diff --git a/docs/ABSTRACTIONS.md b/docs/ABSTRACTIONS.md
index 058d6da5..87633c69 100644
--- a/docs/ABSTRACTIONS.md
+++ b/docs/ABSTRACTIONS.md
@@ -674,6 +674,7 @@ The Inspector panel (`src/components/Inspector.tsx`) is composed of sub-panels:
 1. **DynamicPropertiesPanel** (`src/components/DynamicPropertiesPanel.tsx`): Renders frontmatter as editable key-value pairs:
    - **Editable properties** (top): Type badge, Status pill with dropdown, number fields, boolean toggles, array tag pills, text fields. Click-to-edit interaction.
    - **Property display modes**: `text`, `number`, `date`, `boolean`, `status`, `url`, `tags`, and `color`. Numeric frontmatter values auto-detect as `number`, and custom scalar keys can be explicitly switched to `Number` through the property-type control.
+   - **Present empty properties**: A top-level frontmatter key with a blank scalar value (for example `start date:`) is treated as present and renders as an editable empty row. Only absent keys are omitted.
    - **Info section** (bottom, separated by border): Read-only derived metadata — Modified, Created, Words, File Size. Uses muted styling with no interaction.
    - Keys in `SKIP_KEYS` (`type`, `aliases`, `notion_id`, `workspace`, `is_a`, `Is A`) are hidden from the editable section.
 
diff --git a/src/components/DynamicPropertiesPanel.test.tsx b/src/components/DynamicPropertiesPanel.test.tsx
index f5437c7b..df403c39 100644
--- a/src/components/DynamicPropertiesPanel.test.tsx
+++ b/src/components/DynamicPropertiesPanel.test.tsx
@@ -176,6 +176,18 @@ describe('DynamicPropertiesPanel', () => {
     expect(screen.getByText('\u2014').parentElement).toHaveClass('justify-start', 'text-left')
   })
 
+  it('keeps present empty properties visible and editable', () => {
+    renderPanel({ frontmatter: { 'start date': '' }, onUpdateProperty })
+
+    expect(screen.getByText('Start date')).toBeInTheDocument()
+    fireEvent.click(screen.getByText('\u2014'))
+    const input = screen.getByDisplayValue('')
+    fireEvent.change(input, { target: { value: '2026-05-03' } })
+    fireEvent.blur(input)
+
+    expect(onUpdateProperty).toHaveBeenCalledWith('start date', '2026-05-03')
+  })
+
   it('hides Owner with wikilink value from Properties panel', () => {
     renderPanel({ frontmatter: { Owner: '[[person/luca]]' } })
     // Owner with wikilink goes to RelationshipsPanel, not Properties
diff --git a/src/utils/frontmatter.test.ts b/src/utils/frontmatter.test.ts
index a595af53..1ec157e3 100644
--- a/src/utils/frontmatter.test.ts
+++ b/src/utils/frontmatter.test.ts
@@ -89,6 +89,13 @@ describe('parseFrontmatter', () => {
     expect(fm['status']).toBeUndefined()
     expect(fm['Status']).toBe('Evergreened')
   })
+
+  it('keeps top-level keys with blank scalar values', () => {
+    const fm = parseFrontmatter('---\ntype: Book\nstart date:\nrating: \n---\n# New Book')
+
+    expect(fm['start date']).toBe('')
+    expect(fm['rating']).toBe('')
+  })
 })
 
 describe('detectFrontmatterState', () => {
diff --git a/src/utils/frontmatter.ts b/src/utils/frontmatter.ts
index ed54ea66..4845f129 100644
--- a/src/utils/frontmatter.ts
+++ b/src/utils/frontmatter.ts
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ function collapseList(items: FrontmatterText[]): FrontmatterValue {
 }
 
 function isBlockScalar(value: FrontmatterText): boolean {
-  return value === '' || value === '|' || value === '>'
+  return value === '|' || value === '>'
 }
 
 function isInlineArrayLiteral(value: FrontmatterText): boolean {