diff --git a/docs/DESIGN.md b/docs/DESIGN.md
index 606120b0..c4c48b5e 100644
--- a/docs/DESIGN.md
+++ b/docs/DESIGN.md
@@ -536,8 +536,10 @@ of a full-width panel and nothing on the right.
 ## Dialogs — _Decided_ (C4, built in S3f)
 
 - **Initial focus by purpose** (`Modal`'s required `initialFocus`, so no dialog inherits "the first
-  focusable", which is always the ✕): `field` — a form opens on the body's first control, and one that
-  loads after opening moves the focus there when it arrives, as long as the focus still rests on the ✕;
+  focusable", which is always the ✕): `field` — a form opens on its first field: the body's first
+  control, or the one marked `data-initial-focus` when a control above the form is not one of its
+  fields (the issue composer's Edit / Preview switch); one that loads after opening moves the focus
+  there when it arrives, as long as the focus still rests on the ✕;
   `action` — a confirm, where the least destructive button takes `autoFocus`; `close` — anything to read,
   browse or manage. [WAI-ARIA APG]
 - **The header and the footer are fixed; only the body scrolls,** with the B9 fade at each edge, so the
@@ -702,3 +704,4 @@ of a full-width panel and nothing on the right.
 | 2026-10-01 | E31 Nav rail rows are links                      | Each page row is a real link: a middle-click or Ctrl-click opens the page in a new tab                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 | A button                                                                                                                                                                                               | The owner: open a page in a tab of its own, as on any site                                                                                                                                    |
 | 2026-10-02 | E31 Plex detail second column (refined)          | The facts over the key crew beside the text; the keywords, chips that filter like the genres, under the text; the show page gets all three too                                                                                                                                                                         | All three in the column, as the mockup drew it                                                                                                                                                         | At 20 keywords and 12 crew the column ran to twice the text's height (849 vs ~400 px at 133%): a hole under the text instead of beside it                                                     |
 | 2026-10-02 | E31 Plex detail poster and crew                  | The movie and show poster keeps its 2:3 and grows a rung in a wide hero (w-56 at a 64rem panel); the crew shows its first 6 names and "Show N more" (a list of 8 or fewer shows whole)                                                                                                                                 | Poster stretched to the row; a "More" on the keywords                                                                                                                                                  | The row is as tall as the crew column, so the poster drew ~175×590 and cropped; the crew, not the keywords, set the hero's height                                                             |
+| 2026-10-04 | E32 `field` focus skips a mode switch | A form opens on its first field; a control above it that is not a field (the composer's Edit / Preview) is passed over by marking the field `data-initial-focus` | The first text field everywhere | That moved the focus in the download dialog off its profile choice and in the upload dialog off its drop zone; the mark changes only the form that needs it |
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/IssueComposer.dom.test.tsx b/frontend/src/components/IssueComposer.dom.test.tsx
index be3aba63..0af536b4 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/IssueComposer.dom.test.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/IssueComposer.dom.test.tsx
@@ -153,6 +153,7 @@ beforeEach(() => {
 afterEach(() => {
   cleanup();
   vi.useRealTimers();
+  vi.restoreAllMocks();
 });
 
 let tracker: { repo: string } | null = null;
@@ -167,6 +168,9 @@ function mount() {
   );
 }
 
+/** jsdom lays nothing out, so every element reads as hidden to the dialog's focus rules. */
+const layOut = () =>
+  vi.spyOn(HTMLElement.prototype, "offsetParent", "get").mockReturnValue(document.body);
 const lastSaved = () => api.saved[api.saved.length - 1]!;
 const title = () => screen.getByLabelText("recorder.composer.fieldTitle") as HTMLInputElement;
 /** A button once it can be pressed: `loading` holds it while the draft's first save settles. */
@@ -489,6 +493,24 @@ describe("the issue composer", () => {
     expect(screen.queryByRole("button", { name: /recorder.composer.addStep/ })).toBeNull();
   });
 
+  it("opens on the title, not on the Edit / Preview switch above it", async () => {
+    // The form arrives after the dialog opens; its first control is the switch, and the focus
+    // landed there — typing went nowhere (E32 review round 3).
+    layOut();
+    mount();
+    await waitFor(() => expect(document.activeElement).toBe(title()));
+  });
+
+  it("moves to the title once a retried load brings the form", async () => {
+    layOut();
+    api.failSession = true;
+    mount();
+    const message = await screen.findByText("recorder.composer.loadFailed");
+    api.failSession = false;
+    fireEvent.click(within(message.closest('[role="alert"]')!).getByRole("button"));
+    await waitFor(() => expect(document.activeElement).toBe(title()));
+  });
+
   it("says so when the session cannot be loaded, with a retry", async () => {
     api.failSession = true;
     mount();
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/IssueComposer.tsx b/frontend/src/components/IssueComposer.tsx
index 3a36f963..e87214d7 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/IssueComposer.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/IssueComposer.tsx
@@ -483,6 +483,8 @@ function DraftFields({
         <Input
           className="w-full"
           id="issue-title"
+          // the dialog opens here, not on the Edit / Preview switch above the form
+          data-initial-focus
           value={form.title}
           readOnly={readOnly}
           maxLength={200}
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/ui/Modal.tsx b/frontend/src/components/ui/Modal.tsx
index b4a0b955..1bf252fb 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/ui/Modal.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/ui/Modal.tsx
@@ -14,16 +14,17 @@ import { X } from "lucide-react";
 import { useBackToClose } from "../../lib/history";
 import { anyBlockingLayerAbove, pushLayer, removeLayer, takeEscape } from "../../lib/layerStack";
 import { useFullscreenPortalHost } from "../../lib/fullscreen";
-import { focusablesIn, trapTab, useDialogChrome } from "./dialogFocus";
+import { firstFieldIn, focusablesIn, trapTab, useDialogChrome } from "./dialogFocus";
 import { IconButton } from "./IconButton";
 import Toaster from "./Toaster";
 import { useOverlayOrder } from "./overlayOrder";
 import { SURFACE } from "./surfaces";
 
-/** Where a dialog opens focused (C4, by purpose — WAI-ARIA APG): `field` = the body's first control
- *  (a form), `close` = the header's ✕ (anything to read or browse), `action` = the child that takes
- *  `autoFocus` itself (a confirm's least destructive button; the ✕ if none does). Required, so every
- *  dialog states its purpose instead of inheriting "the first focusable", which is always the ✕. */
+/** Where a dialog opens focused (C4, by purpose — WAI-ARIA APG): `field` = the body's first control,
+ *  or the one marked `data-initial-focus` (a form), `close` = the header's ✕ (anything to read or
+ *  browse), `action` = the child that takes `autoFocus` itself (a confirm's least destructive button;
+ *  the ✕ if none does). Required, so every dialog states its purpose instead of inheriting "the first
+ *  focusable", which is always the ✕. */
 export type ModalFocus = "field" | "close" | "action";
 
 // The footer slot of the open dialog. `ModalFooter` portals into it from any depth, so a body that
@@ -100,18 +101,19 @@ export default function Modal({
     // Only a rendered target (the trap's own `offsetParent` test); none falls back to the hook's
     // first-focusable rule. `action` lands on the ✕ here and its child's autoFocus then takes over.
     initial: () =>
-      (initialFocus === "field" && bodyRef.current ? focusablesIn(bodyRef.current)[0] : null) ??
+      (initialFocus === "field" && bodyRef.current ? firstFieldIn(bodyRef.current) : null) ??
       (closeRef.current?.offsetParent != null ? closeRef.current : null),
   });
   // A form that loads after the dialog opens (the issue composer shows a spinner first) has no field
-  // to take the focus at open, so it lands on the ✕. When the first control arrives the focus moves
-  // there — but only while it still rests on the ✕: a user who has moved it keeps it where it is.
+  // to take the focus at open, so it lands on the ✕. When the form arrives the focus moves to its
+  // first field — but only while it still rests on the ✕: a user who has moved it keeps it there.
   // The form takes it ONCE: arrived while the focus was elsewhere, it disarms all the same, or a later
   // mutation would pull the focus off a ✕ the user went back to (E32 review round 2). The watch
   // re-arms only when the focus is taken away, not moved: the body has no control again, or the
   // focused one went (a failed load's Retry giving way to the spinner, or straight to the form) and
-  // the focus fell to <body> — it then waits on the ✕ for the form (E32 review). Only <body>: focus
-  // in a dialog stacked on top is not this one's to take.
+  // the focus fell to <body>. It then goes to the ✕, and on to the first field as soon as the body
+  // has one — at once, when other controls stayed beside the one that went (E32 review). Only
+  // <body>: focus in a dialog stacked on top is not this one's to take.
   useEffect(() => {
     const body = bodyRef.current;
     if (initialFocus !== "field" || !body || focusablesIn(body).length > 0) return;
@@ -121,7 +123,7 @@ export default function Modal({
         closeRef.current.focus();
         armed = true;
       }
-      const first = focusablesIn(body)[0];
+      const first = firstFieldIn(body);
       if (!first) {
         armed = true;
         return;
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/ui/dialogFocus.ts b/frontend/src/components/ui/dialogFocus.ts
index 2fbe6e9c..33a439fb 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/ui/dialogFocus.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/components/ui/dialogFocus.ts
@@ -16,6 +16,15 @@ const FOCUSABLE =
 export const focusablesIn = (root: HTMLElement): HTMLElement[] =>
   [...root.querySelectorAll<HTMLElement>(FOCUSABLE)].filter((el) => el.offsetParent !== null);
 
+/** A form's first field — where a dialog opened to fill something in takes the focus: its first
+ *  control, unless one is marked `data-initial-focus`. The mark is for a form with a control above
+ *  its fields that is not one of them — the issue composer's Edit / Preview switch took the focus,
+ *  and typing went nowhere (E32 review). */
+export const firstFieldIn = (root: HTMLElement): HTMLElement | undefined => {
+  const all = focusablesIn(root);
+  return all.find((el) => el.hasAttribute("data-initial-focus")) ?? all[0];
+};
+
 /** Keep Tab / Shift+Tab cycling inside `scope` instead of reaching the inert page behind the
  *  backdrop. Call from a keydown handler that has already decided this dialog is the topmost layer —
  *  a nested dialog must defer to its child. `container` is the scope's own tabIndex=-1 panel, if it