diff --git a/include/ui/tileseteditortileselector.h b/include/ui/tileseteditortileselector.h
index 8109cd88..eb4fc7d6 100644
--- a/include/ui/tileseteditortileselector.h
+++ b/include/ui/tileseteditortileselector.h
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ public:
     void setPaletteId(int);
     void setTileFlips(bool, bool);
     QList<Tile> getSelectedTiles();
-    void setExternalSelection(int, int, QList<Tile>);
+    void setExternalSelection(int, int, QList<Tile>, QList<int>);
     QPoint getTileCoordsOnWidget(uint16_t);
     QImage buildPrimaryTilesIndexedImage();
     QImage buildSecondaryTilesIndexedImage();
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ private:
     int externalSelectionWidth;
     int externalSelectionHeight;
     QList<Tile> externalSelectedTiles;
+    QList<int> externalSelectedPos;
 
     Tileset *primaryTileset;
     Tileset *secondaryTileset;
diff --git a/src/ui/tileseteditor.cpp b/src/ui/tileseteditor.cpp
index d61415c5..b11cfa9e 100644
--- a/src/ui/tileseteditor.cpp
+++ b/src/ui/tileseteditor.cpp
@@ -328,6 +328,7 @@ void TilesetEditor::onMetatileLayerTileChanged(int x, int y) {
 
 void TilesetEditor::onMetatileLayerSelectionChanged(QPoint selectionOrigin, int width, int height) {
     QList<Tile> tiles;
+    QList<int> tileIdxs;
     int x = selectionOrigin.x();
     int y = selectionOrigin.y();
     bool isTripleLayerMetatile = projectConfig.getTripleLayerMetatilesEnabled();
@@ -337,13 +338,14 @@ void TilesetEditor::onMetatileLayerSelectionChanged(QPoint selectionOrigin, int
             int tileIndex = ((x + i) / 2 * 4) + ((y + j) * 2) + ((x + i) % 2);
             if (tileIndex < maxTileIndex) {
                 tiles.append(this->metatile->tiles->at(tileIndex));
+                tileIdxs.append(tileIndex);
             }
         }
     }
 
     if (width == 1 && height == 1)
         ui->spinBox_paletteSelector->setValue(tiles[0].palette);
-    this->tileSelector->setExternalSelection(width, height, tiles);
+    this->tileSelector->setExternalSelection(width, height, tiles, tileIdxs);
     this->metatileLayersItem->clearLastModifiedCoords();
 }
 
diff --git a/src/ui/tileseteditortileselector.cpp b/src/ui/tileseteditortileselector.cpp
index 8bd6dcfa..78349c63 100644
--- a/src/ui/tileseteditortileselector.cpp
+++ b/src/ui/tileseteditortileselector.cpp
@@ -128,7 +128,8 @@ QList<Tile> TilesetEditorTileSelector::buildSelectedTiles(int width, int height,
 
             // If we've completed a layer row, or its the last tile of an incompletely
             // selected layer, then append the layer row to the full row
-            if (layerRow.length() == 2 || (width % 2 && i == width - 1)) {
+            // If not an external selection, treat the whole row as 1 "layer"
+            if (i == width - 1 || (this->externalSelection && (this->externalSelectedPos.at(index) % 4) & 1)) {
                 row.append(layerRow);
                 layerRow.clear();
             }
@@ -146,16 +147,15 @@ QList<Tile> TilesetEditorTileSelector::buildSelectedTiles(int width, int height,
     return tiles;
 }
 
-void TilesetEditorTileSelector::setExternalSelection(int width, int height, QList<Tile> tiles) {
+void TilesetEditorTileSelector::setExternalSelection(int width, int height, QList<Tile> tiles, QList<int> tileIdxs) {
     this->externalSelection = true;
     this->paletteChanged = false;
     this->externalSelectionWidth = width;
     this->externalSelectionHeight = height;
     this->externalSelectedTiles.clear();
-    for (int i = 0; i < tiles.length(); i++) {
-        this->externalSelectedTiles.append(tiles.at(i));
-    }
-
+    this->externalSelectedTiles.append(tiles);
+    this->externalSelectedPos.clear();
+    this->externalSelectedPos.append(tileIdxs);
     this->draw();
     emit selectedTilesChanged();
 }