lib/PublicInbox/LeiImport.pm | 1 +
 lib/PublicInbox/LeiSearch.pm | 8 +++++---
 lib/PublicInbox/NetReader.pm | 2 +-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiImport.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiImport.pm
index f9a46ec58b5233b877b5ab01c084bbcd354c2a23..860a2c98ffeb9fea600abce5f6043277698847d3 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiImport.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiImport.pm
@@ -50,6 +50,7 @@ 		$self->input_eml_cb($eml, $vmd);
 	} elsif ($vmd) { # old message, kw only
 		my $oid = $self->{-lms_ro}->imap_oid2($uri, $uid) // return;
 		my @docids = $self->{lse}->over->blob_exists($oid) or return;
+		$self->{lse}->kw_changed(undef, $kw, \@docids) or return;
 		my $lei = $self->{lei};
 		$lei->qerr("# $oid => @$kw\n") if $lei->{opt}->{verbose};
 		$self->{lei}->{sto}->ipc_do('set_eml_vmd', undef,
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiSearch.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiSearch.pm
index b09d1e455d7495ca81e65c4d5ff52f321589fe26..d0963e928c6500402f8560f6e89515ce957d3f95 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/LeiSearch.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/LeiSearch.pm
@@ -133,9 +133,11 @@
 # returns true if $eml is indexed by lei/store and keywords don't match
 sub kw_changed {
 	my ($self, $eml, $new_kw_sorted, $docids) = @_;
-	my $xoids = xoids_for($self, $eml) // return;
-	$docids //= [];
-	@$docids = sort { $a <=> $b } values %$xoids;
+	if ($eml) {
+		my $xoids = xoids_for($self, $eml) // return;
+		$docids //= [];
+		@$docids = sort { $a <=> $b } values %$xoids;
+	}
 	my $cur_kw = msg_keywords($self, $docids->[0]);
 
 	# RFC 5550 sec 5.9 on the $Forwarded keyword states:
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/NetReader.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/NetReader.pm
index b97444fded2870a28338534fd7aa1fef4fbfafdc..39a8f7fc90178de5d181634d99f6bbead1d0009d 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/NetReader.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/NetReader.pm
@@ -409,7 +409,7 @@ 		} elsif ($self->{verbose}) {
 			warn "# unknown IMAP flag $f <$uri/;UID=$uid>\n";
 		}
 	}
-	@$kw = sort @$kw; # for all UI/UX purposes
+	@$kw = sort @$kw; # for LeiSearch->kw_changed and UI/UX purposes
 	$kw;
 }