diff --git a/plugins/hls-explicit-imports-plugin/src/Ide/Plugin/ExplicitImports.hs b/plugins/hls-explicit-imports-plugin/src/Ide/Plugin/ExplicitImports.hs
index 6f42430748..a453a65a1e 100644
--- a/plugins/hls-explicit-imports-plugin/src/Ide/Plugin/ExplicitImports.hs
+++ b/plugins/hls-explicit-imports-plugin/src/Ide/Plugin/ExplicitImports.hs
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ module Ide.Plugin.ExplicitImports
   , descriptorForModules
   , extractMinimalImports
   , within
+  , abbreviateImportTitle
   , Log(..)
   ) where
 
@@ -28,6 +29,7 @@ import qualified Data.Map.Strict                      as Map
 import           Data.Maybe                           (catMaybes, fromMaybe,
                                                        isJust)
 import qualified Data.Text                            as T
+import           Data.String                          (fromString)
 import           Development.IDE                      hiding (pluginHandlers,
                                                        pluginRules)
 import           Development.IDE.Core.PositionMapping
@@ -252,7 +254,6 @@ extractMinimalImports (Just hsc) (Just TcModuleResult {..}) = do
       notExported []  _ = True
       notExported exports (L _ ImportDecl{ideclName = L _ name}) =
           not $ any (\e -> ("module " ++ moduleNameString name) == e) exports
-      notExported _ _ = False
 extractMinimalImports _ _ = return ([], Nothing)
 
 mkExplicitEdit :: (ModuleName -> Bool) -> PositionMapping -> LImportDecl GhcRn -> T.Text -> Maybe TextEdit
@@ -269,12 +270,19 @@ mkExplicitEdit pred posMapping (L (locA -> src) imp) explicit
   | otherwise =
     Nothing
 
+-- This number is somewhat arbitrarily chosen. Ideally the protocol would tell us these things,
+-- but at the moment I don't believe we know it.
+-- 80 columns is traditional, but Haskellers tend to use longer lines (citation needed) and it's
+-- probably not too bad if the lens is a *bit* longer than normal lines.
+maxColumns :: Int
+maxColumns = 120
+
 -- | Given an import declaration, generate a code lens unless it has an
 -- explicit import list or it's qualified
 generateLens :: PluginId -> Uri -> TextEdit -> IO (Maybe CodeLens)
 generateLens pId uri importEdit@TextEdit {_range, _newText} = do
-  -- The title of the command is just the minimal explicit import decl
-  let title = _newText
+  let
+      title = abbreviateImportTitle _newText
       -- the code lens has no extra data
       _xdata = Nothing
       -- an edit that replaces the whole declaration with the explicit one
@@ -287,6 +295,38 @@ generateLens pId uri importEdit@TextEdit {_range, _newText} = do
   -- create and return the code lens
   return $ Just CodeLens {..}
 
+-- | The title of the command is ideally the minimal explicit import decl, but
+-- we don't want to create a really massive code lens (and the decl can be extremely large!).
+-- So we abbreviate it to fit a max column size, and indicate how many more items are in the list
+-- after the abbreviation
+abbreviateImportTitle :: T.Text -> T.Text
+abbreviateImportTitle input =
+  let
+      -- For starters, we only want one line in the title
+      oneLineText = T.unwords $ T.lines input
+      -- Now, split at the max columns, leaving space for the summary text we're going to add
+      -- (conservatively assuming we won't need to print a number larger than 100)
+      (prefix, suffix) = T.splitAt (maxColumns - (T.length (summaryText 100))) oneLineText
+      -- We also want to truncate the last item so we get a "clean" break, rather than half way through
+      -- something. The conditional here is just because 'breakOnEnd' doesn't give us quite the right thing
+      -- if there are actually no commas.
+      (actualPrefix, extraSuffix) = if T.count "," prefix > 0 then T.breakOnEnd "," prefix else (prefix, "")
+      actualSuffix = extraSuffix <> suffix
+
+      -- The number of additional items is the number of commas+1
+      numAdditionalItems = T.count "," actualSuffix + 1
+      -- We want to make text like this: import Foo (AImport, BImport, ... (30 items))
+      -- We also want it to look sensible if we end up splitting in the module name itself,
+      summaryText n = " ... (" <> fromString (show n) <> " items)"
+      -- so we only add a trailing paren if we've split in the export list
+      suffixText = summaryText numAdditionalItems <> if T.count "(" prefix > 0 then ")" else ""
+      title =
+          -- If the original text fits, just use it
+          if T.length oneLineText <= maxColumns
+          then oneLineText
+          else actualPrefix <> suffixText
+  in title
+
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 -- | A helper to run ide actions
diff --git a/plugins/hls-explicit-imports-plugin/test/Main.hs b/plugins/hls-explicit-imports-plugin/test/Main.hs
index 1395fac5e8..498ee975fd 100644
--- a/plugins/hls-explicit-imports-plugin/test/Main.hs
+++ b/plugins/hls-explicit-imports-plugin/test/Main.hs
@@ -18,11 +18,13 @@ import           Test.Hls
 explicitImportsPlugin :: PluginDescriptor IdeState
 explicitImportsPlugin = ExplicitImports.descriptor mempty "explicitImports"
 
+longModule :: T.Text
+longModule = "F" <> T.replicate 80 "o"
 
 main :: IO ()
 main = defaultTestRunner $
   testGroup
-    "Refine Imports"
+    "Make imports explicit"
     [ codeActionGoldenTest "UsualCase" 3 0
     , codeLensGoldenTest "UsualCase" 0
     , testCase "No CodeAction when exported" $
@@ -35,6 +37,29 @@ main = defaultTestRunner $
         doc <- openDoc "Exported.hs" "haskell"
         lenses <- getCodeLenses doc
         liftIO $ lenses @?= []
+    , testGroup "Title abbreviation"
+      [ testCase "not abbreviated" $
+          let i = "import " <> T.replicate 70 "F" <> " (Athing, Bthing, Cthing)"
+          in ExplicitImports.abbreviateImportTitle i @?= i
+      , testCase "abbreviated in module name" $
+          let i = "import " <> T.replicate 120 "F" <> " (Athing, Bthing, Cthing)"
+              o = "import " <> T.replicate 97 "F" <> " ... (3 items)"
+          in ExplicitImports.abbreviateImportTitle i @?= o
+      , testCase "abbreviated in import list" $
+          let i = "import " <> T.replicate 78 "F" <> " (Athing, Bthing, Cthing, Dthing, Ething)"
+              o = "import " <> T.replicate 78 "F" <> " (Athing, Bthing, ... (3 items))"
+          in ExplicitImports.abbreviateImportTitle i @?= o
+      -- This one breaks earlier in the same import item, but still splits the list in the same place
+      , testCase "abbreviated in import list (slightly shorter module)" $
+          let i = "import " <> T.replicate 76 "F" <> " (Athing, Bthing, Cthing, Dthing, Ething)"
+              o = "import " <> T.replicate 76 "F" <> " (Athing, Bthing, ... (3 items))"
+          in ExplicitImports.abbreviateImportTitle i @?= o
+      -- This one breaks later in the same import item, but still splits the list in the same place
+      , testCase "abbreviated in import list (slightly longer module)" $
+          let i = "import " <> T.replicate 80 "F" <> " (Athing, Bthing, Cthing, Dthing, Ething)"
+              o = "import " <> T.replicate 80 "F" <> " (Athing, Bthing, ... (3 items))"
+          in ExplicitImports.abbreviateImportTitle i @?= o
+      ]
     ]
 
 -- code action tests