Photoshop 2025 — First Tab key is delayed in the Save As dialog when a PSD is opened from Directory Opus

Hello again,

I am following up on my previous report after doing considerably more testing, as well as contacting the Directory Opus developers as suggested.

I would like to clarify one important point first:

This does not appear to be simply a Directory Opus drag-and-drop issue.

Based on the additional testing, the problem appears to involve how Photoshop 2025 handles the initial keyboard focus / first Tab action in the Save As dialog under certain conditions.

Additional testing

I tested several different ways of opening the same PSD:

• Windows Explorer → Photoshop → works normally
• Directory Opus → Photoshop → problem occurs
• Directory Opus → Open With → Photoshop → problem occurs
• Drag & drop from Directory Opus → Photoshop → problem occurs

So the issue is not limited to one specific Directory Opus drag-and-drop action.

Once the PSD is open, the problem occurs specifically after pressing:

Ctrl+Shift+S → Save As

The filename field has focus and the caret is blinking.

When I press Tab once, the first Tab action appears to have no effect for approximately 1–3 seconds.

Sometimes I need to press Tab twice before focus moves to the file type selection.

Other keyboard and mouse operations continue to work normally:

• Clicking the file type field with the mouse → immediate
• Alt+T → immediate
• Shift+Tab → immediate
• Arrow keys → normal
• Space → normal

This makes it seem very specifically related to the first forward Tab/focus transition in the Save As dialog rather than a general keyboard input problem.

A very interesting folder-related behavior

I also discovered another reproducible pattern.

Suppose folder A contains several PSD files.

1. I open PSD #1 from folder A.
2. The first Tab problem occurs in Save As.
3. I press Tab twice and complete the Save As operation normally.
4. I then open PSD #2 from the same folder A, even though PSD #2 has never previously been opened.
5. PSD #2 now works normally.

In other words, after the first PSD in a folder has gone through this process, other PSD files in the same folder can work normally even though they themselves have never been opened before.

This makes me wonder whether there may be some folder-level initialization, state, or caching behavior involved.

Another user has independently reported very similar behavior with Photoshop 2024, specifically when opening an image from a folder they had never previously opened an image from.

One important detail when testing this: creating a new subfolder inside the existing PSD folder does not always reproduce the problem.

To test the "new folder" condition accurately, it is better to create a folder in a completely different path, copy the PSD there, and open it from Directory Opus.

For example, if the original file is:

D:\Projects\1\2\3.psd

creating:

D:\Projects\1\2\New Folder

may work normally.

Instead, a completely separate path should be used for the test.

Directory Opus developer feedback

Following Adobe's previous suggestion, I also reported this issue to the Directory Opus developers.

They specifically explained that Directory Opus does not control how the Tab key behaves inside Photoshop, and that Photoshop runs as a separate process.

Their response was:

"If there is a bug here, it is a Photoshop bug. We have absolutely no control over how Photoshop responds to keyboard input. None."

They also explained that Photoshop's behavior occurs in a completely separate process from Opus.

I am mentioning this because I initially reported the issue to Adobe based on the fact that it was triggered by using Directory Opus. However, after investigating it with both sides, it seems more appropriate to ask whether Photoshop's Save As dialog has a focus/Tab handling issue that is exposed by a particular way of opening the file.

I am not trying to claim that Directory Opus is definitely unrelated. I simply want to provide the additional information that was not available when I made my original report.

Environment

• Windows 10 Pro
• Photoshop 2025
• Two different Windows 10 Pro PCs
• Same Photoshop build
• Photoshop CS6 does not show this behavior

I would really appreciate it if the Photoshop team could take another look at this with the additional information above.

If necessary, I can provide screen recordings showing the difference between Windows Explorer and Directory Opus, as well as the exact Tab behavior.

One small note: English is not my native language, so I used AI only to translate my own Korean text into English. All testing and observations described here are based on my own testing.

Thank you for taking another look.