diff --git a/web/blueprint/src/lib/components/datasetView/SpanHover.ts b/web/blueprint/src/lib/components/datasetView/SpanHover.ts
index 298cd5ba5..31bba8fa1 100644
--- a/web/blueprint/src/lib/components/datasetView/SpanHover.ts
+++ b/web/blueprint/src/lib/components/datasetView/SpanHover.ts
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ import SpanHoverTooltip, {type SpanHoverNamedValue} from './SpanHoverTooltip.sve
 
 export interface SpanHoverInfo {
   namedValues: SpanHoverNamedValue[];
-  spansHovered: string[];
+  spansHovered: Set<string>;
   isHovered: boolean;
   itemScrollContainer: HTMLDivElement | null;
 }
@@ -12,19 +12,15 @@ export function spanHover(element: HTMLSpanElement, spanHoverInfo: SpanHoverInfo
   let tooltipComponent: SvelteComponent | undefined;
   let curSpanHoverInfo = spanHoverInfo;
   const itemScrollListener = () => destroyHoverElement();
-  showSpan();
+  if (curSpanHoverInfo.isHovered) {
+    showSpan();
+  }
   function showSpan() {
-    if (!curSpanHoverInfo.isHovered) {
-      return;
-    }
-    curSpanHoverInfo.namedValues = spanHoverInfo.namedValues.filter(namedValue =>
-      curSpanHoverInfo.spansHovered.some(path =>
+    const namedValues = curSpanHoverInfo.namedValues.filter(namedValue =>
+      Array.from(curSpanHoverInfo.spansHovered).some(path =>
         pathIsMatching(deserializePath(namedValue.spanPath), deserializePath(path))
       )
     );
-    if (curSpanHoverInfo.namedValues.length === 0) {
-      return;
-    }
     if (curSpanHoverInfo.itemScrollContainer != null) {
       curSpanHoverInfo.itemScrollContainer.addEventListener('scroll', itemScrollListener);
     }
@@ -39,7 +35,7 @@ export function spanHover(element: HTMLSpanElement, spanHoverInfo: SpanHoverInfo
 
     tooltipComponent = new SpanHoverTooltip({
       props: {
-        namedValues: curSpanHoverInfo.namedValues,
+        namedValues,
         x,
         y: boundingRect.top
       },
@@ -59,12 +55,11 @@ export function spanHover(element: HTMLSpanElement, spanHoverInfo: SpanHoverInfo
     update(spanHoverInfo: SpanHoverInfo) {
       curSpanHoverInfo = spanHoverInfo;
 
-      if (!spanHoverInfo.isHovered) {
+      if (!curSpanHoverInfo.isHovered) {
         destroyHoverElement();
       } else {
         showSpan();
       }
-      tooltipComponent?.$set({namedValues: curSpanHoverInfo.namedValues});
     },
     destroy() {
       destroyHoverElement();
diff --git a/web/blueprint/src/lib/components/datasetView/StringSpanHighlight.svelte b/web/blueprint/src/lib/components/datasetView/StringSpanHighlight.svelte
index 4b0e99c8a..a6b31d3e3 100644
--- a/web/blueprint/src/lib/components/datasetView/StringSpanHighlight.svelte
+++ b/web/blueprint/src/lib/components/datasetView/StringSpanHighlight.svelte
@@ -429,7 +429,7 @@
         use:spanHover={{
           namedValues: renderSpan.hoverInfo,
           isHovered: renderSpan.isFirstHover,
-          spansHovered: Array.from(pathsHovered),
+          spansHovered: pathsHovered,
           itemScrollContainer: $itemScrollContainer
         }}
         use:spanClick={{
diff --git a/web/blueprint/src/lib/view_utils.ts b/web/blueprint/src/lib/view_utils.ts
index 97d3e0dad..8813a9e5a 100644
--- a/web/blueprint/src/lib/view_utils.ts
+++ b/web/blueprint/src/lib/view_utils.ts
@@ -218,11 +218,11 @@ export interface MergedSpan {
 }
 
 // Split a merged span up into smaller chunks to help with snippeting.
-function splitMergedSpan(mergedSpan: MergedSpan): MergedSpan[] {
+function chunkText(text: string): MergedSpan[] {
   const splitBy = '\n';
-  const splits = mergedSpan.text.split(splitBy);
+  const splits = text.split(splitBy);
   const splitSpans: MergedSpan[] = [];
-  let lastEnd = mergedSpan.span?.start || 0;
+  let lastEnd = 0;
   for (let i = 0; i < splits.length; i++) {
     const text = splits[i] + (i < splits.length - 1 ? splitBy : '');
     const end = lastEnd + text.length;
@@ -230,8 +230,8 @@ function splitMergedSpan(mergedSpan: MergedSpan): MergedSpan[] {
     splitSpans.push({
       text,
       span,
-      originalSpans: mergedSpan.originalSpans,
-      paths: mergedSpan.paths
+      originalSpans: {},
+      paths: []
     });
     lastEnd = end;
   }
@@ -260,6 +260,9 @@ export function mergeSpans(
   inputSpanSets: {[spanSet: string]: LilacValueNodeCasted<'string_span'>[]}
 ): MergedSpan[] {
   const spanSetKeys = Object.keys(inputSpanSets);
+  if (spanSetKeys.length === 0) {
+    return chunkText(text);
+  }
   const textLength = text.length;
 
   // Maps a span set to the index of the spans we're currently processing for each span set.
@@ -329,14 +332,12 @@ export function mergeSpans(
       .map(span => L.path(span as LilacValueNode))
       .map(path => serializePath(path!));
 
-    mergedSpans.push(
-      ...splitMergedSpan({
-        text: text.slice(curStartIdx, curEndIndex),
-        span: {start: curStartIdx, end: curEndIndex},
-        originalSpans: spansInRange,
-        paths
-      })
-    );
+    mergedSpans.push({
+      text: text.slice(curStartIdx, curEndIndex),
+      span: {start: curStartIdx, end: curEndIndex},
+      originalSpans: spansInRange,
+      paths
+    });
 
     // Advance the spans that have the span end index.
     for (const spanSet of Object.keys(spanSetIndices)) {
@@ -364,14 +365,12 @@ export function mergeSpans(
 
   // If the text has more characters than spans, emit a final empty span.
   if (curStartIdx < text.length) {
-    mergedSpans.push(
-      ...splitMergedSpan({
-        text: text.slice(curStartIdx, text.length),
-        span: {start: curStartIdx, end: text.length},
-        originalSpans: {},
-        paths: []
-      })
-    );
+    mergedSpans.push({
+      text: text.slice(curStartIdx, text.length),
+      span: {start: curStartIdx, end: text.length},
+      originalSpans: {},
+      paths: []
+    });
   }
 
   return mergedSpans;