[Evolution] Settings not being retained

[Bart Hollis <bart conures us>]

Evolution 3.6.3 on openSuse 12.3

Hope I'm using the correct terminology here:
When I start Evolution, there are 5 sections in the window,
The Menu bar(s) across the top
Upper left is a folder list.
Lower left are buttons for Mail, Contacts, etc.
Upper right is list of messages for the current folder.
Lower right is a preview of the current message.

In this version of Evolution, the size of the message preview section is not remembered and is shrunken down to the bottom of the main window.

This is obviously a new undocumented feature, as it didn't act this way in previous versions.  I am hesitant to upgrade the version number as it is not available in the openSuse repositories and I don't want to create any problems.

This is not the end of the world, but I'm wondering if it is possible to manually modify the file where current settings are stored, and put in the sizes I wish?  Would it stick then?

Bart