diff --git a/web/src/lib/components/layout/LeftSidebar.svelte b/web/src/lib/components/layout/LeftSidebar.svelte
index 6596bec..4d1c1f8 100644
--- a/web/src/lib/components/layout/LeftSidebar.svelte
+++ b/web/src/lib/components/layout/LeftSidebar.svelte
@@ -158,15 +158,15 @@
 	}));
 	const folderCounts = $derived(folderCountsQuery.data ?? {});
 
-	// Root count = total photos minus the sum of every subfolder count.
-	// `config.count.all` is PhotoPrism's authoritative library total
-	// (kept in sync server-side); subtracting non-root photos gives an
-	// exact root-only count without a separate API trip.
-	const rootCount = $derived.by(() => {
-		const total = configQuery.data?.count?.all ?? 0;
-		const sub = Object.values(folderCounts).reduce((a, b) => a + b, 0);
-		return Math.max(0, total - sub);
-	});
+	// Root entry shows the whole library — see applyFolderScope() on /
+	// timeline. PhotoPrism's `count.all` from /api/v1/config is the
+	// authoritative library total (kept in sync server-side), so use it
+	// directly. Earlier this subtracted Σ(folderCounts) from total, which
+	// worked when folderCounts were direct-child only; now that the
+	// sidecar fan-out recurses (see handlers_folders.go), every photo
+	// gets summed once per ancestor — the subtraction would double-count
+	// and drive rootCount to 0.
+	const rootCount = $derived(configQuery.data?.count?.all ?? 0);
 
 	const createMut = createMutation(() => ({
 		mutationFn: (title: string) => createHeap(title),