diff --git a/src/components/FileField.jsx b/src/components/FileField.jsx
index 2ba0a8a..a640da9 100644
--- a/src/components/FileField.jsx
+++ b/src/components/FileField.jsx
@@ -36,11 +36,22 @@ export default function FileField({ field, value, instanceId, activityUid, onCha
 
       if (isOcr) {
         setBusy('Reading the document…')
-        const out = await client.ocrExtract(ref, ctx)
-        const fields = out?.fields ?? out?.extracted ?? out?.data ?? out
-        if (fields && typeof fields === 'object') {
-          setExtracted(fields)
-          onExtract?.(fields)
+        // Extraction failing must NOT lose the upload. The file is already
+        // stored and referenced; a failed read just means the fields are not
+        // pre-filled, which is recoverable by typing. Swallowing the upload
+        // because the OCR errored would not be.
+        try {
+          const out = await client.ocrExtract(ref, ctx)
+          // The endpoint answers { extracted: {...}, raw: "..." }.
+          const fields = out?.extracted ?? out?.fields ?? out?.data ?? null
+          if (fields && typeof fields === 'object' && Object.keys(fields).length) {
+            setExtracted(fields)
+            onExtract?.(fields)
+          } else {
+            setErr({ status: '', message: 'Uploaded, but nothing could be read from this document.' })
+          }
+        } catch (ox) {
+          setErr({ status: ox.status ?? '', message: 'Uploaded, but reading it failed — ' + (ox.message || 'unknown error') })
         }
       }
     } catch (ex) {