diff --git a/src/lib/edit/experience-dates.test.ts b/src/lib/edit/experience-dates.test.ts
index b5ea68a5..500affcc 100644
--- a/src/lib/edit/experience-dates.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/edit/experience-dates.test.ts
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import { describe, it, expect } from "vitest";
 import {
   applyNormalizedDateOverrides,
   applyNormalizedExperienceDates,
+  formatExperienceDateRange,
   normalizeExperienceDates,
   relocatedEndAnchor,
 } from "./experience-dates.ts";
@@ -211,3 +212,90 @@ describe("relocatedEndAnchor", () => {
     expect(relocatedEndAnchor({ is_current: true })).toBeUndefined();
   });
 });
+
+/**
+ * The formatter, which is exported, consumed on BOTH the edit path
+ * (`ReconstructedRole`) and the EXPORT path (`ats-resume-model.ts`'s
+ * `experienceDateRange`), and until #817 had no direct test at all.
+ *
+ * The `.trim()` calls are the part worth pinning. They are a deliberate
+ * behaviour change on the export path — the old `experienceDateRange` body
+ * tested truthiness without trimming, so an entry holding `start_date: "  "`
+ * drew two spaces into the header slot and now draws nothing. That population is
+ * exactly the one this module is total over: raw entries that never passed
+ * through `applyOverrides`. Mutation-checked during the #682 review, removing
+ * both trims left `src/lib/edit/**` and two repro suites entirely green.
+ */
+describe("formatExperienceDateRange", () => {
+  it("joins both anchors with a spaced en-dash", () => {
+    expect(formatExperienceDateRange({ start_date: "2019", end_date: "2022" })).toBe(
+      "2019 \u2013 2022",
+    );
+  });
+
+  it("trims each anchor before joining", () => {
+    // Red without the `.trim()` calls: yields " 2019  \u2013  2022 ".
+    expect(
+      formatExperienceDateRange({ start_date: " 2019 ", end_date: " 2022 " }),
+    ).toBe("2019 \u2013 2022");
+  });
+
+  it("treats a whitespace-only anchor as absent, not as a value", () => {
+    // The reachable export-path case, and the one the trim exists for. Red
+    // without the trims: yields "   \u2013 2022" and "2019 \u2013   ".
+    expect(formatExperienceDateRange({ start_date: "  ", end_date: "2022" })).toBe(
+      "2022",
+    );
+    expect(formatExperienceDateRange({ start_date: "2019", end_date: "  " })).toBe(
+      "2019",
+    );
+    expect(formatExperienceDateRange({ start_date: " ", end_date: "\t" })).toBe("");
+  });
+
+  it("trims a whitespace start into the UNANCHORED is_current shape", () => {
+    // The one row where the two display-only formatters genuinely disagree with
+    // this one, and the intersection the rest of this block leaves uncovered:
+    // the trim and the `is_current` substitution are each pinned above, never
+    // together. `buildProjectDates` and `buildDateRange` read "  " as a real
+    // anchor and draw "  –Present"; this module trims it away and draws the
+    // unanchored "Present". Reachable from a raw export-path entry — exactly the
+    // population this module is total over (#817 review).
+    expect(
+      formatExperienceDateRange({ start_date: "  ", is_current: true }),
+    ).toBe("Present");
+  });
+
+  it("substitutes \"Present\" for the end anchor when is_current", () => {
+    expect(
+      formatExperienceDateRange({ start_date: "2019", is_current: true }),
+    ).toBe("2019 \u2013 Present");
+  });
+
+  it("lets is_current win over a populated end_date", () => {
+    // `is_current` is read BEFORE `end_date`, so a stale end anchor cannot
+    // out-rank it — the shape `applyOverrides` produces for an ongoing role.
+    expect(
+      formatExperienceDateRange({
+        start_date: "2019",
+        end_date: "2022",
+        is_current: true,
+      }),
+    ).toBe("2019 \u2013 Present");
+  });
+
+  it("draws a lone \"Present\" when is_current has no start anchor", () => {
+    // Unanchored `is_current` — one of the two raw shapes the docblock says
+    // reach here from the export path but never from the edit card.
+    expect(formatExperienceDateRange({ is_current: true })).toBe("Present");
+  });
+
+  it("falls through to whichever single anchor exists", () => {
+    expect(formatExperienceDateRange({ start_date: "2019" })).toBe("2019");
+    expect(formatExperienceDateRange({ end_date: "2022" })).toBe("2022");
+  });
+
+  it("returns the empty string when the entry carries no date at all", () => {
+    expect(formatExperienceDateRange({})).toBe("");
+    expect(formatExperienceDateRange({ is_current: false })).toBe("");
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/lib/edit/experience-dates.ts b/src/lib/edit/experience-dates.ts
index f7b1455e..d68040d1 100644
--- a/src/lib/edit/experience-dates.ts
+++ b/src/lib/edit/experience-dates.ts
@@ -75,16 +75,31 @@
  *
  * WHAT THIS MODULE DOES NOT OWN. "The one rule" above is the rule for the EDIT
  * and EXPORT paths — the two that can corrupt a stored value. Two display-only
- * formatters still hand-roll their own collapse and disagree with this one on the
- * unanchored-`is_current` row: `buildDateRange` (`score/group-bullets.ts:328`,
- * which feeds `formatExperienceHeader`) and `buildProjectDates`
- * (`score/entry-dates.ts:16`) both draw a bare "Present" where
- * {@link formatExperienceDateRange} draws "". They also use a tight "–" against
- * this module's spaced " – ". Nothing is broken by that today: the shape is
- * unreachable from the parser and, since #672, from the edit lane too, and
- * neither formatter's output is ever re-parsed. Folding them in needs a separator
- * parameter and a decision on that row, which is a change to display strings, not
- * to #672's corruption — deliberately out of scope here. (`buildEducationDates`
+ * formatters still hand-roll their own collapse and disagree with this one:
+ * `buildDateRange` (`score/group-bullets.ts:366`, which feeds
+ * `formatExperienceHeader`) and `buildProjectDates` (`score/entry-dates.ts:20`).
+ * The disagreement is a TRIM, not a collapse, and it shows up on exactly one
+ * row — a whitespace-only start beside `is_current`, where this module trims the
+ * start away and draws the unanchored "Present" while both siblings read "  " as
+ * a real anchor and draw "  –Present":
+ *
+ *     {is_current: true}                    → all three draw "Present"
+ *     {start_date: "  ", is_current: true}  → "Present" here, "  –Present" there
+ *
+ * They also use a tight "–" against this module's spaced " – ". An earlier
+ * revision of this paragraph claimed the siblings draw "Present" where this
+ * function draws "" — that is wrong for THIS function on any `is_current` row
+ * (`end` is "Present" before either fallthrough is reached, so "" is
+ * unreachable) and was only ever true of the composite
+ * `normalizeExperienceDates` → format that `ReconstructedRole` runs. Corrected
+ * in #817, which is also where that row first got a test.
+ *
+ * Nothing is broken by the divergence today: neither formatter's output is ever
+ * re-parsed, and the whitespace row that provokes it is reachable only from a
+ * raw export-path entry — never from the parser, nor, since #672, from the edit
+ * lane. Folding them in needs a separator parameter and a decision on that row,
+ * which is a change to display strings, not to #672's corruption — deliberately
+ * out of scope here. (`buildEducationDates`
  * in the same file is NOT a candidate: it reads `end_date` first on purpose,
  * because a lone education date is a graduation date, #97.)
  *
diff --git a/src/lib/heuristics/corpus-edit-roundtrip.test.ts b/src/lib/heuristics/corpus-edit-roundtrip.test.ts
index f6798d31..9ad10b27 100644
--- a/src/lib/heuristics/corpus-edit-roundtrip.test.ts
+++ b/src/lib/heuristics/corpus-edit-roundtrip.test.ts
@@ -365,26 +365,68 @@ function presenceCheck(
 }
 
 /** The ONE re-parsed role the experience edit landed on: the entry carrying our
- *  synthetic marker. `NEW_TITLE`/`NEW_COMPANY` are literals that appear nowhere
- *  in any fixture, so at most one entry matches. Returns the whole-experience
- *  JSON when no entry carries the marker — the presence half is already failing
- *  in that case and must not be masked by a silently-skipped absence half. */
-function editedRoleText(experience: readonly unknown[], fallback: string): string {
-  const hit = experience.find(
+ *  synthetic marker, or `undefined` when none does. `NEW_TITLE`/`NEW_COMPANY`
+ *  are literals that appear nowhere in any fixture, so at most one entry
+ *  matches. Sole owner of the marker lookup — both slicers below derive from it
+ *  so their fallbacks cannot drift apart independently (#817 review). */
+function markedRole(experience: readonly unknown[]): unknown | undefined {
+  return experience.find(
     (e) => j(e).includes(NEW_TITLE) || j(e).includes(NEW_COMPANY),
   );
+}
+
+/** The marked role as searchable text. Falls back to the whole-experience JSON
+ *  when no entry carries the marker — the presence half is already failing in
+ *  that case and must not be masked by a silently-skipped absence half. */
+function editedRoleText(experience: readonly unknown[], fallback: string): string {
+  const hit = markedRole(experience);
   return hit === undefined ? fallback : j(hit);
 }
 
-/** One string field off a re-parsed experience entry, or `undefined` when the
- *  key is absent or non-string. */
 type EditedRoleField = "title" | "company" | "start_date" | "end_date";
 
+/** One string field off a re-parsed experience entry, or `undefined` when the
+ *  key is absent or non-string. */
 function stringField(entry: unknown, key: EditedRoleField): string | undefined {
   const v = (entry as Record<string, unknown> | null)?.[key];
   return typeof v === "string" ? v : undefined;
 }
 
+const DATE_KEYS: ReadonlySet<EditedRoleField> = new Set(["start_date", "end_date"]);
+
+/** The DATE SLOTS of the ONE re-parsed role the experience edit landed on, as
+ *  searchable text — `{"start_date":…,"end_date":…}` and nothing else.
+ *
+ *  Why the absence half needs its own, narrower slice for a date key: `replaced`
+ *  there is the fixture's OWN prior `start_date`, which is frequently a bare
+ *  `"2019"`. The wide slice is `j(hit)` — the whole edited role, `description`
+ *  included — so a fixture whose role-0 prose merely mentions that year ("shipped
+ *  the platform in 2019", "since 2019") fails the gate for a reason that has
+ *  nothing to do with the slot under test. The title/company keys are safe on the
+ *  wide slice by luck, not by design: `NEW_TITLE`/`NEW_COMPANY` and the originals
+ *  they replace are long, distinctive strings. A four-digit year is not.
+ *
+ *  The narrowing forfeits nothing even in principle (#817 review): a replaced
+ *  `start_date` can only reach `title`/`company` if `applyExperienceHeaderOverrides`
+ *  writes a date into a header field, which is a different defect class with its
+ *  own gate, and the one way the collapse CAN misplace the value — leaving it in
+ *  `end_date` — is inside this slice, and checked again from the other side by
+ *  the `end_date survived the lone-end-date collapse` assertion below.
+ *
+ *  The no-marker fallback is every role's date slots. That is DELIBERATELY not
+ *  the same "wide" as {@link editedRoleText}'s whole-experience JSON — wider in
+ *  role count, narrower in field count — so the two can drift independently.
+ *  Safe either way: the branch is only reached once the presence half has already
+ *  failed, so the worst case is a second failure line, never a false green. */
+function editedRoleDateText(experience: readonly unknown[]): string {
+  const hit = markedRole(experience);
+  const slots = (e: unknown) => ({
+    start_date: stringField(e, "start_date"),
+    end_date: stringField(e, "end_date"),
+  });
+  return hit === undefined ? j(experience.map(slots)) : j(slots(hit));
+}
+
 /**
  * The experience half of the gate, FIELD-AWARE — the presence claim is "the
  * `title` field of some role equals `NEW_TITLE`", not "`NEW_TITLE` occurs
@@ -406,7 +448,12 @@ function experienceFieldCheck(
 ): void {
   if (!experience.some((e) => stringField(e, key) === present))
     into.push(`${key} "${present}" missing on re-parse`);
-  if (replaced && absenceText.includes(replaced))
+  if (!replaced) return;
+  // A date key searches its own slots; everything else searches the caller's
+  // slice. See {@link editedRoleDateText} for why the wide slice cannot be used
+  // for a value that may be a bare year.
+  const haystack = DATE_KEYS.has(key) ? editedRoleDateText(experience) : absenceText;
+  if (haystack.includes(replaced))
     into.push(`replaced ${key} still present on re-parse`);
 }
 
@@ -466,6 +513,9 @@ function computeEditFailures(
     //   • this shape (START cleared, END supplied)  → 45 of 60 FAIL
     //   • the earlier shape (a new `start_date`)    → 60/60 GREEN
     // The presence of a date field was never the thing under test; the SLOT is.
+    // `roleText` is INERT here: a date key routes its absence half through
+    // `editedRoleDateText` instead (#817). Passed anyway so the call reads
+    // uniformly with the title/company ones above, which do use it.
     experienceFieldCheck(
       f3.experience, "start_date", NEW_END_DATE, edits.replaced.start_date,
       roleText, fails.experience,
@@ -549,6 +599,61 @@ async function editRoundtrip(
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * The absence half's scoping rule, asserted directly (#817).
+ *
+ * These run at module scope over synthetic roles rather than over the corpus,
+ * because the defect they pin is one NO fixture currently exhibits: it needs a
+ * role whose prose happens to repeat its own start year. The gate is green over
+ * the present fixtures and would go red on the next one added — which is exactly
+ * the class of failure a corpus gate cannot self-test.
+ */
+describe("experienceFieldCheck absence scoping (#817)", () => {
+  const role = (over: Record<string, unknown>) => ({
+    title: NEW_TITLE,
+    company: "Acme Corporation",
+    start_date: "2020",
+    end_date: "2022",
+    ...over,
+  });
+
+  // The `j(experience[0])` argument in the two date cases below is deliberately
+  // inert — a date key ignores `absenceText` — and is passed precisely to show
+  // that a wide slice containing the replaced value no longer fires the check.
+  it("does not fire when the replaced year merely recurs in role prose", () => {
+    const fails: string[] = [];
+    const experience = [
+      role({ description: "Shipped the billing platform in 2019 and scaled it." }),
+    ];
+    experienceFieldCheck(
+      experience, "start_date", "2020", "2019", j(experience[0]), fails,
+    );
+    expect(fails).toEqual([]);
+  });
+
+  it("still fires when the replaced year survives in the date slot itself", () => {
+    const fails: string[] = [];
+    const experience = [role({ start_date: "2019" })];
+    experienceFieldCheck(
+      experience, "start_date", "2020", "2019", j(experience[0]), fails,
+    );
+    expect(fails).toContain("replaced start_date still present on re-parse");
+  });
+
+  it("keeps searching the caller's wide slice for a non-date key", () => {
+    // The narrowing is date-only: a replaced TITLE that leaked into another
+    // field of the same role must still be caught.
+    const fails: string[] = [];
+    const experience = [
+      role({ description: "Formerly Office manager, same team." }),
+    ];
+    experienceFieldCheck(
+      experience, "title", NEW_TITLE, "Office manager", j(experience[0]), fails,
+    );
+    expect(fails).toContain("replaced title still present on re-parse");
+  });
+});
+
 describe("corpus edit-leg round-trip (#459)", { timeout: 20000 }, () => {
   const fixtures = walkPdfs(FIXTURE_ROOT);