diff --git a/crates/tui/src/app.rs b/crates/tui/src/app.rs
index a7dbd45..b6ea931 100644
--- a/crates/tui/src/app.rs
+++ b/crates/tui/src/app.rs
@@ -634,8 +634,16 @@ impl App {
     pub fn total_lines(&self) -> usize {
         match &self.loading_state {
             AppLoadingState::Ready { reader } => reader.line_count(),
-            AppLoadingState::Loading { reader, .. } => {
-                reader.sampled_line_count()
+            AppLoadingState::Loading {
+                reader,
+                estimated_lines,
+                ..
+            } => {
+                // Use estimated total lines (not sampled_line_count) so the user can
+                // scroll freely during indexing.  get_line() incrementally scans
+                // forward on demand, so lines beyond the initial 64KB are still
+                // accessible.  The .max() guards against under-estimates.
+                (*estimated_lines as usize).max(reader.sampled_line_count())
             }
             _ => 0,
         }