diff --git a/src/dolphintabwidget.cpp b/src/dolphintabwidget.cpp
--- a/src/dolphintabwidget.cpp
+++ b/src/dolphintabwidget.cpp
@@ -206,6 +206,10 @@
             } else {
                 tabPage->secondaryViewContainer()->setActive(true);
             }
+            // BUG: 147230
+            // Required for updateViewState() call in openFiles() to work as expected
+            // If there is a selection, updateViewState() calls are effectively a no-op
+            tabPage->activeViewContainer()->view()->clearSelection();
             continue;
         }
         if (splitView && (it != dirs.constEnd())) {
@@ -239,10 +243,14 @@
     // Select the files. Although the files can be split between several
     // tabs, there is no need to split 'files' accordingly, as
     // the DolphinView will just ignore invalid selections.
-    for (int i = oldTabCount; i < tabCount; ++i) {
+    for (int i = 0; i < tabCount; ++i) {
         DolphinTabPage* tabPage = tabPageAt(i);
         tabPage->markUrlsAsSelected(files);
         tabPage->markUrlAsCurrent(files.first());
+        if (i < oldTabCount) {
+            // Force selection of file if directory was already open, BUG: 417230
+            tabPage->activeViewContainer()->view()->updateViewState();
+        }
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/src/views/dolphinview.h b/src/views/dolphinview.h
--- a/src/views/dolphinview.h
+++ b/src/views/dolphinview.h
@@ -381,6 +381,12 @@
 
     void stopLoading();
 
+    /**
+     * Applies the state that has been restored by restoreViewState()
+     * to the view.
+     */
+    void updateViewState();
+
     /** Activates the view if the item list container gets focus. */
     bool eventFilter(QObject* watched, QEvent* event) override;
 
@@ -702,12 +708,6 @@
      */
     void slotDirectoryRedirection(const QUrl& oldUrl, const QUrl& newUrl);
 
-    /**
-     * Applies the state that has been restored by restoreViewState()
-     * to the view.
-     */
-    void updateViewState();
-
     /**
      * Calculates the number of currently shown files into
      * \a fileCount and the number of folders into \a folderCount.