diff --git a/crates/egui/src/atomics/atom.rs b/crates/egui/src/atomics/atom.rs
index 6f289fcfb..8a980c7b6 100644
--- a/crates/egui/src/atomics/atom.rs
+++ b/crates/egui/src/atomics/atom.rs
@@ -46,6 +46,9 @@ pub struct Atom<'a> {
     /// See [`crate::AtomExt::atom_align`]
     pub align: Align2,
 
+    /// See [`crate::AtomExt::atom_ignore_spacing`]
+    pub ignore_spacing: bool,
+
     /// The atom type / content
     pub kind: AtomKind<'a>,
 }
@@ -58,6 +61,7 @@ impl Default for Atom<'_> {
             max_size: Vec2::INFINITY,
             grow: false,
             shrink: false,
+            ignore_spacing: false,
             align: Align2::CENTER_CENTER,
             kind: AtomKind::Empty,
         }
@@ -72,6 +76,7 @@ impl<'a> Atom<'a> {
     pub fn grow() -> Self {
         Atom {
             grow: true,
+            ignore_spacing: true,
             ..Default::default()
         }
     }
@@ -144,6 +149,7 @@ impl<'a> Atom<'a> {
             size,
             intrinsic_size: intrinsic_size.at_least(self.size.unwrap_or_default()),
             grow: self.grow,
+            ignore_spacing: self.ignore_spacing,
             align: self.align,
             kind: sized,
         }
diff --git a/crates/egui/src/atomics/atom_ext.rs b/crates/egui/src/atomics/atom_ext.rs
index bfe587fae..d17d15cb7 100644
--- a/crates/egui/src/atomics/atom_ext.rs
+++ b/crates/egui/src/atomics/atom_ext.rs
@@ -70,6 +70,12 @@ pub trait AtomExt<'a> {
         self.atom_max_height(height)
     }
 
+    /// If `true`, this atom will not contribute to inter-atom gap spacing.
+    ///
+    /// This is useful for invisible spacers like [`Atom::grow()`] where you want
+    /// the grow space to replace the gaps rather than adding to them.
+    fn atom_ignore_spacing(self, ignore_spacing: bool) -> Atom<'a>;
+
     /// Sets the [`emath::Align2`] of a single atom within its available space.
     ///
     /// Defaults to center-center.
@@ -122,6 +128,12 @@ where
         atom
     }
 
+    fn atom_ignore_spacing(self, ignore_spacing: bool) -> Atom<'a> {
+        let mut atom = self.into();
+        atom.ignore_spacing = ignore_spacing;
+        atom
+    }
+
     fn atom_align(self, align: emath::Align2) -> Atom<'a> {
         let mut atom = self.into();
         atom.align = align;
diff --git a/crates/egui/src/atomics/atom_layout.rs b/crates/egui/src/atomics/atom_layout.rs
index 7894273f3..607d050fe 100644
--- a/crates/egui/src/atomics/atom_layout.rs
+++ b/crates/egui/src/atomics/atom_layout.rs
@@ -10,6 +10,33 @@ use smallvec::SmallVec;
 use std::ops::{Deref, DerefMut};
 use std::sync::Arc;
 
+/// Compute the effective gap between atom `i` and atom `i+1`.
+///
+/// Each atom with `ignore_spacing` has a "budget" of 1 full gap to remove,
+/// distributed across its adjacent gaps:
+/// - Edge atom (first or last): 1 adjacent gap → fully removed
+/// - Middle atom: 2 adjacent gaps → each reduced by 0.5×
+fn gap_between(
+    ignore_spacing: impl Fn(usize) -> bool,
+    count: usize,
+    gap: f32,
+    i: usize,
+) -> f32 {
+    debug_assert!(i + 1 < count);
+    let mut reduction = 0.0_f32;
+    if ignore_spacing(i) {
+        reduction += if i == 0 || i == count - 1 { 1.0 } else { 0.5 };
+    }
+    if ignore_spacing(i + 1) {
+        reduction += if i + 1 == 0 || i + 1 == count - 1 {
+            1.0
+        } else {
+            0.5
+        };
+    }
+    gap * (1.0 - reduction).max(0.0)
+}
+
 /// Intra-widget layout utility.
 ///
 /// Used to lay out and paint [`crate::Atom`]s.
@@ -250,8 +277,22 @@ impl<'a> AtomLayout<'a> {
             Align2([ui.layout().horizontal_align(), ui.layout().vertical_align()])
         });
 
+        // Collect ignore_spacing flags before atoms are consumed by into_sized.
+        let ignore_spacing_flags: SmallVec<[bool; ATOMS_SMALL_VEC_SIZE]> =
+            atoms.iter().map(|a| a.ignore_spacing).collect();
+
         if atoms.len() > 1 {
-            let gap_space = gap * (atoms.len() as f32 - 1.0);
+            let atom_count = atoms.len();
+            let gap_space: f32 = (0..atom_count - 1)
+                .map(|i| {
+                    gap_between(
+                        |idx| ignore_spacing_flags[idx],
+                        atom_count,
+                        gap,
+                        i,
+                    )
+                })
+                .sum();
             desired_width += gap_space;
             intrinsic_width += gap_space;
         }
@@ -454,7 +495,10 @@ impl<'atom> AllocatedAtomLayout<'atom> {
 
         let mut response = AtomLayoutResponse::empty(response);
 
-        for sized in sized_atoms {
+        let atom_count = sized_atoms.len();
+        let ignore_flags: SmallVec<[bool; ATOMS_SMALL_VEC_SIZE]> =
+            sized_atoms.iter().map(|a| a.ignore_spacing()).collect();
+        for (i, sized) in sized_atoms.into_iter().enumerate() {
             let size = sized.size;
             // TODO(lucasmerlin): This is not ideal, since this might lead to accumulated rounding errors
             // https://github.com/emilk/egui/pull/5830#discussion_r2079627864
@@ -463,7 +507,12 @@ impl<'atom> AllocatedAtomLayout<'atom> {
             let frame = aligned_rect
                 .with_min_x(cursor)
                 .with_max_x(cursor + size.x + growth);
-            cursor = frame.right() + gap;
+            let effective_gap = if i + 1 < atom_count {
+                gap_between(|idx| ignore_flags[idx], atom_count, gap, i)
+            } else {
+                0.0
+            };
+            cursor = frame.right() + effective_gap;
             let rect = sized.align.align_size_within_rect(size, frame);
 
             if let Some(id) = sized.id {
diff --git a/crates/egui/src/atomics/sized_atom.rs b/crates/egui/src/atomics/sized_atom.rs
index 19c289ab3..20ef65c2c 100644
--- a/crates/egui/src/atomics/sized_atom.rs
+++ b/crates/egui/src/atomics/sized_atom.rs
@@ -8,6 +8,8 @@ pub struct SizedAtom<'a> {
 
     pub(crate) grow: bool,
 
+    pub(crate) ignore_spacing: bool,
+
     /// The size of the atom.
     ///
     /// Used for placing this atom in [`crate::AtomLayout`], the cursor will advance by
@@ -28,4 +30,9 @@ impl SizedAtom<'_> {
     pub fn is_grow(&self) -> bool {
         self.grow
     }
+
+    /// Was this [`crate::Atom`] marked as `ignore_spacing`?
+    pub fn ignore_spacing(&self) -> bool {
+        self.ignore_spacing
+    }
 }
diff --git a/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/button_shortcut.png b/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/button_shortcut.png
index de7d64b4d..1361b77fb 100644
--- a/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/button_shortcut.png
+++ b/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/button_shortcut.png
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
-oid sha256:cbf68b6934dae0868bc9cf0891baf5acf110284d297cfa348e756237fca64a28
-size 1564
+oid sha256:b0b36160eff3335d10951d83cb20053bb15ff4b6fab68580710b509cd112b668
+size 1563
diff --git a/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/layout/button_image_shortcut.png b/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/layout/button_image_shortcut.png
index 9c74cd8be..0ceb1125f 100644
--- a/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/layout/button_image_shortcut.png
+++ b/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/layout/button_image_shortcut.png
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
-oid sha256:231ceab75a602eedcd11f4f4ed34f38fb9d072f5cb54e135a7e02d33d257f86b
-size 433973
+oid sha256:82f4334e848e762aa28a29904b569ca2af12b38f308434bdf5968f607fc2be0a
+size 433829
diff --git a/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/layout/text_edit_prefix_suffix.png b/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/layout/text_edit_prefix_suffix.png
index bdcab38f2..de4c748dc 100644
--- a/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/layout/text_edit_prefix_suffix.png
+++ b/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/layout/text_edit_prefix_suffix.png
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
-oid sha256:cf00e99dbfdf7497688955feb8c417fab0a366588d92182eccee775abade5179
-size 361876
+oid sha256:2d018426f3014e79475d8d8f46a728632d7f15f2bfbf55b0ee648a56c792495c
+size 370212
diff --git a/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/visuals/button_image_shortcut.png b/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/visuals/button_image_shortcut.png
index b278f6c25..d94a282fd 100644
--- a/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/visuals/button_image_shortcut.png
+++ b/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/visuals/button_image_shortcut.png
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
-oid sha256:e298d89e6fb434e5010d96661fca40bf119118b6b31fdd9fc13201bcd74c8ffd
-size 15149
+oid sha256:99f33211696d454e1fdbfa39e94af4c09239a38e00a3c4ef22e36adfbb2ee3c4
+size 15073
diff --git a/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/visuals/button_image_shortcut_selected.png b/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/visuals/button_image_shortcut_selected.png
index 9a1e15c20..0f6214da3 100644
--- a/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/visuals/button_image_shortcut_selected.png
+++ b/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/visuals/button_image_shortcut_selected.png
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
-oid sha256:a0581d601f1e536298cb52bfc8a167aa37aebdf065fc910973a752c9c159223d
-size 14733
+oid sha256:6a4d8b64c9705e13e610a404b3eca780ecd26d7d10dba1c54207c6930018d06b
+size 14659
diff --git a/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/visuals/text_edit_prefix_suffix.png b/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/visuals/text_edit_prefix_suffix.png
index d27f6f8c4..f28a4f09a 100644
--- a/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/visuals/text_edit_prefix_suffix.png
+++ b/tests/egui_tests/tests/snapshots/visuals/text_edit_prefix_suffix.png
@@ -1,3 +1,3 @@
 version https://git-lfs.github.com/spec/v1
-oid sha256:337dcbf0b3a344c6cadaf9500376a627739e19e9c47b5da23786c98c612ef4dc
-size 10028
+oid sha256:d47e3584a09ea9b024dd36293acac5d97a1784eb87a469c2aec4b1db455b4e45
+size 10514