diff --git a/client/client.ts b/client/client.ts
index 8bd1045a..d573b883 100644
--- a/client/client.ts
+++ b/client/client.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import { syntaxTree } from "@codemirror/language";
 import type { Compartment, EditorState } from "@codemirror/state";
 import { EditorView } from "@codemirror/view";
 import type { SyntaxNode } from "@lezer/common";
-import { jitter } from "@silverbulletmd/silverbullet/lib/async";
+import { jitter, sleep } from "@silverbulletmd/silverbullet/lib/async";
 import { deriveDbName } from "@silverbulletmd/silverbullet/lib/crypto";
 import {
   encodePageURI,
@@ -142,6 +142,12 @@ export class Client {
   public pageListLoaded: boolean = false;
   // Guard so we only fire the loading→ready editor:reloadState once.
   private widgetReadyDispatched: boolean = false;
+  // Tracks external Markdown changes independently from the queue's repeated
+  // idle notifications. One coordinator waits for indexing to drain and
+  // coalesces a burst of file changes into the minimum number of refreshes.
+  private pageListRefreshRevision = 0;
+  private pageListRefreshedRevision = 0;
+  private pageListRefreshTask?: Promise<void>;
   // Resolves once the widget-ready transition has been dispatched and the
   // resulting editor state rebuild has settled. Headless tests wait on
   // this to avoid typing into the editor mid-rebuild.
@@ -231,10 +237,9 @@ export class Client {
     });
 
     // If widget rendering is still gated waiting on a full index, the
-    // initial-index handler in ObjectIndex may have unsubscribed or
-    // never fired for this client. After any indexing pass empties the
-    // queue, refresh the page list cache so its index-backed branch
-    // can flip pageListLoaded and unblock widget rendering.
+    // initial-index handler in ObjectIndex may have unsubscribed or never
+    // fired for this client. External changes after boot are handled by the
+    // coalesced refresh coordinator started from the file event listeners.
     this.eventHook.addLocalListener("mq:emptyQueue:indexQueue", async () => {
       if (this.widgetReadyDispatched) return;
       if (
@@ -393,6 +398,19 @@ export class Client {
       console.log("Queueing index for", name);
       await this.objectIndex.clearFileIndex(name);
       await this.mq.send("indexQueue", name);
+      if (name.endsWith(".md")) {
+        this.requestPageListRefresh();
+      }
+    });
+
+    this.eventHook.addLocalListener("file:deleted", async (name: string) => {
+      if (name.endsWith(".md")) {
+        // ObjectIndex also clears this through its own listener. Awaiting the
+        // idempotent operation here makes the following refresh independent
+        // of listener completion order.
+        await this.objectIndex.clearFileIndex(name);
+        this.requestPageListRefresh();
+      }
     });
 
     const space = new Space(
@@ -670,6 +688,41 @@ export class Client {
     void this.space.spacePrimitives.fetchFileList();
   }
 
+  private requestPageListRefresh() {
+    this.pageListRefreshRevision++;
+    this.ensurePageListRefresh();
+  }
+
+  private ensurePageListRefresh() {
+    if (this.pageListRefreshTask) return;
+
+    this.pageListRefreshTask = (async () => {
+      while (this.pageListRefreshedRevision < this.pageListRefreshRevision) {
+        const pendingRevision = this.pageListRefreshRevision;
+        // A file-list comparison reports each changed file separately. Wait
+        // briefly for that producer to go quiet so a large import refreshes
+        // the sidebar once instead of once per page.
+        await sleep(100);
+        if (pendingRevision !== this.pageListRefreshRevision) continue;
+        await this.mq.awaitEmptyQueue("indexQueue");
+        if (pendingRevision !== this.pageListRefreshRevision) continue;
+        const indexedRevision = this.pageListRefreshRevision;
+        await this.updatePageListCache();
+        this.pageListRefreshedRevision = indexedRevision;
+      }
+    })();
+    void this.pageListRefreshTask
+      .catch((error) => console.error("Failed to refresh page list", error))
+      .finally(() => {
+        this.pageListRefreshTask = undefined;
+        // A request can land after the worker's final loop condition but
+        // before this cleanup callback. Make sure that edge starts a worker.
+        if (this.pageListRefreshedRevision < this.pageListRefreshRevision) {
+          this.ensurePageListRefresh();
+        }
+      });
+  }
+
   /**
    * If we just transitioned from "loading" to "ready" for widget
    * rendering, dispatch editor:reloadState so the editor rebuilds and
diff --git a/e2e/external-edit.test.ts b/e2e/external-edit.test.ts
index ed39ec0e..6bc70b7b 100644
--- a/e2e/external-edit.test.ts
+++ b/e2e/external-edit.test.ts
@@ -394,6 +394,31 @@ test("polling still delivers external edits when /.events is unavailable", async
   expect(eventsRequestCount).toBe(1);
 });
 
+test("external Markdown folders appear in the open sidebar after indexing", async ({
+  sbPage,
+  sbServer,
+}) => {
+  const importedFolder = "极空间记事本";
+  const sidebar = sbPage.getByRole("complementary", {
+    name: "Plainleaf 导航",
+  });
+  await expect(sidebar.getByText(importedFolder, { exact: true })).toHaveCount(
+    0,
+  );
+
+  await mkdir(join(sbServer.spaceDir, importedFolder), { recursive: true });
+  await writeFile(
+    join(sbServer.spaceDir, importedFolder, "导入示例.md"),
+    "# 导入示例\n",
+  );
+
+  // The regular file-list scan detects and indexes the new file. Once that
+  // batch drains, the page-list cache must refresh without a browser reload.
+  await expect(
+    sidebar.getByText(importedFolder, { exact: true }),
+  ).toBeVisible({ timeout: 15_000 });
+});
+
 test("reconnects with backoff after a transient connection failure", async ({
   page,
   sbServer,