lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm  |  3 ++-
 lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm | 10 ++++++----

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm
index 2532c8dfd10d5e73cc12801ad96f212279cefafd..54f82aa8ee4ec0df2b5a6684dc3a83153d66128c 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/SearchIdx.pm
@@ -583,7 +583,8 @@ 		if ($line =~ /$addmsg/o) {
 			my $blob = $1;
 			if (delete $D{$blob}) {
 				if (defined $self->{regen_down}) {
-					$self->{regen_down}--;
+					my $num = $self->{regen_down}--;
+					$self->{mm}->num_highwater($num);
 				}
 				next;
 			}
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm
index c450980c8f51dbb86357602010fa5b1eab455d27..92d2672c78c478f886a3bd7d5f9cb8c238f3456b 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/V2Writable.pm
@@ -658,7 +658,7 @@ 	}
 }
 
 sub reindex_oid {
-	my ($self, $mm_tmp, $D, $git, $oid, $regen) = @_;
+	my ($self, $mm_tmp, $D, $git, $oid, $regen, $reindex) = @_;
 	my $len;
 	my $msgref = $git->cat_file($oid, \$len);
 	my $mime = PublicInbox::MIME->new($$msgref);
@@ -700,7 +700,8 @@ 	}
 
 	if (!defined($mid0) || $del) {
 		if (!defined($mid0) && $del) { # expected for deletes
-			$$regen--;
+			$num = $$regen--;
+			$self->{mm}->num_highwater($num) unless $reindex;
 			return
 		}
 
@@ -877,7 +878,8 @@ 	my $latest = git_dir_latest($self, \$epoch_max);
 	return unless defined $latest;
 	$self->idx_init; # acquire lock
 	my $mm_tmp = $self->{mm}->tmp_clone;
-	my $ranges = $opts->{reindex} ? [] : $self->last_commits($epoch_max);
+	my $reindex = $opts->{reindex};
+	my $ranges = $reindex ? [] : $self->last_commits($epoch_max);
 
 	my $high = $self->{mm}->num_highwater();
 	my $regen = $self->index_prepare($opts, $epoch_max, $ranges);
@@ -903,7 +905,7 @@ 			if (/\A$x40$/o && !defined($cmt)) {
 				chomp($cmt = $_);
 			} elsif (/\A:\d{6} 100644 $x40 ($x40) [AM]\tm$/o) {
 				$self->reindex_oid($mm_tmp, $D, $git, $1,
-						$regen);
+						$regen, $reindex);
 			} elsif (/\A:\d{6} 100644 $x40 ($x40) [AM]\td$/o) {
 				$self->mark_deleted($D, $git, $1);
 			}