diff --git a/nw/gui/doceditor.py b/nw/gui/doceditor.py
index 1410c7b4..14f1db91 100644
--- a/nw/gui/doceditor.py
+++ b/nw/gui/doceditor.py
@@ -223,21 +223,12 @@ class GuiDocEditor(QTextEdit):
         # font changed, otherwise we just clear the editor entirely,
         # which makes it read only.
         if self.theHandle is not None:
-            self.reloadText()
+            self.redrawText()
         else:
             self.clearEditor()
 
         return True
 
-    def reloadText(self):
-        """Reloads the document currently being edited.
-        """
-        if self.theHandle is not None:
-            tHandle = self.theHandle
-            self.clearEditor()
-            self.loadText(tHandle, showStatus=False)
-        return
-
     def loadText(self, tHandle, tLine=None, showStatus=True):
         """Load text from a document into the editor. If we have an io
         error, we must handle this and clear the editor so that we don't
@@ -297,6 +288,21 @@ class GuiDocEditor(QTextEdit):
 
         return True
 
+    def reHighLightText(self, forceBigDoc=False):
+        """Run the syntax highlighter again.
+        """
+        if not self.bigDoc or forceBigDoc:
+            qApp.setOverrideCursor(QCursor(Qt.WaitCursor))
+            self.hLight.rehighlight()
+            qApp.restoreOverrideCursor()
+        return
+
+    def redrawText(self):
+        """Redraw the text by marking the document content as "dirty".
+        """
+        self.qDocument.markContentsDirty(0, self.qDocument.characterCount())
+        return
+
     def replaceText(self, theText):
         """Replaces the text of the current document with the provided
         text. This also clears undo history.
diff --git a/nw/guimain.py b/nw/guimain.py
index 5f237bb7..62b2db74 100644
--- a/nw/guimain.py
+++ b/nw/guimain.py
@@ -716,13 +716,13 @@ class GuiMain(QMainWindow):
 
         tEnd = time()
         self.statusBar.setStatus("Indexing completed in %.1f ms" % ((tEnd - tStart)*1000.0))
-        self.docEditor.reloadText()
-
         qApp.restoreOverrideCursor()
 
         if not beQuiet:
             self.makeAlert("The project index has been successfully rebuilt.", nwAlert.INFO)
 
+        self.docEditor.reHighLightText()
+
         return True
 
     def rebuildOutline(self):