diff --git a/crates/edit/src/tests.rs b/crates/edit/src/tests.rs
index 9bc2ee365..39627c08c 100644
--- a/crates/edit/src/tests.rs
+++ b/crates/edit/src/tests.rs
@@ -5235,3 +5235,21 @@ fn a_clipping_copy_on_the_same_baseline_is_refused() {
     assert!(matches!(&block, Err(EditError::Invalid(m)) if m.contains("clipping path")), "{block:?}");
     assert_eq!(text::text_lines(&doc, 0).unwrap().len(), 2, "refused means untouched");
 }
+
+/// Two genuinely stacked rows of ordinary body text must not join into one row just because the
+/// first is narrow enough to put the second's start within the #3252 tolerance band: here the
+/// second row starts 1.4pt to the left of where the first ends (so the two overlap a little,
+/// as compressed text or a tight column can) and 5pt below its baseline — inside the widened 50%
+/// tolerance but outside the original 20% one. They stay two rows (and two paragraphs).
+#[test]
+fn stacked_rows_that_merely_overlap_do_not_join_into_one_row() {
+    let doc = text_page("BT /F1 12 Tf 72 700 Td (A compressed line of body text here) Tj 190 -5 Td (Second stacked line of body text) Tj ET");
+    let lines = text::text_lines(&doc, 0).unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(lines.len(), 2);
+    let gap = lines[1].rect[0] - lines[0].rect[2];
+    assert!((-2.4..0.0).contains(&gap), "the rows overlap a little, within the old tolerance band: {gap}");
+    let baseline_shift = lines[0].rect[3] - lines[1].rect[3];
+    assert!((2.4..6.0).contains(&baseline_shift), "between the old and new vertical tolerance: {baseline_shift}");
+    let blocks = text::text_blocks(&doc, 0).unwrap();
+    assert_eq!(blocks.len(), 2, "two separate rows stay two paragraphs, not one: {blocks:?}");
+}
diff --git a/crates/edit/src/text_regions.rs b/crates/edit/src/text_regions.rs
index cb0af64d3..0baccc408 100644
--- a/crates/edit/src/text_regions.rs
+++ b/crates/edit/src/text_regions.rs
@@ -74,8 +74,12 @@ fn group_layout(lines: &[TextLine], mixed: bool) -> Vec<TextBlock> {
                 // A superscript or subscript run (a footnote marker, say) sits on the same visual
                 // row as the text around it, raised or lowered by `Ts` from the body baseline
                 // (#3252). That shift is typically up to half the body size, not the marker's own
-                // smaller size, so the tolerance is scaled by the larger of the two.
-                && (prev.frame_origin().1 - line.frame_origin().1).abs() < prev.size.max(line.size) * 0.5
+                // smaller size — but only between runs with no horizontal overlap (`gap >= 0.0`):
+                // two stacked rows of ordinary body text can land within that wider tolerance too
+                // when horizontal compression (`Tz`) narrows the first row enough to overlap the
+                // second's start, and the tighter 20% tolerance is what keeps those apart.
+                && ((prev.frame_origin().1 - line.frame_origin().1).abs() < prev.size.min(line.size) * 0.2
+                    || (gap >= 0.0 && (prev.frame_origin().1 - line.frame_origin().1).abs() < prev.size.max(line.size) * 0.5))
                 && gap >= -prev.size.min(line.size) * 0.2
                 && gap < prev.size.max(line.size) * 1.5
                 // Separate same-style text objects that merely touch or overlap, with no space