diff --git a/src/uix/soma/components/words/words-provider.svelte.ts b/src/uix/soma/components/words/words-provider.svelte.ts
index 983c097a7..1359ce6fb 100644
--- a/src/uix/soma/components/words/words-provider.svelte.ts
+++ b/src/uix/soma/components/words/words-provider.svelte.ts
@@ -530,25 +530,22 @@ export class WordsProvider {
 		if (this.shouldIgnoreTransientSelectionCollapse(next, root, options.source ?? 'direct')) {
 			return false;
 		}
-		// Clear the atomic-block highlight only when the text selection
-		// genuinely moved AND landed OUTSIDE the wrapper of the currently
-		// selected atomic. Synthetic selectionchange echoes that arrive
-		// right after `selectAtomicBlock` (which doesn't actually move
-		// the DOM caret) would otherwise wipe the highlight a tick
-		// later, defeating the click. Same intent for nested atomics
-		// inside a column: when the engine drops the caret into the
-		// column's trailing paragraph after `insertImage`, the new
-		// selection is still inside the SAME top-level wrapper as the
-		// selected image — don't clear in that case (the inspector needs
-		// to keep showing the image panel until the user moves to a
-		// different top-level block).
+		// Clear the atomic-block highlight whenever the text selection
+		// genuinely moves. We used to keep the highlight sticky when the
+		// new caret was in the SAME top-level wrapper as the selected
+		// atomic (so the image inspector would stay open while editing
+		// the trailing paragraph in the same column). That sounded clever
+		// but in practice users were left staring at the wrong inspector
+		// panel — they clicked somewhere new, the inspector didn't
+		// follow. Inspector-as-a-source-of-truth wins: every move that
+		// the engine accepts as a real selection change ALSO clears the
+		// atomic highlight. The user re-selects the atomic via a fresh
+		// click on the figure if they want its panel back.
+		// We still skip the clear when `sameWordsSelection` reports
+		// no-op so synthetic selectionchange echoes can't wipe the
+		// highlight a tick after `selectAtomicBlock` set it.
 		if (!sameWordsSelection(this.selection, next)) {
-			const selectedTopIdx =
-				this.selectedBlockPath?.[0] ?? this.selectedBlockIndex;
-			const nextTopIdx = next.anchor.path[0];
-			if (selectedTopIdx === undefined || nextTopIdx !== selectedTopIdx) {
-				this.clearSelectedBlock();
-			}
+			this.clearSelectedBlock();
 		}
 		this.updateSelection(next);
 		return true;