diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Dashboards/DashboardListApp.tsx b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Dashboards/DashboardListApp.tsx
index ebd98cae..cbf3452d 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Dashboards/DashboardListApp.tsx
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Dashboards/DashboardListApp.tsx
@@ -1,10 +1,9 @@
 import { useState } from 'react';
-import { Link, useLocation, useNavigate, useSearchParams } from 'react-router';
+import { Link, useLocation, useSearchParams } from 'react-router';
 import { LayoutGrid, Plus, Pencil, Trash2, Search } from 'lucide-react';
 import { useQueryClient } from '@tanstack/react-query';
 import { useGlobal } from 'hooks/useGlobal';
 import { useClient } from 'hooks/useClient';
-import { generateSlug } from 'helpers/slug';
 import { useUserState } from 'state/useUserState';
 import { useDashboardState, persistDashboardState } from 'state/useDashboardState';
 import type { DashboardDefinition } from '../../components/Workspace';
@@ -25,10 +24,10 @@ import {
   NEW_DASH_DESC_KEY,
   NEW_DASH_TEMPLATE_KEY,
 } from './constants';
+import { useNewDashboardDraft } from './useNewDashboardDraft';
 
 export const DashboardListApp = () => {
   const location = useLocation();
-  const navigate = useNavigate();
   const client = useClient();
   const queryClient = useQueryClient();
   const { value: dashboards, setValue: setDashboards } = useDashboardState<DashboardDefinition[]>('workspaces', []);
@@ -49,6 +48,9 @@ export const DashboardListApp = () => {
   const [, setDescription] = useGlobal<string>(NEW_DASH_DESC_KEY, '');
   const [, setTemplateIdx] = useGlobal<number>(NEW_DASH_TEMPLATE_KEY, 0);
   const [, setFilePath] = useUserState<string>('files/currentPath', '/');
+  // Shared with the file browser's "Create Dashboard here", which needs the same five writes seeded from
+  // a folder rather than from nothing.
+  const openNewDashboard = useNewDashboardDraft();
 
   const [search, setSearch] = useState('');
   const [deleting, setDeleting] = useState<DashboardDefinition | null>(null);
@@ -106,16 +108,7 @@ export const DashboardListApp = () => {
         </Link>
         <button
           type="button"
-          onClick={() => {
-            clearSelected();
-            setEditing(null);
-            setName(generateSlug());
-            setDescription('');
-            setTemplateIdx(0);
-            setFilePath('/');
-            setCreating(true);
-            if (!isDashboardsPage) navigate('/dashboards');
-          }}
+          onClick={() => openNewDashboard()}
           className="flex items-center justify-center gap-1 py-2 px-3 rounded-lg text-sm font-medium bg-duck-teal hover:bg-duck-teal/90 text-white transition-all cursor-pointer"
         >
           <Plus className="h-4 w-4 shrink-0" />
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Dashboards/useNewDashboardDraft.ts b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Dashboards/useNewDashboardDraft.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6093c041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/Dashboards/useNewDashboardDraft.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+import { useLocation, useNavigate } from 'react-router';
+import { useGlobal } from 'hooks/useGlobal';
+import { useUserState } from 'state/useUserState';
+import { generateSlug } from 'helpers/slug';
+import {
+  CREATING_DASHBOARD_KEY,
+  EDITING_DASHBOARD_KEY,
+  NEW_DASH_NAME_KEY,
+  NEW_DASH_DESC_KEY,
+  NEW_DASH_TEMPLATE_KEY,
+} from './constants';
+
+type NewDashboardSeed = {
+  /** Pre-fills the name field. Falls back to a generated slug, which is what the plain button does. */
+  name?: string;
+  /** Home-relative folder the dashboard should be rooted at, leading slash, e.g. `/Pictures/Photos`. */
+  path?: string;
+};
+
+/**
+ * Opens the create-dashboard form, optionally seeded. Returns the opener, not state.
+ *
+ * The seed is spread across four `useGlobal` form-draft keys plus `files/currentPath` — `NewDashboardForm`
+ * derives its `cwd` from that last one rather than holding a folder field of its own — so "start creating a
+ * dashboard" is five writes in a specific order, not one. It lived inline in the New Dashboard button, and
+ * the file browser's "Create Dashboard here" tried to express the same intent as a URL instead
+ * (`/dashboards/new?name=…&cwd=…`). That URL never had a route: `new` matched `/dashboards/:id`, found no
+ * dashboard by that id, and redirected to the bare list, dropping the params — so the menu item had been
+ * doing nothing since the workspaces→dashboards rename in `927267e`. One opener, two call sites, no URL
+ * contract to keep in sync.
+ *
+ * Seeding a draft *and then* navigating is why the callers stay buttons rather than becoming links: a link
+ * cannot express the "and then".
+ */
+export const useNewDashboardDraft = () => {
+  const location = useLocation();
+  const navigate = useNavigate();
+  const [, setCreating] = useGlobal<boolean>(CREATING_DASHBOARD_KEY, false);
+  const [, setEditing] = useGlobal<string | null>(EDITING_DASHBOARD_KEY, null);
+  const [, setName] = useGlobal<string>(NEW_DASH_NAME_KEY, '');
+  const [, setDescription] = useGlobal<string>(NEW_DASH_DESC_KEY, '');
+  const [, setTemplateIdx] = useGlobal<number>(NEW_DASH_TEMPLATE_KEY, 0);
+  const [, setFilePath] = useUserState<string>('files/currentPath', '/');
+
+  return ({ name, path }: NewDashboardSeed = {}) => {
+    setEditing(null);
+    setName(name?.trim() || generateSlug());
+    setDescription('');
+    setTemplateIdx(0);
+    setFilePath(path || '/');
+    setCreating(true);
+    // `/dashboards` with no query — which is also how `?selected=` gets cleared, since an open form and a
+    // selected dashboard are different states. Replace when already there so opening the form is not a
+    // history entry you have to press Back through twice.
+    navigate('/dashboards', { replace: location.pathname === '/dashboards' });
+  };
+};
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/FileBrowser/FileBrowserApp/useFileBrowserApp.ts b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/FileBrowser/FileBrowserApp/useFileBrowserApp.ts
index b977c21d..cb77051c 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/FileBrowser/FileBrowserApp/useFileBrowserApp.ts
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/FileBrowser/FileBrowserApp/useFileBrowserApp.ts
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ import { useAgents, type AgentSummary } from '../useAgents';
 import { useUserState } from 'state/useUserState';
 import { useAuth } from 'hooks/useAuth';
 import { useFilesRefresh } from '../../../channels';
+import { useNewDashboardDraft } from '../../Dashboards/useNewDashboardDraft';
 
 /**
  * Where the browser is looking, when it is the one browser that owns the address bar. `urlPath` is opt-in
@@ -26,6 +27,7 @@ const withPath = (prev: URLSearchParams, path: string, basePath: string) => {
 export const useFileBrowserApp = (basePath: string, rootOverride?: string, urlPath = false) => {
   const { user } = useAuth();
   const navigate = useNavigate();
+  const openNewDashboard = useNewDashboardDraft();
   const [searchParams, setSearchParams] = useSearchParams();
   const homeRoot = 'home';
   const [, setGlobalPath] = useUserState<string>('files/currentPath', '/');
@@ -428,7 +430,7 @@ export const useFileBrowserApp = (basePath: string, rootOverride?: string, urlPa
 
   const handleCreateDashboard = (entry: DirEntry) => {
     const folderPath = currentPath === '/' ? `/${entry.name}` : `${currentPath}/${entry.name}`;
-    navigate(`/dashboards/new?name=${encodeURIComponent(entry.name)}&cwd=${encodeURIComponent(folderPath)}`);
+    openNewDashboard({ name: entry.name, path: folderPath });
   };
 
   const handleCopyPath = (entry: DirEntry) => {
@@ -452,9 +454,7 @@ export const useFileBrowserApp = (basePath: string, rootOverride?: string, urlPa
 
   const handleCreateDashboardHere = () => {
     const dirName = currentPath === '/' ? '' : currentPath.split('/').pop()!;
-    const params = new URLSearchParams({ cwd: currentPath });
-    if (dirName) params.set('name', dirName);
-    navigate(`/dashboards/new?${params}`);
+    openNewDashboard({ name: dirName, path: currentPath });
   };
 
   const handleReadAloud = async (entry: DirEntry) => {