diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/components/editor/QueryEditor.vue b/apps/desktop/src/components/editor/QueryEditor.vue
index 666e5ae392..8163a8bf34 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/components/editor/QueryEditor.vue
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/components/editor/QueryEditor.vue
@@ -6202,7 +6202,16 @@ onMounted(async () => {
           if (pendingWindows.length > 0) {
             const requestedTo = Math.max(...pendingWindows.map((window) => window.to));
             const tree = ensureSyntaxTree(currentView.state, requestedTo, requestedTo === sql.length ? 250 : 25);
-            if (!tree) return this.decorations;
+            if (!tree) {
+              // The Lezer parse has not reached the pending windows yet (long
+              // documents). Keep the decorations that are still valid and let
+              // the deferred refresh rebuild them once parsing catches up —
+              // returning an empty set here wiped table-name colors after
+              // scrolling stopped or when a freshly mounted editor (tab
+              // switch) had no later viewport change to trigger a rebuild.
+              this.scheduleRefresh(currentView);
+              return this.decorations;
+            }
             if (shouldPrewarmFullDocument) this.prewarmedDoc = doc;
             for (const window of pendingWindows) {
               const entry = {
diff --git a/apps/desktop/src/lib/__tests__/editor/queryEditorSemanticHighlightPerformance.spec.ts b/apps/desktop/src/lib/__tests__/editor/queryEditorSemanticHighlightPerformance.spec.ts
index 17568c329b..523fc1417c 100644
--- a/apps/desktop/src/lib/__tests__/editor/queryEditorSemanticHighlightPerformance.spec.ts
+++ b/apps/desktop/src/lib/__tests__/editor/queryEditorSemanticHighlightPerformance.spec.ts
@@ -36,6 +36,14 @@ describe("QueryEditor semantic highlighting while scrolling", () => {
     expect(queryEditorSource).toContain("if (shouldPrewarmFullDocument) this.prewarmedDoc = doc;");
   });
 
+  it("keeps existing highlights while the parser catches up instead of wiping them", () => {
+    // An incomplete Lezer parse must not clear table-name decorations: the
+    // deferred refresh retries, so a freshly mounted editor (tab switch) also
+    // recovers even without a later viewport change.
+    expect(queryEditorSource).toContain("this.scheduleRefresh(currentView);");
+    expect(queryEditorSource).toContain("return this.decorations;");
+  });
+
   it("keeps preview and diagnostics on the shared statement-range cache", () => {
     expect(queryEditorSource).toContain("executableStatementRangeCache = executableStatementRangeCacheForDoc");
     expect(queryEditorSource).toContain('props.databaseType === "sqlserver" ? undefined : executableStatementRangeCache?.ranges');