diff --git a/lua/grug-far/actions/search.lua b/lua/grug-far/actions/search.lua
index a8194d35..41b00b44 100644
--- a/lua/grug-far/actions/search.lua
+++ b/lua/grug-far/actions/search.lua
@@ -75,7 +75,11 @@ local function search(params)
     else
       if errorMessage and #errorMessage > 0 then
         resultsList.appendWarning(buf, context, errorMessage)
-        state.actionMessage = ' warnings, see end of buffer!'
+
+        local lastline = vim.api.nvim_buf_line_count(buf)
+        local winheight = vim.api.nvim_win_get_height(vim.fn.bufwinid(buf))
+        state.actionMessage = lastline < winheight and ' warnings!'
+          or ' warnings, see end of buffer!'
       end
       resultsList.highlight(buf, context)
     end
diff --git a/lua/grug-far/engine/fetchCommandOutput.lua b/lua/grug-far/engine/fetchCommandOutput.lua
index 6f15c9d7..b76ab506 100644
--- a/lua/grug-far/engine/fetchCommandOutput.lua
+++ b/lua/grug-far/engine/fetchCommandOutput.lua
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ local function fetchCommandOutput(params)
   local stdout = uv.new_pipe()
   local stderr = uv.new_pipe()
   local lastLine = ''
+  local hadStdout = false
 
   local handle
   handle = uv.spawn(params.cmd_path, {
@@ -46,14 +47,12 @@ local function fetchCommandOutput(params)
     utils.closeHandle(stderr)
     utils.closeHandle(handle)
 
-    local isSuccess = code == 0
-    if not isSuccess then
-      -- finish immediately if error, so no more result updates are sent out to the consumer
-      finished = true
-    end
-
     vim.schedule(function()
       finished = true
+      -- note: when no stdout, we report errors with a message as warnings (status = success) since
+      -- for example ripgrep can generate errors only for a particular file (like permission denied
+      -- but everything else succeeded
+      local isSuccess = code == 0 or (hadStdout and errorMessage and #errorMessage > 0)
       on_finish(isSuccess and 'success' or 'error', errorMessage)
     end)
   end)
@@ -90,6 +89,8 @@ local function fetchCommandOutput(params)
       end
 
       if data then
+        hadStdout = true
+
         -- large outputs can cause the last line to be truncated
         -- save it and prepend to next chunk
         local chunkData = lastLine .. data
diff --git a/lua/grug-far/render/resultsList.lua b/lua/grug-far/render/resultsList.lua
index 3cb2e99b..5d7574e5 100644
--- a/lua/grug-far/render/resultsList.lua
+++ b/lua/grug-far/render/resultsList.lua
@@ -229,7 +229,7 @@ function M.appendWarning(buf, context, warning)
   end
   local lastline = vim.api.nvim_buf_line_count(buf)
 
-  local warn_lines = vim.split('\n\n' .. warning, '\n')
+  local warn_lines = vim.split(warning, '\n')
   setBufLines(buf, lastline, lastline, false, warn_lines)
 
   for i = lastline, lastline + #warn_lines - 1 do