diff --git a/src/BloomBrowserUI/bookEdit/toolbox/canvas/customXmatterPage.tsx b/src/BloomBrowserUI/bookEdit/toolbox/canvas/customXmatterPage.tsx
index 927dd4e7534a..9d54f8084b3c 100644
--- a/src/BloomBrowserUI/bookEdit/toolbox/canvas/customXmatterPage.tsx
+++ b/src/BloomBrowserUI/bookEdit/toolbox/canvas/customXmatterPage.tsx
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ import { CustomPageLayoutMenu } from "./customPageLayoutMenu";
 import {
     CanvasElementManager,
     kBackgroundImageClass,
+    showCanvasTool,
     theOneCanvasElementManager,
 } from "../../js/CanvasElementManager";
 import { EditableDivUtils } from "../../js/editableDivUtils";
@@ -60,9 +61,7 @@ import { isLegacyThemeCssLoaded } from "../../bookSettings/appearanceThemeUtils"
     visibility of different languages.
 */
 
-export async function convertXmatterPageToCustom(
-    page: HTMLElement,
-): Promise<void> {
+async function convertXmatterPageToCustom(page: HTMLElement): Promise<void> {
     const marginBox = page.getElementsByClassName(
         "marginBox",
     )[0] as HTMLElement;
@@ -257,6 +256,8 @@ function finishReactivatingPage(page: HTMLElement): void {
     theOneCanvasElementManager.turnOnCanvasElementEditing();
     ensureDerivedFieldsFitOnCustomPage(page);
     getToolboxBundleExports()?.applyToolboxStateToPage();
+    // Enable or show the canvas tool.
+    showCanvasTool();
 }
 
 // This function tries to make sure that all derived-field canvas elements fit on the page.
@@ -441,6 +442,10 @@ function renderPageLayoutMenu(page: HTMLElement, container: HTMLElement): void {
                         () => convertXmatterPageToCustom(page),
                         "customPageLayout-convertStartOver",
                     );
+                    // This is normally set in editView/toggleCustomPageLayout, but we're not calling that.
+                    // The attribute will be persisted only if some other change is made to the page, but that
+                    // may be good enough since the user is starting over and presumably will make some changes.
+                    page.setAttribute("data-tool-id", "canvas");
                     renderPageLayoutMenu(page, container);
                     return;
                 }
@@ -461,6 +466,10 @@ function renderPageLayoutMenu(page: HTMLElement, container: HTMLElement): void {
                         () => convertXmatterPageToCustom(page),
                         "customPageLayout-convertFirstTime",
                     );
+                    // Set data-tool-id on the browser DOM so it persists when jumpToPage saves.
+                    // (The C# toggleCustomPageLayout set it on the C# DOM, but returned early
+                    // without SaveThen, so that change would be overwritten by the browser save.)
+                    page.setAttribute("data-tool-id", "canvas");
                     // Persist the newly created custom layout state so a later toggle back
                     // to standard has matching server-side state to work from.
                     await postString(
@@ -468,6 +477,8 @@ function renderPageLayoutMenu(page: HTMLElement, container: HTMLElement): void {
                         page.getAttribute("id")!,
                     );
                     renderPageLayoutMenu(page, container);
+                } else if (selection === "custom" && response) {
+                    showCanvasTool(); // otherwise called from convertXmatterPageToCustom()/finishReactivatingPage()
                 }
             }}
         />,
diff --git a/src/BloomExe/web/controllers/EditingViewApi.cs b/src/BloomExe/web/controllers/EditingViewApi.cs
index f6af7d3c507e..19d6ed509e73 100644
--- a/src/BloomExe/web/controllers/EditingViewApi.cs
+++ b/src/BloomExe/web/controllers/EditingViewApi.cs
@@ -186,6 +186,11 @@ private void HandleToggleCustomCover(ApiRequest request)
                     request.ReplyWithText("false");
                     return;
                 }
+                pageElt.SetAttribute("data-tool-id", "canvas");
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                pageElt.RemoveAttribute("data-tool-id");
             }
 
             request.ReplyWithText("true");
@@ -200,6 +205,7 @@ private void HandleToggleCustomCover(ApiRequest request)
                     // page element.
                     var backgroundAudio = pageElt.GetAttribute(HtmlDom.musicAttrName);
                     var backgroundAudioVolume = pageElt.GetAttribute(HtmlDom.musicVolumeName);
+                    var dataToolId = pageElt.GetAttribute("data-tool-id");
                     // Bring everything up to date consistent with the new
                     // state. Might be enough just do the BookData update.
                     book.EnsureUpToDateMemory(new NullProgress());
@@ -223,6 +229,11 @@ private void HandleToggleCustomCover(ApiRequest request)
                         // Keep the same invariant we enforce elsewhere.
                         if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(backgroundAudio))
                             updatedPageElt.RemoveAttribute(HtmlDom.musicVolumeName);
+
+                        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(dataToolId))
+                            updatedPageElt.RemoveAttribute("data-tool-id");
+                        else
+                            updatedPageElt.SetAttribute("data-tool-id", dataToolId);
                     }
 
                     return pageId;