diff --git a/web/frontend/src/components/collection-viewer/collection-viewer.tsx b/web/frontend/src/components/collection-viewer/collection-viewer.tsx
index ee3a1641f..cec3ad2ba 100644
--- a/web/frontend/src/components/collection-viewer/collection-viewer.tsx
+++ b/web/frontend/src/components/collection-viewer/collection-viewer.tsx
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import { useDocumentPages } from '@/shared/api/hooks/use-document-workspace'
 import { Skeleton } from '@/components/ui/skeleton'
 import { useExtractionHighlights } from '@/components/collection-viewer/use-extraction-highlights.ts'
 import { useCurrentPageSync } from '@/components/collection-viewer/use-current-page-sync'
+import { ViewerProcessingState } from '@/components/collection-viewer/viewer-processing-state'
 import { Dispatch, SetStateAction, useCallback, useEffect, useState } from 'react'
 import { cn, extractFilenameFromUrl } from '@/helpers/utils'
 import { badgerDocService } from '@/shared/api/badgerdoc/service'
@@ -13,6 +14,7 @@ import { toast } from 'sonner'
 
 interface CollectionViewerProps {
   documentId: string
+  expectedPageCount?: number | null
   currentPage: number
   onPageChange: Dispatch<SetStateAction<number>>
   onHighlightClick: (termId: string) => void
@@ -35,6 +37,7 @@ interface CollectionViewerProps {
 
 export function CollectionViewer({
   documentId,
+  expectedPageCount,
   highlights,
   activeHighlightId,
   onHighlightClick,
@@ -47,9 +50,19 @@ export function CollectionViewer({
   onHighlightCreate,
   createdHighlightIds,
 }: CollectionViewerProps) {
-  const { data: pages, isLoading } = useDocumentPages(documentId)
+  const {
+    data: pages,
+    isLoading: isLoading,
+    refetch,
+  } = useDocumentPages(documentId, expectedPageCount)
+  const actualPageCount = pages?.length ?? 0
+  const pagesReadyByMetadata =
+    expectedPageCount != null && expectedPageCount > 0 && actualPageCount >= expectedPageCount
+  const isProcessing = !isLoading && !pagesReadyByMetadata
+  const isReady = !isLoading && pagesReadyByMetadata
+  const { containerRef, viewer } = useOsdViewer(isReady ? pages : undefined)
+
   const [isDownloading, setIsDownloading] = useState(false)
-  const { containerRef, viewer } = useOsdViewer(pages)
   useExtractionHighlights({
     viewer,
     overlayItems: highlights,
@@ -122,6 +135,18 @@ export function CollectionViewer({
     [viewer, isEditMode]
   )
 
+  if (isProcessing) {
+    return (
+      <section className="flex h-full w-full flex-col">
+        <ViewerProcessingState
+          onRefresh={() => refetch()}
+          readyPagesCount={actualPageCount}
+          expectedPagesCount={expectedPageCount}
+        />
+      </section>
+    )
+  }
+
   return (
     <section className="flex h-full w-full flex-col">
       <ViewerToolbar
diff --git a/web/frontend/src/components/collection-viewer/viewer-processing-state.tsx b/web/frontend/src/components/collection-viewer/viewer-processing-state.tsx
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..730a96393
--- /dev/null
+++ b/web/frontend/src/components/collection-viewer/viewer-processing-state.tsx
@@ -0,0 +1,63 @@
+import { Button } from '@/components/ui/button'
+
+interface ViewerProcessingStateProps {
+  onRefresh: () => void
+  readyPagesCount: number
+  expectedPagesCount?: number | null
+}
+
+export function ViewerProcessingState({
+  onRefresh,
+  readyPagesCount,
+  expectedPagesCount,
+}: ViewerProcessingStateProps) {
+  const showProgress = expectedPagesCount != null && expectedPagesCount > 0
+
+  const progress = showProgress ? Math.round((readyPagesCount / expectedPagesCount!) * 100) : 0
+
+  return (
+    <div className="flex h-full w-full items-center justify-center">
+      <div className="text-center max-w-sm w-full px-4">
+        {/* Spinner */}
+        <div className="flex justify-center mb-4">
+          <div className="h-8 w-8 rounded-full border-2 border-gray-300 border-t-black animate-spin" />
+        </div>
+
+        {/* Title */}
+        <h3 className="text-lg font-medium mb-2">Processing document…</h3>
+
+        {/* Description */}
+        <p className="text-sm text-gray-500 mb-4">
+          We’re extracting pages and analyzing the content
+        </p>
+
+        {/* Progress */}
+        {showProgress && (
+          <div className="mb-4">
+            <div className="flex justify-between text-xs text-gray-500 mb-1">
+              <span>
+                {readyPagesCount} of {expectedPagesCount} pages ready
+              </span>
+              <span>{progress}%</span>
+            </div>
+
+            <div className="h-2 w-full bg-gray-200 rounded-full overflow-hidden">
+              <div
+                className="h-full bg-black transition-all duration-300"
+                style={{ width: `${progress}%` }}
+              />
+            </div>
+          </div>
+        )}
+
+        {/* Hint */}
+        <p className="text-xs text-gray-400 mb-4">This usually takes a few seconds</p>
+
+        {/* Action */}
+        <Button variant="outline" onClick={onRefresh}>
+          Refresh
+        </Button>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  )
+}
diff --git a/web/frontend/src/features/workspace/page.tsx b/web/frontend/src/features/workspace/page.tsx
index 8dbb671bf..ec87e855f 100644
--- a/web/frontend/src/features/workspace/page.tsx
+++ b/web/frontend/src/features/workspace/page.tsx
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import {
   taskFiltersFromSearch,
   taskFiltersToSearch,
 } from '@/helpers/task-filters-search'
+import { parsePositiveNumber } from '@/helpers/utils'
 import { ExtractionResultsTab } from '@/features/workspace/components/extraction-results-tab.tsx'
 
 export function WorkspacePage() {
@@ -245,6 +246,7 @@ export function WorkspacePage() {
     publicationDate: document.publicationDate,
   }
   const viewerHighlights = activeTab === 'overview' ? {} : highlights
+  const expectedPageCount = parsePositiveNumber(document.metadata?.total_pages)
 
   const renderTabContent = () => {
     // Special case: Overview tab (hardcoded)
@@ -323,6 +325,7 @@ export function WorkspacePage() {
           left={
             <CollectionViewer
               documentId={documentId?.toString() || ''}
+              expectedPageCount={expectedPageCount}
               currentPage={currentPage}
               onPageChange={setCurrentPage}
               onHighlightClick={(highlightId) => setActiveBlockId(highlightId)}
diff --git a/web/frontend/src/helpers/utils.ts b/web/frontend/src/helpers/utils.ts
index e3739f730..6896fd336 100644
--- a/web/frontend/src/helpers/utils.ts
+++ b/web/frontend/src/helpers/utils.ts
@@ -79,3 +79,14 @@ export function getFileExtensionFromFileName(fileName: string): string {
   if (index === -1) return ''
   return fileName.slice(index + 1).toLowerCase()
 }
+
+export function parsePositiveNumber(value: unknown): number | null {
+  const numericValue =
+    typeof value === 'number' ? value : typeof value === 'string' ? Number(value) : null
+
+  if (numericValue == null || !Number.isFinite(numericValue) || numericValue <= 0) {
+    return null
+  }
+
+  return numericValue
+}
diff --git a/web/frontend/src/shared/api/hooks/use-document-workspace.ts b/web/frontend/src/shared/api/hooks/use-document-workspace.ts
index 516c195c4..e353edfce 100644
--- a/web/frontend/src/shared/api/hooks/use-document-workspace.ts
+++ b/web/frontend/src/shared/api/hooks/use-document-workspace.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@
 import { useMutation, useQuery, useQueryClient } from '@tanstack/react-query'
 import { getApiAdapter } from '../adapters/factory'
 import type { Document } from '@/shared/types/api'
+import { parsePositiveNumber } from '@/helpers/utils'
 import { toast } from 'sonner'
 
 // =============================================================================
@@ -43,16 +44,31 @@ export function useWorkspaceDocument(documentId: string) {
     queryKey: workspaceKeys.document(documentId),
     queryFn: (): Promise<Document> => adapter.documents.getById(documentId),
     enabled: !!documentId,
+    refetchInterval: (query) => {
+      const totalPages = parsePositiveNumber(query.state.data?.metadata?.total_pages)
+      return totalPages != null ? false : 2000
+    },
   })
 }
 
-export function useDocumentPages(documentId: string) {
+export function useDocumentPages(documentId: string, expectedPageCount?: number | null) {
   const adapter = getApiAdapter()
 
   return useQuery({
     queryKey: workspaceKeys.pages(documentId),
     queryFn: (): Promise<string[]> => adapter.documents.getPagesById(documentId),
     enabled: !!documentId,
+    // Keep polling while expected page count is missing or incomplete.
+    refetchInterval: (query) => {
+      const data = query.state.data
+      const actualPageCount = data?.length ?? 0
+
+      if (expectedPageCount == null) {
+        return 5000
+      }
+
+      return actualPageCount !== expectedPageCount ? 5000 : false
+    },
   })
 }
 interface UpdateDocumentMeta {