diff --git a/doc/rofi.1 b/doc/rofi.1
index 8cfc8fab..b223837b 100644
--- a/doc/rofi.1
+++ b/doc/rofi.1
@@ -948,7 +948,7 @@ Format what is being displayed for windows.
 .RE
 
 .PP
-\fIlen\fP: maximum field length (0 for auto-size). If length and window \fIwidth\fP are negative, field length is \fIwidth - len\fP\&.
+\fIlen\fP: maximum field length (0 for auto-size). If length is negative, the entry will be unchanged.
 .br
 If length is positive, the entry will be truncated or padded to fill that length.
 
diff --git a/doc/rofi.1.markdown b/doc/rofi.1.markdown
index ac2dbc02..9cff8e6c 100644
--- a/doc/rofi.1.markdown
+++ b/doc/rofi.1.markdown
@@ -572,7 +572,7 @@ Format what is being displayed for windows.
  * **r**: role
  * **c**: class
 
-*len*: maximum field length (0 for auto-size). If length and window *width* are negative, field length is *width - len*.  
+*len*: maximum field length (0 for auto-size). If length is negative, the entry will be unchanged.
 If length is positive, the entry will be truncated or padded to fill that length.
 
 
diff --git a/source/modes/window.c b/source/modes/window.c
index a0e3d136..7932eded 100644
--- a/source/modes/window.c
+++ b/source/modes/window.c
@@ -860,10 +860,7 @@ static void helper_eval_add_str(GString *str, const char *input, int l,
   const char *input_nn = input ? input : "";
   // Both l and max_len are in characters, not bytes.
   int spaces = 0;
-  if (l == 0) {
-    spaces = MAX(0, max_len - nc);
-    g_string_append(str, input_nn);
-  } else {
+  if (l > 0) {
     if (nc > l) {
       int bl = g_utf8_offset_to_pointer(input_nn, l) - input_nn;
       char *tmp = g_markup_escape_text(input_nn, bl);
@@ -875,6 +872,11 @@ static void helper_eval_add_str(GString *str, const char *input, int l,
       g_string_append(str, tmp);
       g_free(tmp);
     }
+  } else {
+    g_string_append(str, input_nn);
+    if (l == 0) {
+      spaces = MAX(0, max_len - nc);
+    }
   }
   while (spaces--) {
     g_string_append_c(str, ' ');
@@ -890,9 +892,6 @@ static gboolean helper_eval_cb(const GMatchInfo *info, GString *str,
     int l = 0;
     if (match[2] == ':') {
       l = (int)g_ascii_strtoll(&match[3], NULL, 10);
-      if (l < 0) {
-        l = 0;
-      }
     }
     if (match[1] == 'w') {
       helper_eval_add_str(str, d->c->wmdesktopstr, l, d->pd->wmdn_len,