diff --git a/src/gui/components/_legacy.py b/src/gui/components/_legacy.py
index 6903762..edb38bf 100644
--- a/src/gui/components/_legacy.py
+++ b/src/gui/components/_legacy.py
@@ -521,6 +521,32 @@ html_download_button = local_download_button
 
 
 def render_sticky_footer() -> None:
+    """No-op shim.
+
+    The previous implementation injected a CSS-positioned ``<a href>``
+    footer into the page body. It looked nice (always-visible bar at
+    the viewport bottom) but the click was a FULL-page navigation,
+    which on the user's Streamlit build doesn't preserve
+    ``st.session_state`` — uploads disappeared after every Back to
+    Home click. Soft navigation via ``st.switch_page`` requires a
+    real Streamlit button widget, which we can't reliably
+    CSS-position to the viewport bottom because Streamlit owns the
+    widget's DOM container and remounts it on every rerun.
+
+    So the sticky footer is retired. Each tool page renders the
+    real Streamlit-button version of ``back_to_home_link`` near the
+    top AND near the bottom (the two-instance pattern from before
+    the sticky-footer attempt), so the button is visible at both
+    ends of the page without ever risking state loss.
+
+    Kept as a callable so existing tool-page imports + call sites
+    don't have to be touched in this commit — they all resolve to
+    this no-op.
+    """
+    return
+
+
+def _render_sticky_footer_DISABLED() -> None:
     """Slim fixed-position footer at the bottom of the viewport.
 
     Contains a "Back to Home" link that's always visible regardless of
diff --git a/src/gui/pages/1_Deduplicator.py b/src/gui/pages/1_Deduplicator.py
index ed03144..4875403 100644
--- a/src/gui/pages/1_Deduplicator.py
+++ b/src/gui/pages/1_Deduplicator.py
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ from src.license import FeatureFlag
 
 hide_streamlit_chrome()
 render_sticky_footer()
+back_to_home_link()
 from src.audit import log_page_open
 log_page_open("1_Deduplicator")
 require_feature_or_render_upgrade(FeatureFlag.DEDUPLICATOR)
@@ -405,6 +406,8 @@ else:
 # Footer
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+back_to_home_link(key="_back_to_home_link_bottom")
+
 st.divider()
 st.caption(
     "Runs locally. Your data never leaves this computer. "
diff --git a/src/gui/pages/2_Text_Cleaner.py b/src/gui/pages/2_Text_Cleaner.py
index 495a631..27fbd9e 100644
--- a/src/gui/pages/2_Text_Cleaner.py
+++ b/src/gui/pages/2_Text_Cleaner.py
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ from src.core.text_clean import (
 
 hide_streamlit_chrome()
 render_sticky_footer()
+back_to_home_link()
 from src.audit import log_page_open
 log_page_open("2_Text_Cleaner")
 require_feature_or_render_upgrade(FeatureFlag.TEXT_CLEANER)
@@ -382,6 +383,8 @@ with dl_c:
         mime="application/json",
     )
 
+back_to_home_link(key="_back_to_home_link_bottom")
+
 st.divider()
 st.caption("Runs locally. Your data never leaves this computer. | DataTools v3.0")
 
diff --git a/src/gui/pages/3_Format_Standardizer.py b/src/gui/pages/3_Format_Standardizer.py
index 35d7ab1..00bd70c 100644
--- a/src/gui/pages/3_Format_Standardizer.py
+++ b/src/gui/pages/3_Format_Standardizer.py
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ from src.license import FeatureFlag
 
 hide_streamlit_chrome()
 render_sticky_footer()
+back_to_home_link()
 from src.audit import log_page_open
 log_page_open("3_Format_Standardizer")
 require_feature_or_render_upgrade(FeatureFlag.FORMAT_STANDARDIZER)
@@ -652,6 +653,8 @@ with dl_c:
         mime="application/json",
     )
 
+back_to_home_link(key="_back_to_home_link_bottom")
+
 st.divider()
 st.caption("Runs locally. Your data never leaves this computer. | DataTools v3.0")
 
diff --git a/src/gui/pages/4_Missing_Values.py b/src/gui/pages/4_Missing_Values.py
index ee997af..9f912e5 100644
--- a/src/gui/pages/4_Missing_Values.py
+++ b/src/gui/pages/4_Missing_Values.py
@@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ from src.license import FeatureFlag
 
 hide_streamlit_chrome()
 render_sticky_footer()
+back_to_home_link()
 from src.audit import log_page_open
 log_page_open("4_Missing_Values")
 require_feature_or_render_upgrade(FeatureFlag.MISSING_HANDLER)
@@ -415,6 +416,8 @@ with dl_c:
         mime="application/json",
     )
 
+back_to_home_link(key="_back_to_home_link_bottom")
+
 st.divider()
 st.caption("Runs locally. Your data never leaves this computer. | DataTools v3.0")
 
diff --git a/src/gui/pages/5_Column_Mapper.py b/src/gui/pages/5_Column_Mapper.py
index 38b28e7..dc082a5 100644
--- a/src/gui/pages/5_Column_Mapper.py
+++ b/src/gui/pages/5_Column_Mapper.py
@@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ from src.license import FeatureFlag
 
 hide_streamlit_chrome()
 render_sticky_footer()
+back_to_home_link()
 from src.audit import log_page_open
 log_page_open("5_Column_Mapper")
 require_feature_or_render_upgrade(FeatureFlag.COLUMN_MAPPER)
@@ -459,6 +460,8 @@ with dl_c:
         mime="application/json",
     )
 
+back_to_home_link(key="_back_to_home_link_bottom")
+
 st.divider()
 st.caption("Runs locally. Your data never leaves this computer. | DataTools v3.0")
 
diff --git a/src/gui/pages/6_Outlier_Detector.py b/src/gui/pages/6_Outlier_Detector.py
index e878877..bc5ee09 100644
--- a/src/gui/pages/6_Outlier_Detector.py
+++ b/src/gui/pages/6_Outlier_Detector.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ from src.license import FeatureFlag
 
 hide_streamlit_chrome()
 render_sticky_footer()
+back_to_home_link()
 from src.audit import log_page_open
 log_page_open("6_Outlier_Detector")
 require_feature_or_render_upgrade(FeatureFlag.OUTLIER_DETECTOR)
@@ -100,6 +101,8 @@ st.button("Detect Outliers", type="primary", use_container_width=True, disabled=
 # Footer
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+back_to_home_link(key="_back_to_home_link_bottom")
+
 st.divider()
 st.caption(
     "Runs locally. Your data never leaves this computer. "
diff --git a/src/gui/pages/7_Multi_File_Merger.py b/src/gui/pages/7_Multi_File_Merger.py
index dc94ce4..2aa838e 100644
--- a/src/gui/pages/7_Multi_File_Merger.py
+++ b/src/gui/pages/7_Multi_File_Merger.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ from src.license import FeatureFlag
 
 hide_streamlit_chrome()
 render_sticky_footer()
+back_to_home_link()
 from src.audit import log_page_open
 log_page_open("7_Multi_File_Merger")
 require_feature_or_render_upgrade(FeatureFlag.MULTI_FILE_MERGER)
@@ -98,6 +99,8 @@ st.button("Merge Files", type="primary", use_container_width=True, disabled=True
 # Footer
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+back_to_home_link(key="_back_to_home_link_bottom")
+
 st.divider()
 st.caption(
     "Runs locally. Your data never leaves this computer. "
diff --git a/src/gui/pages/8_Validator_Reporter.py b/src/gui/pages/8_Validator_Reporter.py
index c0ee773..c1a8f20 100644
--- a/src/gui/pages/8_Validator_Reporter.py
+++ b/src/gui/pages/8_Validator_Reporter.py
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ from src.license import FeatureFlag
 
 hide_streamlit_chrome()
 render_sticky_footer()
+back_to_home_link()
 from src.audit import log_page_open
 log_page_open("8_Validator_Reporter")
 require_feature_or_render_upgrade(FeatureFlag.VALIDATOR_REPORTER)
@@ -105,6 +106,8 @@ st.button("Validate & Generate Report", type="primary", use_container_width=True
 # Footer
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
+back_to_home_link(key="_back_to_home_link_bottom")
+
 st.divider()
 st.caption(
     "Runs locally. Your data never leaves this computer. "
diff --git a/src/gui/pages/9_Pipeline_Runner.py b/src/gui/pages/9_Pipeline_Runner.py
index d598133..b4a26c4 100644
--- a/src/gui/pages/9_Pipeline_Runner.py
+++ b/src/gui/pages/9_Pipeline_Runner.py
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ from src.license import FeatureFlag
 
 hide_streamlit_chrome()
 render_sticky_footer()
+back_to_home_link()
 from src.audit import log_page_open
 log_page_open("9_Pipeline_Runner")
 require_feature_or_render_upgrade(FeatureFlag.PIPELINE_RUNNER)
@@ -417,6 +418,8 @@ with dl_c:
         mime="application/json",
     )
 
+back_to_home_link(key="_back_to_home_link_bottom")
+
 st.divider()
 st.caption("Runs locally. Your data never leaves this computer. | DataTools v3.0")