diff --git a/frontend/src/PostBody.test.tsx b/frontend/src/PostBody.test.tsx
index 1a9b00c4a..6a0a029a1 100644
--- a/frontend/src/PostBody.test.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/PostBody.test.tsx
@@ -295,6 +295,71 @@ describe("PostBody", () => {
     expect(screen.getByText("Panel")).toBeInTheDocument();
   });
 
+  it("keeps separator-free OCR rows in the existing image table path", () => {
+    render(
+      <PostBody
+        body={'<img src="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAEAAAABCAQAAAC1HAwCAAAAC0lEQVR42mNk+A8AAQUBAScY42YAAAAASUVORK5CYII=" />'}
+        imageContent={[
+          {
+            unit_index: 0,
+            mime_type: "image/png",
+            status_code: "described",
+            extracted_text: "No. | Item\n1 | Panel",
+            caption: "A table image",
+            tags: [],
+          },
+        ]}
+      />,
+    );
+
+    expect(screen.getByRole("table")).toHaveClass("post-image-text-table");
+    expect(screen.getAllByRole("row")).toHaveLength(2);
+  });
+
+  it("renders a Markdown table in the source body and keeps empty cells", () => {
+    render(
+      <PostBody
+        body={"Before\n\n| Field | Value | Note |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Owner | Buyer | |\n\nAfter"}
+      />,
+    );
+
+    expect(screen.getByRole("table")).toHaveClass("post-markdown-table");
+    expect(screen.getAllByRole("row")).toHaveLength(2);
+    expect(screen.getByText("Owner")).toBeInTheDocument();
+    expect(screen.getByText("Before")).toBeInTheDocument();
+    expect(screen.getByText("After")).toBeInTheDocument();
+  });
+
+  it("does not turn pipe-delimited prose into a table", () => {
+    render(<PostBody body={"Alice | manager\nBob | engineer"} />);
+
+    expect(screen.queryByRole("table")).not.toBeInTheDocument();
+    expect(screen.getByText((text) => text.includes("Alice | manager"))).toBeInTheDocument();
+  });
+
+  it("renders Markdown tables when persisted text units are present", () => {
+    const table = "| Field | Value |\n| --- | --- |\n| Owner | Buyer |";
+    render(
+      <PostBody
+        body={table}
+        structureUnits={[
+          {
+            unit_index: 0,
+            unit_kind_code: "dom",
+            unit_text: table,
+            indent_level: 0,
+            indent_source_code: "unresolved",
+            indent_confidence: 0,
+            indent_evidence: "",
+          },
+        ]}
+      />,
+    );
+
+    expect(screen.getByRole("table")).toHaveClass("post-markdown-table");
+    expect(screen.getByText("Owner")).toBeInTheDocument();
+  });
+
   it("keeps source-image placement while showing persisted OCR and caption evidence", () => {
     render(
       <PostBody
diff --git a/frontend/src/PostBody.tsx b/frontend/src/PostBody.tsx
index 6769d0192..30113026e 100644
--- a/frontend/src/PostBody.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/PostBody.tsx
@@ -3,32 +3,46 @@ import { t } from "./i18n";
 import type { PostContentUnit, PostImageContent } from "./api";
 import type { ReactNode } from "react";
 
-function parsePipeDelimitedTable(text: string): string[][] | null {
-  const rows = text
+function parsePipeDelimitedTable(text: string, requireSeparator = true): string[][] | null {
+  const rawRows = text
     .split(/\r?\n/)
     .map((row) => {
       const cells = row.split("|").map((cell) => cell.trim());
       if (cells[0] === "") cells.shift();
       if (cells[cells.length - 1] === "") cells.pop();
       return cells;
-    })
-    .filter((row) => !row.every((cell) => /^:?-{3,}:?$/.test(cell)))
+    });
+  const separatorIndex = rawRows.findIndex(
+    (row) => row.length > 1 && row.every((cell) => /^:?-{3,}:?$/.test(cell)),
+  );
+  if (requireSeparator && separatorIndex !== 1) return null;
+  const rows = rawRows
+    .filter((_row, rowIndex) => rowIndex !== separatorIndex)
     .filter((row) => row.length > 1 && row.some(Boolean));
   if (rows.length < 2 || rows.some((row) => row.length !== rows[0].length)) return null;
   if (rows[0].length < 2) return null;
   return rows;
 }
 
-function renderImageText(text: string) {
-  const rows = parsePipeDelimitedTable(text);
-  if (!rows) return <p>{text}</p>;
+function renderPipeTable(
+  text: string,
+  className: string,
+  keyPrefix: string,
+  requireSeparator = true,
+): ReactNode | null {
+  const rows = parsePipeDelimitedTable(text, requireSeparator);
+  if (!rows) return null;
   return (
-    <table className="post-body-table post-image-text-table">
+    <table
+      key={`${keyPrefix}-table`}
+      className={className}
+      data-content-kind="table"
+    >
       <tbody>
         {rows.map((row, rowIndex) => (
-          <tr key={`post-image-text-row-${rowIndex}`}>
+          <tr key={`${keyPrefix}-row-${rowIndex}`}>
             {row.map((cell, cellIndex) => (
-              <td key={`post-image-text-cell-${rowIndex}-${cellIndex}`}>{cell}</td>
+              <td key={`${keyPrefix}-cell-${rowIndex}-${cellIndex}`}>{cell}</td>
             ))}
           </tr>
         ))}
@@ -37,6 +51,14 @@ function renderImageText(text: string) {
   );
 }
 
+function renderImageText(text: string) {
+  return (
+    renderPipeTable(text, "post-body-table post-image-text-table", "post-image-text", false) ?? (
+      <p>{text}</p>
+    )
+  );
+}
+
 const SAFE_EMBEDDED_IMAGE_SOURCE =
   /^data:image\/(?:png|jpe?g|gif|webp|avif|bmp|x-icon|vnd\.microsoft\.icon);base64,[A-Za-z0-9+/]+={0,2}$/i;
 
@@ -114,6 +136,13 @@ function renderSegment(segment: PostBodySegment, index: number, imageContent?: P
   }
 }
 
+function renderTextSegment(segment: Extract<PostBodySegment, { kind: "text" }>, index: number) {
+  return (
+    renderPipeTable(segment.text, "post-body-table post-markdown-table", `post-markdown-${index}`) ??
+    renderSegment(segment, index)
+  );
+}
+
 function isStructuredTableRow(unit: PostContentUnit): boolean {
   return (
     unit.unit_label === "tr" ||
@@ -236,7 +265,7 @@ function renderStructuredUnits(
         ? unit.indent_level
         : undefined;
     rendered.push(
-      renderSegment(
+      renderTextSegment(
         {
           kind: "text",
           text: unit.unit_text,
@@ -274,7 +303,7 @@ export function PostBody({
       {splitPostBody(body).map((segment, index) => {
         const content = segment.kind === "image" ? imageContent[imageOrdinal++] : undefined;
         if (segment.kind !== "text") return renderSegment(segment, index, content);
-        return renderSegment(segment, index, content);
+        return renderTextSegment(segment, index);
       })}
     </div>
   );
diff --git a/frontend/src/postBodyDisplay.test.ts b/frontend/src/postBodyDisplay.test.ts
index bde6bd936..743739697 100644
--- a/frontend/src/postBodyDisplay.test.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/postBodyDisplay.test.ts
@@ -124,6 +124,18 @@ describe("splitPostBody", () => {
     ]);
   });
 
+  it("keeps a stray pipe line inside its surrounding paragraph", () => {
+    expect(splitPostBody("<p>Before<br>ratio A | B<br>After</p>")).toEqual([
+      { kind: "text", text: "Before ratio A | B After" },
+    ]);
+  });
+
+  it("space-joins consecutive pipe prose when no Markdown separator exists", () => {
+    expect(splitPostBody("Alice | manager\nBob | engineer")).toEqual([
+      { kind: "text", text: "Alice | manager Bob | engineer" },
+    ]);
+  });
+
   it("leaves a plain-text post unchanged so existing popups keep their wording", () => {
     expect(splitPostBody("The full body text.")).toEqual([
       { kind: "text", text: "The full body text." },
diff --git a/frontend/src/postBodyDisplay.ts b/frontend/src/postBodyDisplay.ts
index 51c040f17..1f69962e9 100644
--- a/frontend/src/postBodyDisplay.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/postBodyDisplay.ts
@@ -172,13 +172,36 @@ function stripHtmlTags(text: string): string {
 function splitSemanticParagraphs(text: string): string[] {
   const paragraphs: string[] = [];
   let lines: string[] = [];
+  let pipeTableRows: string[] = [];
   const flush = () => {
     const paragraph = lines.join(" ").trimEnd();
     if (paragraph.trim()) paragraphs.push(paragraph);
     lines = [];
   };
+  const flushPipeTableRows = () => {
+    const hasSeparator = pipeTableRows.some((row) => {
+      const cells = row.trim().replace(/^\|/, "").replace(/\|$/, "").split("|");
+      return cells.length >= 2 && cells.every((cell) => /^\s*:?-{3,}:?\s*$/.test(cell));
+    });
+    if (pipeTableRows.length >= 2 && hasSeparator) {
+      flush();
+      paragraphs.push(pipeTableRows.map((row) => row.trim()).join("\n"));
+    } else {
+      lines.push(...pipeTableRows);
+    }
+    pipeTableRows = [];
+  };
 
   for (const line of text.split("\n")) {
+    const trimmed = line.trim();
+    if (trimmed.includes("|")) {
+      const cells = trimmed.replace(/^\|/, "").replace(/\|$/, "").split("|");
+      if (cells.length >= 2 && cells.some((cell) => cell.trim())) {
+        pipeTableRows.push(line);
+        continue;
+      }
+    }
+    if (pipeTableRows.length > 0) flushPipeTableRows();
     if (!line.trim()) {
       flush();
       continue;
@@ -186,6 +209,7 @@ function splitSemanticParagraphs(text: string): string[] {
     if (lines.length > 0 && LIST_ITEM_START.test(line)) flush();
     lines.push(lines.length === 0 ? line.replace(/[ \t]+$/g, "") : line.trim());
   }
+  if (pipeTableRows.length > 0) flushPipeTableRows();
   flush();
   return paragraphs;
 }