diff --git a/src/servers/sidecar/email/sync-meta.test.ts b/src/servers/sidecar/email/sync-meta.test.ts
index 89b1201b..30a30ee1 100644
--- a/src/servers/sidecar/email/sync-meta.test.ts
+++ b/src/servers/sidecar/email/sync-meta.test.ts
@@ -22,6 +22,26 @@ describe('readSyncMeta', () => {
     expect(readSyncMeta(db)).toEqual({ last_sync_at: '2026-01-01T00:00:00Z', 'imap_lastuid:INBOX': '4200' });
   });
 
+  it('migrates keys the file is MISSING, even when it already has others', () => {
+    // The case that broke a live 6.9 GB mailbox. The older Gmail backfill wrote last_sync_at and the
+    // uidvalidity set into SQLite and never the imap_lastuid ones, so the file was non-empty and
+    // half-migrated at once. All-or-nothing skipped it, leaving no lastuid for any folder — and a
+    // missing lastuid refetches that folder from UID 1.
+    const db = freshDb();
+    writeSyncMeta(db, { last_sync_at: '2026-07-23T00:00:00Z', 'imap_uidvalidity:INBOX': '2' });
+
+    const meta = readSyncMeta(db, {
+      last_sync_at: '2026-08-10T00:00:00Z', // newer, but the file's own answer stands
+      'imap_uidvalidity:INBOX': '2',
+      'imap_lastuid:INBOX': '4200', // absent from the file — this is what must arrive
+    });
+
+    expect(meta['imap_lastuid:INBOX']).toBe('4200');
+    expect(meta.last_sync_at).toBe('2026-07-23T00:00:00Z');
+    // Persisted, so the fallback is not needed next time.
+    expect(readSyncMeta(db)['imap_lastuid:INBOX']).toBe('4200');
+  });
+
   it('migrates from Postgres exactly once, when the file has nothing', () => {
     // The account existed before the move. Without this it looks like a first sync and re-downloads
     // the entire mailbox.
@@ -40,10 +60,11 @@ describe('readSyncMeta', () => {
     const db = freshDb();
     writeSyncMeta(db, { 'imap_lastuid:INBOX': '100' });
 
-    const meta = readSyncMeta(db, { 'imap_lastuid:INBOX': '9999', last_sync_at: '2026-06-01T00:00:00Z' });
+    const meta = readSyncMeta(db, { 'imap_lastuid:INBOX': '9999' });
 
+    // The key the file has is never overwritten — that is what stops a restored older mailbox being
+    // advanced past mail it does not contain.
     expect(meta['imap_lastuid:INBOX']).toBe('100');
-    expect(meta.last_sync_at).toBeUndefined();
   });
 
   it('ignores non-string values rather than stringifying them', () => {
diff --git a/src/servers/sidecar/email/sync-meta.ts b/src/servers/sidecar/email/sync-meta.ts
index eb74e6bb..e0596092 100644
--- a/src/servers/sidecar/email/sync-meta.ts
+++ b/src/servers/sidecar/email/sync-meta.ts
@@ -45,13 +45,24 @@ export function readSyncMeta(db: Database, pgFallback?: Record<string, unknown>
   const meta: Record<string, string> = {};
   for (const row of rows) meta[row.key] = row.value;
 
-  // Only when SQLite has nothing at all. A partially-written position is still this file's own, and
-  // topping it up from Postgres could reintroduce exactly the divergence this move exists to prevent.
-  if (Object.keys(meta).length > 0) return meta;
-
+  // Merged PER KEY, and the file always wins a conflict.
+  //
+  // This started life as all-or-nothing — migrate only when SQLite is completely empty — on the
+  // assumption that a non-empty file is an authoritative one. A real account disproved it immediately.
+  // The older Gmail backfill wrote SOME keys into SQLite (`last_sync_at`, the `uidvalidity` set) and
+  // never the `imap_lastuid:*` ones, so the file was non-empty and half-migrated at the same time.
+  // All-or-nothing therefore skipped the migration, leaving no lastuid for any folder — and a missing
+  // lastuid means the next sync refetches that folder from UID 1. On the mailbox this was found on,
+  // that was 18,755 messages and 6.9 GB.
+  //
+  // Per-key with file-wins keeps the property that made all-or-nothing attractive: a restored older
+  // emails.db still overrides a newer Postgres row for every key it actually has, so it cannot be
+  // advanced past mail it does not contain. What it adds is the keys the file never had, which are
+  // exactly the ones whose absence is expensive.
   if (pgFallback) {
     for (const [key, value] of Object.entries(pgFallback)) {
       if (typeof value !== 'string') continue;
+      if (key in meta) continue; // the file's own answer stands
       meta[key] = value;
       setSyncMeta(db, key, value);
     }