diff --git a/src/gui/pages/2_Text_Cleaner.py b/src/gui/pages/2_Text_Cleaner.py
index c4315a0..4d7e667 100644
--- a/src/gui/pages/2_Text_Cleaner.py
+++ b/src/gui/pages/2_Text_Cleaner.py
@@ -101,18 +101,22 @@ except Exception as e:
     )
     st.stop()
 
-st.subheader(f"Preview: {uploaded.name}")
-st.caption(f"{len(df)} rows, {len(df.columns)} columns")
-preview_show_hidden = st.toggle(
-    "Show hidden characters in preview",
-    value=True,
-    help="Highlights NBSP, zero-width chars, smart quotes, and leading/trailing whitespace.",
-    key="textclean_preview_show_hidden",
-)
-if preview_show_hidden:
-    render_hidden_aware_preview(df, n_rows=10)
-else:
-    st.dataframe(df.head(10), use_container_width=True)
+# Collapse the input preview once the user has clicked Clean Text so
+# the Results section below is the primary visual focus. The user can
+# re-expand the expander to re-inspect the source rows.
+_has_result = st.session_state.get("textclean_result") is not None
+with st.expander(f"Preview: {uploaded.name}", expanded=not _has_result):
+    st.caption(f"{len(df)} rows, {len(df.columns)} columns")
+    preview_show_hidden = st.toggle(
+        "Show hidden characters in preview",
+        value=True,
+        help="Highlights NBSP, zero-width chars, smart quotes, and leading/trailing whitespace.",
+        key="textclean_preview_show_hidden",
+    )
+    if preview_show_hidden:
+        render_hidden_aware_preview(df, n_rows=10)
+    else:
+        st.dataframe(df.head(10), use_container_width=True)
 
 st.divider()
 
@@ -211,6 +215,11 @@ if st.button("Clean Text", type="primary", use_container_width=True):
             st.stop()
     st.session_state["textclean_result"] = result
     st.session_state["textclean_input_name"] = uploaded.name
+    # Force a second rerun so the preview-section expander above sees
+    # the new result on its NEXT script pass and collapses itself.
+    # Without this the preview stays expanded until the user touches
+    # any other widget.
+    st.rerun()
 
 result = st.session_state.get("textclean_result")
 if result is None:
@@ -252,15 +261,19 @@ if result.cells_changed:
     if show_hidden:
         # Inject the badge CSS once, then render an HTML table so the
         # invisibles in old/new are actually visible to the user.
+        # ``mark_outer_whitespace=True`` matches the input preview's
+        # rendering so leading/trailing spaces show up as badges in the
+        # Before/After columns — without it, the examples table missed
+        # exactly the whitespace the cleaner is removing.
         st.markdown(hidden_char_css(), unsafe_allow_html=True)
         rows_html = []
         for _, row in examples.iterrows():
             rows_html.append(
                 "<tr>"
                 f"<td>{row['row']}</td>"
-                f"<td><code>{visualize_hidden_html(str(row['column']))}</code></td>"
-                f"<td>{visualize_hidden_html(str(row['old']))}</td>"
-                f"<td>{visualize_hidden_html(str(row['new']))}</td>"
+                f"<td><code>{visualize_hidden_html(str(row['column']), mark_outer_whitespace=True)}</code></td>"
+                f"<td>{visualize_hidden_html(str(row['old']), mark_outer_whitespace=True)}</td>"
+                f"<td>{visualize_hidden_html(str(row['new']), mark_outer_whitespace=True)}</td>"
                 f"<td><code>{row['ops_applied']}</code></td>"
                 "</tr>"
             )