diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/FileBrowser/FileBrowserApp/useFileBrowserApp.ts b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/FileBrowser/FileBrowserApp/useFileBrowserApp.ts
index a41fe5b0..3029d1a0 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/FileBrowser/FileBrowserApp/useFileBrowserApp.ts
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/FileBrowser/FileBrowserApp/useFileBrowserApp.ts
@@ -325,11 +325,16 @@ export const useFileBrowserApp = (basePath: string, rootOverride?: string, urlPa
   };
 
   /**
-   * Create an empty file and open it in the editor.
+   * Create an empty file. That is all it does.
+   *
+   * It used to navigate straight into `/code-editor`, which made "New file" the one action in the browser
+   * that took you somewhere else. Creating a folder does not leave the folder; uploading does not open
+   * what you uploaded. Now this behaves like both: the file appears in the listing, and editing it is the
+   * same double-click that opens anything else — the viewer's pane has an editor in it.
    *
    * The name is taken whole, extension and all — `notes.txt`, `deploy.sh`, `.env`, `Makefile` — because
-   * the extension is what the editor uses to pick a language, and guessing one for the user would be
-   * wrong more often than not. No extension is fine too; that file simply opens as plain text.
+   * the extension is what picks the language, and guessing one for the user would be wrong more often
+   * than not. No extension is fine; that file opens as plain text.
    *
    * Refuses to clobber. `/write` is an overwrite, so creating over an existing name would silently empty
    * it — the one outcome nobody wants from a menu item called "New file". The check is a `read` because
@@ -348,7 +353,6 @@ export const useFileBrowserApp = (basePath: string, rootOverride?: string, urlPa
       await files.writeFile(filePath, '');
       await refresh();
       toast.success(`Created "${name}"`);
-      navigate(`/code-editor?${EDITOR_FILE_PARAM}=${encodeURIComponent(filePath)}`);
     } catch {
       toast.error('Failed to create file');
     }
diff --git a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/FileViewer/FileViewerHeader.tsx b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/FileViewer/FileViewerHeader.tsx
index cf199935..4a49d2bc 100644
--- a/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/FileViewer/FileViewerHeader.tsx
+++ b/src/workspaces/officerdev/src/apps/FileViewer/FileViewerHeader.tsx
@@ -1,4 +1,19 @@
-import { Download, Loader2, Music, Film, Image, FileType2, Volume2, ScanText, FileText, AudioLines, FolderArchive, Save, Pencil, Eye } from 'lucide-react';
+import {
+  Download,
+  Loader2,
+  Music,
+  Film,
+  Image,
+  FileType2,
+  Volume2,
+  ScanText,
+  FileText,
+  AudioLines,
+  FolderArchive,
+  Save,
+  Pencil,
+  Eye,
+} from 'lucide-react';
 import { getIcon } from 'material-file-icons';
 import { getLang } from './file-types';
 import { useFileViewer } from './FileViewerContext';
@@ -49,7 +64,10 @@ export const FileViewerHeader = () => {
       <span className="text-[10px] font-mono uppercase tracking-wider shrink-0 opacity-60">
         {fileType === 'code' ? getLang(fileName) : fileType}
       </span>
-      {editable && content && (
+      {/* `content !== null`, NOT `content` — an empty file is the empty string, which is falsy, so a
+          file with nothing in it had no way to start editing. That is precisely the file you most want
+          to edit, and it is what "New file" produces. The body already got this right. */}
+      {editable && content !== null && (
         <button
           onClick={() => setEditing(!editing)}
           className="p-1 rounded hover:bg-current/10 transition-colors cursor-pointer"
@@ -95,7 +113,11 @@ export const FileViewerHeader = () => {
           className="p-1 rounded hover:bg-current/10 disabled:opacity-40 transition-colors cursor-pointer"
           title="Extract Audio"
         >
-          {extractAudioLoading ? <Loader2 className="h-3.5 w-3.5 animate-spin" /> : <AudioLines className="h-3.5 w-3.5" />}
+          {extractAudioLoading ? (
+            <Loader2 className="h-3.5 w-3.5 animate-spin" />
+          ) : (
+            <AudioLines className="h-3.5 w-3.5" />
+          )}
         </button>
       )}
       {fileType === 'archive' && (
@@ -105,7 +127,11 @@ export const FileViewerHeader = () => {
           className="p-1 rounded hover:bg-current/10 disabled:opacity-40 transition-colors cursor-pointer"
           title="Extract"
         >
-          {extractLoading ? <Loader2 className="h-3.5 w-3.5 animate-spin" /> : <FolderArchive className="h-3.5 w-3.5" />}
+          {extractLoading ? (
+            <Loader2 className="h-3.5 w-3.5 animate-spin" />
+          ) : (
+            <FolderArchive className="h-3.5 w-3.5" />
+          )}
         </button>
       )}
       {handleSaveResult && (