperty();
+            return sortedByTimestampOrOrder(p);
+        }
+
+        bool CStatusMessageListModel::sortedByTimestampOrOrder(const CPropertyIndex &p)
+        {
+            if (p.isEmpty()) { return false; }
+            const int last = p.indexVector().last();
+            return IOrderable::isAnyOrderIndex(last) || ITimestampBased::isAnyTimestampIndex(last);
+        }
+
         void CStatusMessageListModel::setMode(CStatusMessageListModel::Mode mode)
         {
+            const Qt::SortOrder  oldOrder = this->getSortOrder();
+            const CPropertyIndex oldIndex = this->getSortProperty();
             m_columns.clear();
-            m_sortColumn = CStatusMessage::IndexUtcTimestamp;
             m_mode = mode;
 
             switch (mode)
             {
             case DetailedWithOrder:
                 m_columns.addColumn(CColumn::orderColumn());
-                m_sortColumn = CStatusMessage::IndexOrder;
-                m_sortOrder = Qt::DescendingOrder;
                 Q_FALLTHROUGH();
             case Detailed:
                 {
@@ -82,7 +95,6 @@ namespace BlackGui
                 break;
             case SimplifiedWithOrder:
                 m_columns.addColumn(CColumn::orderColumn());
-                m_sortColumn = CStatusMessage::IndexOrder;
                 Q_FALLTHROUGH();
             case Simplified:
                 {
@@ -94,6 +106,24 @@ namespace BlackGui
                 }
                 break;
             }
+
+            // sorting
+            if (CStatusMessageListModel::sortedByTimestampOrOrder(oldIndex))
+            {
+                if (mode == DetailedWithOrder || mode == SimplifiedWithOrder)
+                {
+                    this->setSorting(CStatusMessage::IndexOrder, oldOrder);
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    this->setSorting(CStatusMessage::IndexUtcTimestamp, oldOrder);
+                }
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                // restore sorting
+                this->setSorting(oldIndex, oldOrder);
+            }
         }
 
         QVariant CStatusMessageListModel::data(const QModelIndex &index, int role) const
diff --git a/src/blackgui/models/statusmessagelistmodel.h b/src/blackgui/models/statusmessagelistmodel.h
index 7c09e872a..c71c3f3f3 100644
--- a/src/blackgui/models/statusmessagelistmodel.h
+++ b/src/blackgui/models/statusmessagelistmodel.h
@@ -56,6 +56,12 @@ namespace BlackGui
             //! \copydoc QAbstractItemModel::data
             virtual QVariant data(const QModelIndex &index, int role) const override;
 
+            //! Currently sorted by timestamp or by order
+            bool isSortedByTimestampOrOrder() const;
+
+            //! Sorted by timestamp or order
+            static bool sortedByTimestampOrOrder(const BlackMisc::CPropertyIndex &p);
+
         private:
             Mode m_mode; //!< used mode
         };
diff --git a/src/blackgui/overlaymessages.cpp b/src/blackgui/overlaymessages.cpp
index 41bb6c269..11930fbb4 100644
--- a/src/blackgui/overlaymessages.cpp
+++ b/src/blackgui/overlaymessages.cpp
@@ -170,22 +170,18 @@ namespace BlackGui
             return;
         }
 
-        //! \fixme KB 2017-09 a possible alternative maybe is to resize rows always to content -> performance?
+        CStatusMessageList newMsgs(messages);
         if (appendOldMessages && !ui->tvp_StatusMessages->isEmpty())
         {
-            CStatusMessageList messagesWithOld(messages);
-            messagesWithOld.push_back(ui->tvp_StatusMessages->container());
-            ui->tvp_StatusMessages->rowsResizeModeBasedOnThreshold(messages.size());
-            ui->tvp_StatusMessages->updateContainerMaybeAsync(messagesWithOld);
-            this->setModeToMessages(messagesWithOld.hasErrorMessages());
+            newMsgs.push_back(ui->tvp_StatusMessages->container());
         }
-        else
-        {
-            ui->tvp_StatusMessages->rowsResizeModeBasedOnThreshold(messages.size());
-            ui->tvp_StatusMessages->updateContainerMaybeAsync(messages);
-            this->setModeToMessages(messages.hasErrorMessages());
-        }
-        this->showKill(false);
+
+        //! \fixme KB 2017-09 a possible alternative maybe is to resize rows always to content -> performance?
+        ui->tvp_StatusMessages->adjustOrderColumn(newMsgs);
+        ui->tvp_StatusMessages->rowsResizeModeBasedOnThreshold(newMsgs.size());
+        ui->tvp_StatusMessages->updateContainerMaybeAsync(newMsgs);
+
+        this->setModeToMessages(false);
         this->display(timeOutMs);
     }