diff --git a/frontend/src/components/Files.menu.dom.test.tsx b/frontend/src/components/Files.menu.dom.test.tsx
index eb96f832..710ae732 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/Files.menu.dom.test.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/Files.menu.dom.test.tsx
@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ const mocks = vi.hoisted(() => ({
   searched: [] as unknown[],
   // The server's search/sort answer is still on its way (no data yet).
   wideLoading: false,
+  // The server's search/sort answer failed.
+  wideFailed: false,
   foldersFailed: false,
   notify: vi.fn(),
 }));
@@ -73,6 +75,14 @@ vi.mock("../lib/useLiveQuery", () => ({
     if (opts?.enabled === false) return { data: undefined, isError: false, isLoading: false };
     mocks.keys.push(key);
     const asked = key[1] as { q?: string; sort?: string } | undefined;
+    if (key[0] === "files" && (asked?.q || asked?.sort) && mocks.wideFailed)
+      return {
+        data: undefined,
+        isError: true,
+        isLoading: false,
+        isFetching: false,
+        refetch: vi.fn(),
+      };
     if (key[0] === "files" && (asked?.q || asked?.sort) && mocks.wideLoading)
       return {
         data: undefined,
@@ -154,6 +164,7 @@ afterEach(() => {
   mocks.fetching = false;
   mocks.titleArgs = [];
   mocks.wideLoading = false;
+  mocks.wideFailed = false;
   mocks.notify.mockClear();
   resetQueueWatch();
 });
@@ -476,11 +487,55 @@ describe("Files · a library past the list's cap", () => {
     expect(screen.getByText("files.countFirst")).toBeTruthy();
     cleanup();
 
+    // A search with no sort of the server's: it answers the newest matches first.
+    mount(ALL_FILES, vi.fn(), "clip");
+    expect(screen.getByText("files.countNewest")).toBeTruthy();
+    cleanup();
+
     mocks.searched = [file(9999, { display_name: "Régi recept" })];
     mount(ALL_FILES, vi.fn(), "recept");
     expect(screen.getByText("files.count")).toBeTruthy();
   });
 
+  it("a search past the cap waits for the server's answer — never a 'no match' it has not given", () => {
+    mocks.folders = [YT];
+    mocks.files = capped();
+    mocks.wideLoading = true;
+    mount(ALL_FILES, vi.fn(), "recept");
+    expect(screen.getByRole("status")).toBeTruthy();
+    expect(screen.queryByText("files.empty.search")).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it("a server search that failed says so, not the newest files searched here", () => {
+    mocks.folders = [YT];
+    mocks.files = capped();
+    mocks.wideFailed = true;
+    mount(ALL_FILES, vi.fn(), "clip");
+    expect(screen.getByText("common.loadError")).toBeTruthy();
+    expect(screen.queryByText("Clip 1")).toBeNull();
+  });
+
+  it("a file opened while the server's sort was on its way stays open when the answer leaves it out", async () => {
+    mocks.folders = [YT];
+    const doc = file(7, {
+      job_kind: "upload",
+      display_name: "Doc 7",
+      asset: { media_kind: "file", preview: "pdf", container: "pdf", size_bytes: 10 },
+    } as never);
+    mocks.files = [doc, ...capped().slice(1)];
+    mocks.wideLoading = true;
+    mount();
+    fireEvent.click(nameHeader());
+    fireEvent.click(screen.getByText("Doc 7"));
+    expect(await screen.findByRole("dialog")).toBeTruthy();
+    // The answer: the first files by name, without it.
+    mocks.wideLoading = false;
+    mocks.searched = Array.from({ length: FILES_LIST_CAP }, (_, i) => file(i + 1000));
+    fireEvent.click(nameHeader());
+    expect(screen.getByText("Clip 1499")).toBeTruthy(); // by name, from the end
+    expect(screen.getByRole("dialog")).toBeTruthy();
+  });
+
   it("an arrival waits for the server's answer: the table can only turn to a file it holds", async () => {
     mocks.folders = [YT];
     mocks.files = capped();
@@ -1013,6 +1068,24 @@ describe("Files · dropping a file on the page", () => {
     expect(drag("drop", [new File(["y"], "masik.pdf")]).defaultPrevented).toBe(true);
   });
 
+  it("a drop another zone took still ends the page's drag", () => {
+    mocks.files = [];
+    mocks.folders = [YT, OWN];
+    mount({ kind: "folder", id: 2 });
+    drag("dragenter");
+    expect(screen.getByText("files.drop.here:Cimboráknak")).toBeTruthy();
+    // Taken by a zone over the page (the issue composer's screenshot box): no dragleave follows.
+    const e = new Event("drop", { bubbles: true, cancelable: true });
+    Object.defineProperty(e, "dataTransfer", {
+      value: { types: ["Files"], files: Object.assign([], { item: () => null }) },
+    });
+    e.preventDefault();
+    act(() => {
+      window.dispatchEvent(e);
+    });
+    expect(screen.queryByText("files.drop.here:Cimboráknak")).toBeNull();
+  });
+
   it("the open Upload dialog's own zone keeps the drop it accepted", async () => {
     mocks.files = [];
     mocks.folders = [YT, OWN];
diff --git a/frontend/src/components/Files.tsx b/frontend/src/components/Files.tsx
index db10cba0..da78f1e9 100644
--- a/frontend/src/components/Files.tsx
+++ b/frontend/src/components/Files.tsx
@@ -117,6 +117,19 @@ function uploadFolder(view: FilesView, folders: readonly FileFolder[]): number |
   return f && (f.kind === "own" || f.source_key === "upload") ? f.id : null;
 }
 
+/** The files the viewer pages through: the list's, and the open one even when the list moved on
+ *  without it — a server sort's answer replacing the rows it was opened from. It closes only once the
+ *  library no longer has it (deleted). */
+function previewFiles(
+  listed: LibraryFile[],
+  openId: number | null,
+  library: readonly (readonly LibraryFile[] | undefined)[],
+): LibraryFile[] {
+  if (openId === null || listed.some((f) => f.id === openId)) return listed;
+  const open = library.flatMap((l) => l ?? []).find((f) => f.id === openId);
+  return open ? [open, ...listed] : listed;
+}
+
 function NameCell({
   file,
   renaming,
@@ -216,9 +229,11 @@ export default function Files() {
     intervalMs: 15000,
     enabled: wide,
   });
-  // Until the server's first answer is in, the rows already on screen stay, searched and sorted here:
-  // a skeleton in their place would unmount the table under the header the user just pressed.
-  const wideIn = wide && (wideQ.data !== undefined || wideQ.isError);
+  // Until a server sort's first answer is in, the rows already on screen stay, sorted here: a skeleton
+  // in their place would unmount the table under the header the user just pressed. A search waits in
+  // a skeleton instead — the newest files searched here would say "no match" for a file the server is
+  // about to find — its keyboard being in the search box, not the table.
+  const wideIn = wide && (!!typed || wideQ.data !== undefined || wideQ.isError);
   const listQ = wideIn ? wideQ : filesQ;
   const all = listQ.data ?? [];
   const rows = wideIn ? all : all.filter((f) => matches(f, q, lang));
@@ -351,7 +366,14 @@ export default function Files() {
   const dragDepth = useRef(0);
   const dropReady = canUpload && upload === null;
   const onDrag = useEffectEvent((e: DragEvent) => {
-    if (!e.dataTransfer?.types.includes("Files") || e.defaultPrevented) return;
+    if (!e.dataTransfer?.types.includes("Files")) return;
+    // A drop ends the drag wherever it lands, taken by another zone too (no dragleave follows it): the
+    // page's "drop here" goes with it.
+    if (e.type === "drop") {
+      dragDepth.current = 0;
+      setDragging(false);
+    }
+    if (e.defaultPrevented) return;
     e.preventDefault();
     if (!dropReady) {
       e.dataTransfer.dropEffect = "none";
@@ -360,7 +382,6 @@ export default function Files() {
     if (e.type === "dragenter") dragDepth.current += 1;
     if (e.type === "dragleave") dragDepth.current = Math.max(0, dragDepth.current - 1);
     if (e.type === "drop") {
-      dragDepth.current = 0;
       const dropped = e.dataTransfer.files;
       const first = dropped.item(0);
       if (first) setUpload({ file: first });
@@ -666,11 +687,18 @@ export default function Files() {
           )}
           {listQ.data && (
             <span className="text-xs tabular-nums text-muted">
-              {/* A list the cap cut says which files it holds: the newest, or the first by the
-                  server's sort or search. */}
-              {t(cut ? (wideIn ? "files.countFirst" : "files.countNewest") : "files.count", {
-                count: rows.length,
-              })}
+              {/* A list the cap cut says which files it holds: the first by the server's sort, else
+                  the newest (a search's too — the server answers it newest first). */}
+              {t(
+                cut
+                  ? wideIn && serverSort
+                    ? "files.countFirst"
+                    : "files.countNewest"
+                  : "files.count",
+                {
+                  count: rows.length,
+                },
+              )}
             </span>
           )}
           {isGrid && (
@@ -744,8 +772,12 @@ export default function Files() {
           {viewing !== null && (
             <FilePreview
               // The viewer pages the list as it reads (its sort), through the files it can open.
-              files={sortRows(rows, columns, sort, lang).filter(
-                (f) => (f.shared ? sharedRowActions(f) : libraryRowActions(f)).view,
+              files={previewFiles(
+                sortRows(rows, columns, sort, lang).filter(
+                  (f) => (f.shared ? sharedRowActions(f) : libraryRowActions(f)).view,
+                ),
+                viewing,
+                [filesQ.data, wideQ.data],
               )}
               fileId={viewing}
               onFileChange={setViewing}
diff --git a/frontend/src/i18n/locales/en/files.json b/frontend/src/i18n/locales/en/files.json
index a95ba58e..ed9a8844 100644
--- a/frontend/src/i18n/locales/en/files.json
+++ b/frontend/src/i18n/locales/en/files.json
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
   "folderUnknown": "This folder could not be loaded",
   "arrival": {
     "gone": "That file is no longer in your library",
-    "notListed": "That file is past the end of this list — search for it by name"
+    "notListed": "That file isn't among the ones listed here — search for it by name"
   },
   "phoneOk": "Plays on a phone too",
   "rail": {
diff --git a/frontend/src/i18n/locales/hu/files.json b/frontend/src/i18n/locales/hu/files.json
index d71e49ae..5faa47aa 100644
--- a/frontend/src/i18n/locales/hu/files.json
+++ b/frontend/src/i18n/locales/hu/files.json
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
   "folderUnknown": "Ez a mappa nem tölthető be",
   "arrival": {
     "gone": "Ez a fájl már nincs a könyvtáradban",
-    "notListed": "Ez a fájl kimaradt a listából — keress rá a nevére"
+    "notListed": "Ez a fájl nincs a listázottak között — keress rá a nevére"
   },
   "phoneOk": "Telefonon is lejátszható",
   "rail": {