How to fix this trivial thing I hate but cannot describe briefly?

Solution 1:

The issue you describe is know for many years and reported here. When the dialog is open, and the user changes the directory in the folder list, the keyboard focus has changed to that folder list, but the name field still stays highlighted as if it would still be selected.

That keyboard focus changes in this case, is expected. Otherwise, you would not be able to navigate that part of the dialog with the keyboard. What is not right is that the name stays highlighted.

There is a keyboard accelerator to return focus to the name field. Thus, hit Alt+n to quickly return to the name field. Hopefully, the misleading highlight issue will be solved, perhaps in GTK4?