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maybetom_orrow
User level: Level 1 (4 points)

Column View loses focus and auto-scrolls to root when creating a new folder in Save/Export dialogs

Bug: Column View loses focus and auto-scrolls to root when creating a new folder in Save/Export dialogs


System Environment:

  • Hardware: Mac Studio M2 Max
  • OS: macOS 27 Golden Gate
  • Affected Apps: Adobe Creative Suite


Steps to Reproduce:

  1. Open a document in Adobe Photoshop or InDesign.
  2. Open the Export or Save As dialog.
  3. Ensure the dialog window is set to Column View.
  4. Navigate to a deep destination folder.
  5. Click "New Folder" or press Cmd + Shift + N to create a new sub-folder at the current location.
  6. Type the new folder name and press Return.


Actual Behavior:

Immediately after pressing Return, the Column View loses focus on the newly created folder. The window automatically scrolls horizontally all the way to the left, back to the root folder. The user is forced to manually scroll back to the right to locate the newly created folder to complete the export process.


Expected Behavior:

The dialog should keep focus on the newly created folder and maintain its current horizontal scroll position, allowing the user to seamlessly enter the folder and save the file. This feature worked perfectly and smoothly in the previous macOS 26.


Impact:

This causes severe workflow disruption. For full-time digital designers who rely exclusively on Column View to manage complex, deeply nested project directories, this UI bug adds frustrating and unnecessary manual scrolling to every single file export action.

Posted on Oct 27, 2026 9:12 PM

1 reply

neuroanatomist
User level: Level 9 (72,871 points)

Oct 28, 2026 7:18 AM in response to maybetom_orrow

This is a known issue that started in macOS 26 Tahoe and persists in macOS 27 Golden Gate (at least through 27.2). When entering a folder or a dialog box with Column View active, the folder hierarchy starts with the top level at the left, meaning that if a folder is nested deeply enough, then the user needs to scroll to the right to view the contents, even if that folder is the one most recently accessed. 

 

There are a couple of workarounds for this issue:

 

Set folders/dialog boxes to List view

  • In a dialog box, list view will show the contents of the most recently accessed folder.
  • In an Open/Save dialog box, click the view selection button in the Toolbar
  • Select List view
  • In Finder, use the analogous button or select View menu > List view.

More info from Apple: Change how folders are displayed in the Finder on Mac - Apple Support

 

Use Arrow Key shortcuts

If you are in Column View, when a dialog box opens with the hierarchy starting at the top, you can press the Up or Down arrow keys to shift focus to the 'active' folder, which will be the one on the right of the column view, the deeper folder that was last accessed.

 

Given the length of time that has passed, it is possible that the change was intentional on Apple's part. They may have decided that users would prefer to start navigation at the top level of the hierarchy. Alternatively, it could just be a long-lasting bug they have not yet addressed. Either way, only Apple can revert macOS to the previous behavior. To have Apple consider your feedback, submit it here:

Feedback - macOS - Apple

 

Originally posted at discussions.apple.com/thread/256384341