diff --git a/components/email/email-list-item.tsx b/components/email/email-list-item.tsx
index 07de2c88..1fff8b43 100644
--- a/components/email/email-list-item.tsx
+++ b/components/email/email-list-item.tsx
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 import { useTranslations } from "next-intl";
 import { useCallback } from "react";
-import { formatDate } from "@/lib/utils";
+import { formatDate, stripInvisibleLeading } from "@/lib/utils";
 import { Email } from "@/lib/jmap/types";
 import { cn } from "@/lib/utils";
 import { Avatar } from "@/components/ui/avatar";
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ export function EmailListItem({ email, selected, onClick, onContextMenu, onToggl
   const sender = showRecipient ? (email.to?.[0] ?? email.from?.[0]) : email.from?.[0];
   const isFocusedMailLayout = mailLayout === 'focus';
   const hideJunkAvatarImages = currentMailboxRole === 'junk' && !showAvatarsInJunk;
-  const trimmedPreview = email.preview?.replace(/^\s+/, '') ?? '';
+  const trimmedPreview = stripInvisibleLeading(email.preview ?? '');
   const inlinePreview = showPreview && trimmedPreview ? ` ${trimmedPreview}` : '';
 
   // Resolve color tags using keyword definitions from settings; unknown tags fall back to gray
diff --git a/components/email/thread-list-item.tsx b/components/email/thread-list-item.tsx
index 9213ff16..bd73081a 100644
--- a/components/email/thread-list-item.tsx
+++ b/components/email/thread-list-item.tsx
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 "use client";
 
 import React, { useCallback } from "react";
-import { formatDate } from "@/lib/utils";
+import { formatDate, stripInvisibleLeading } from "@/lib/utils";
 import { Email, ThreadGroup } from "@/lib/jmap/types";
 import { cn } from "@/lib/utils";
 import { Avatar } from "@/components/ui/avatar";
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ const SingleEmailItem = React.forwardRef<HTMLDivElement, SingleEmailItemProps>(
     const accountColor = email.accountId ? getAccountById(email.accountId)?.avatarColor : undefined;
     const isChecked = selectedEmailIds.has(email.id);
     const isFocusedMailLayout = mailLayout === 'focus';
-    const trimmedPreview = email.preview?.replace(/^\s+/, '') ?? '';
+    const trimmedPreview = stripInvisibleLeading(email.preview ?? '');
     const inlinePreview = showPreview && trimmedPreview ? ` ${trimmedPreview}` : '';
 
     // Resolve color tags using keyword definitions; unknown tags fall back to gray
@@ -367,7 +367,7 @@ export const ThreadListItem = React.forwardRef<HTMLDivElement, ThreadListItemPro
     const isMobile = useUIStore((state) => state.isMobile);
     const { latestEmail, participantNames, hasUnread, hasStarred, hasAttachment, hasAnswered, hasForwarded, emailCount } = thread;
     const isFocusedMailLayout = mailLayout === 'focus';
-    const trimmedPreview = latestEmail.preview?.replace(/^\s+/, '') ?? '';
+    const trimmedPreview = stripInvisibleLeading(latestEmail.preview ?? '');
     const inlinePreview = showPreview && trimmedPreview ? ` ${trimmedPreview}` : '';
 
     const { selectedMailbox, mailboxes, selectedEmailIds, toggleEmailSelection, selectRangeEmails, clearSelection, isUnifiedView } = useEmailStore();
diff --git a/lib/utils.ts b/lib/utils.ts
index 44193b1d..331e5f2b 100644
--- a/lib/utils.ts
+++ b/lib/utils.ts
@@ -78,14 +78,19 @@ export function formatDateTime(
   return d.toLocaleString(undefined, localeOptions);
 }
 
-// Marketing emails often pad the preheader with invisible Unicode (combining
-// grapheme joiners, soft hyphens, zero-width chars) alongside whitespace, to
-// push real content out of the preview window. \s catches normal whitespace
-// including figure space U+2007; we also strip the common invisible formatters.
-const LEADING_INVISIBLE_RE = /^[\s\u00AD\u034F\u200B-\u200F\u2060-\u2064\uFEFF]+/;
+// Marketing emails pad the preheader with whitespace, format chars (soft
+// hyphens, zero-width chars, BOM, directional marks) and combining marks
+// (e.g. U+034F) to push real content past the preview window. Strip them all.
+// \p{Cf} = Format, \p{Mn} = combining marks; \s covers figure space, NBSP, etc.
+const LEADING_INVISIBLE_RE = /^[\s\p{Cf}\p{Mn}]+/u;
+// After stripping, a server-side truncation indicator like "..." may be all
+// that's left. Treat that as no preview so callers can fall back.
+const ONLY_PUNCTUATION_RE = /^[.\u2026\s]+$/;
 
 export function stripInvisibleLeading(text: string): string {
-  return text.replace(LEADING_INVISIBLE_RE, '');
+  const stripped = text.replace(LEADING_INVISIBLE_RE, '');
+  if (ONLY_PUNCTUATION_RE.test(stripped)) return '';
+  return stripped;
 }
 
 export function truncateText(text: string, maxLength: number): string {