diff --git a/src/plugins/discover/public/application/angular/discover.js b/src/plugins/discover/public/application/angular/discover.js
index dcf86babaa5e16..8370e6659554d6 100644
--- a/src/plugins/discover/public/application/angular/discover.js
+++ b/src/plugins/discover/public/application/angular/discover.js
@@ -414,18 +414,9 @@ function discoverController($route, $scope, Promise) {
 
   setBreadcrumbsTitle(savedSearch, chrome);
 
-  function removeSourceFromColumns(columns) {
-    return columns.filter((col) => col !== '_source');
-  }
-
   function getDefaultColumns() {
-    const columns = [...savedSearch.columns];
-
-    if ($scope.useNewFieldsApi) {
-      return removeSourceFromColumns(columns);
-    }
-    if (columns.length > 0) {
-      return columns;
+    if (savedSearch.columns.length > 0) {
+      return [...savedSearch.columns];
     }
     return [...config.get(DEFAULT_COLUMNS_SETTING)];
   }
diff --git a/src/plugins/discover/public/application/components/discover.tsx b/src/plugins/discover/public/application/components/discover.tsx
index 5653ef4f574356..e87ff82156799a 100644
--- a/src/plugins/discover/public/application/components/discover.tsx
+++ b/src/plugins/discover/public/application/components/discover.tsx
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
  */
 
 import './discover.scss';
-import React, { useState, useRef } from 'react';
+import React, { useState, useRef, useMemo } from 'react';
 import {
   EuiButtonEmpty,
   EuiButtonIcon,
@@ -102,6 +102,13 @@ export function Discover({
   const contentCentered = resultState === 'uninitialized';
   const isLegacy = services.uiSettings.get('doc_table:legacy');
   const useNewFieldsApi = !services.uiSettings.get(SEARCH_FIELDS_FROM_SOURCE);
+
+  const columns = useMemo(() => {
+    if (!state.columns) {
+      return [];
+    }
+    return useNewFieldsApi ? state.columns.filter((col) => col !== '_source') : state.columns;
+  }, [state, useNewFieldsApi]);
   return (
     <I18nProvider>
       <EuiPage className="dscPage" data-fetch-counter={fetchCounter}>
@@ -127,7 +134,7 @@ export function Discover({
           <EuiFlexGroup className="dscPageBody__contents" gutterSize="none">
             <EuiFlexItem grow={false}>
               <SidebarMemoized
-                columns={state.columns || []}
+                columns={columns}
                 fieldCounts={fieldCounts}
                 hits={rows}
                 indexPatternList={indexPatternList}
@@ -277,7 +284,7 @@ export function Discover({
                         </h2>
                         {isLegacy && rows && rows.length && (
                           <DocTableLegacyMemoized
-                            columns={state.columns || []}
+                            columns={columns}
                             indexPattern={indexPattern}
                             minimumVisibleRows={minimumVisibleRows}
                             rows={rows}
diff --git a/test/functional/apps/discover/_shared_links.ts b/test/functional/apps/discover/_shared_links.ts
index 72596f75973644..4f0095ad88049c 100644
--- a/test/functional/apps/discover/_shared_links.ts
+++ b/test/functional/apps/discover/_shared_links.ts
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ export default function ({ getService, getPageObjects }: FtrProviderContext) {
             '/app/discover?_t=1453775307251#' +
             '/?_g=(filters:!(),refreshInterval:(pause:!t,value:0),time' +
             ":(from:'2015-09-19T06:31:44.000Z',to:'2015-09" +
-            "-23T18:31:44.000Z'))&_a=(columns:!(),filters:!(),index:'logstash-" +
+            "-23T18:31:44.000Z'))&_a=(columns:!(_source),filters:!(),index:'logstash-" +
             "*',interval:auto,query:(language:kuery,query:'')" +
             ",sort:!(!('@timestamp',desc)))";
           const actualUrl = await PageObjects.share.getSharedUrl();