diff --git a/web_src/js/components/ViewFileTreeItem.vue b/web_src/js/components/ViewFileTreeItem.vue
index ce019e655f..48f81b0f32 100644
--- a/web_src/js/components/ViewFileTreeItem.vue
+++ b/web_src/js/components/ViewFileTreeItem.vue
@@ -27,9 +27,10 @@ const doLoadChildren = async () => {
 };
 
 const onItemClick = (e: MouseEvent) => {
-  // only handle the click event with page partial reloading if the user didn't press any special key
-  // let browsers handle special keys like "Ctrl+Click"
-  if (!isPlainClick(e)) return;
+  // only handle the click event with partial page reloading if both
+  // - the user didn't press any special key like "Ctrl+Click" (which may have custom browser behavior)
+  // - the editor/commit form isn't dirty (a full page reload shows a confirmation dialog if the form contains unsaved changes)
+  if (!isPlainClick(e) || document.querySelector('.repo-view-content .form.dirty')) return;
   e.preventDefault();
   if (props.item.entryMode === 'tree') doLoadChildren();
   store.navigateTreeView(props.item.fullPath);