diff --git a/frontend/src/proprietary/tools/pdfJsonEditor/PdfJsonEditor.tsx b/frontend/src/proprietary/tools/pdfJsonEditor/PdfJsonEditor.tsx
index 90c694992..323449c2b 100644
--- a/frontend/src/proprietary/tools/pdfJsonEditor/PdfJsonEditor.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/proprietary/tools/pdfJsonEditor/PdfJsonEditor.tsx
@@ -77,7 +77,7 @@ const PdfJsonEditor = ({ onComplete, onError }: BaseToolProps) => {
     stage: string;
     message: string;
   } | null>(null);
-  const [forceSingleTextElement, setForceSingleTextElement] = useState(false);
+  const [forceSingleTextElement, setForceSingleTextElement] = useState(true);
   const [groupingMode, setGroupingMode] = useState<'auto' | 'paragraph' | 'singleLine'>('auto');
   const [hasVectorPreview, setHasVectorPreview] = useState(false);
   const [pagePreviews, setPagePreviews] = useState<Map<number, string>>(new Map());
diff --git a/frontend/src/proprietary/tools/pdfJsonEditor/pdfJsonEditorUtils.ts b/frontend/src/proprietary/tools/pdfJsonEditor/pdfJsonEditorUtils.ts
index d5d2864fe..e9f77078f 100644
--- a/frontend/src/proprietary/tools/pdfJsonEditor/pdfJsonEditorUtils.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/proprietary/tools/pdfJsonEditor/pdfJsonEditorUtils.ts
@@ -1069,15 +1069,17 @@ export const restoreGlyphElements = (
 
     groups.forEach((group) => {
       if (group.text !== group.originalText) {
-        if (forceMergedGroups) {
-          rebuiltElements.push(createMergedElement(group));
-          return;
-        }
+        // Always try to rebuild paragraph lines if text has newlines
         const paragraphElements = rebuildParagraphLineElements(group);
         if (paragraphElements && paragraphElements.length > 0) {
           rebuiltElements.push(...paragraphElements);
           return;
         }
+        // If no newlines or rebuilding failed, check if we should force merge
+        if (forceMergedGroups) {
+          rebuiltElements.push(createMergedElement(group));
+          return;
+        }
         const originalGlyphCount = group.originalElements.reduce(
           (sum, element) => sum + countGraphemes(element.text ?? ''),
           0,