diff --git a/browser/app/profile/firefox.js b/browser/app/profile/firefox.js
index 9d946995aff2..8a9974758938 100644
--- a/browser/app/profile/firefox.js
+++ b/browser/app/profile/firefox.js
@@ -330,9 +330,6 @@ pref("browser.download.manager.resumeOnWakeDelay", 10000);
 // This allows disabling the Downloads Panel in favor of the old interface.
 pref("browser.download.useToolkitUI", false);
 
-// This controls retention behavior in the Downloads Panel only.
-pref("browser.download.panel.removeFinishedDownloads", false);
-
 // This records whether or not the panel has been shown at least once.
 pref("browser.download.panel.shown", false);
 
diff --git a/browser/components/downloads/src/DownloadsStartup.js b/browser/components/downloads/src/DownloadsStartup.js
index 9122e44b82c4..c3491e3f140d 100644
--- a/browser/components/downloads/src/DownloadsStartup.js
+++ b/browser/components/downloads/src/DownloadsStartup.js
@@ -123,16 +123,10 @@ DownloadsStartup.prototype = {
         break;
 
       case "download-manager-change-retention":
-        // When the panel interface is enabled, we use a different preference to
-        // determine whether downloads should be removed from view as soon as
-        // they are finished.  We do this to allow proper migration to the new
-        // feature when using the same profile on multiple versions of the
-        // product (bug 697678).
+        // If we're using the Downloads Panel, we override the retention
+        // preference to always retain downloads on completion.
         if (!DownloadsCommon.useToolkitUI) {
-          let removeFinishedDownloads = Services.prefs.getBoolPref(
-                            "browser.download.panel.removeFinishedDownloads");
-          aSubject.QueryInterface(Ci.nsISupportsPRInt32)
-                  .data = removeFinishedDownloads ? 0 : 2;
+          aSubject.QueryInterface(Ci.nsISupportsPRInt32).data = 2;
         }
         break;