diff --git a/src/tests/frontend-new/specs/collab_client.spec.ts b/src/tests/frontend-new/specs/collab_client.spec.ts
index 9d4581438..12b89a104 100644
--- a/src/tests/frontend-new/specs/collab_client.spec.ts
+++ b/src/tests/frontend-new/specs/collab_client.spec.ts
@@ -30,6 +30,11 @@ test.describe('Messages in the COLLABROOM', function () {
 
     const div = body.locator('div').nth(lineNumber)
 
+    // Click into the editor before keypresses. Each test opens its own
+    // browser contexts via goToPad, which does not click — previously the
+    // page-load auto-focus put the editor in focus regardless, but that
+    // was removed in #7255 so the skip link could be Tab-reachable.
+    await body.click();
     // simulate key presses to delete content
     await div.locator('span').selectText() // select all
     await page.keyboard.press('Backspace') // clear the first line
diff --git a/src/tests/frontend-new/specs/enter.spec.ts b/src/tests/frontend-new/specs/enter.spec.ts
index beb54203a..d5c30eb30 100644
--- a/src/tests/frontend-new/specs/enter.spec.ts
+++ b/src/tests/frontend-new/specs/enter.spec.ts
@@ -49,7 +49,11 @@ test.describe('enter keystroke', function () {
     for (let i = 0; i < numberOfLines; i++) {
       const expectedCount = originalLength + i + 1;
       const lastLine = padBody.locator('div').last();
-      await lastLine.focus();
+      // `.focus()` is a no-op on a <div> (not natively focusable), so click
+      // the line to put the caret in the editor. Previously the editor was
+      // auto-focused on page load and this still happened to work; removing
+      // that auto-focus (#7255) makes the click explicit.
+      await lastLine.click();
       await page.keyboard.press('End');
       await page.keyboard.press('Enter');
       await expect(padBody.locator('div')).toHaveCount(expectedCount);
diff --git a/src/tests/frontend-new/specs/indentation.spec.ts b/src/tests/frontend-new/specs/indentation.spec.ts
index a08834537..1190d71cc 100644
--- a/src/tests/frontend-new/specs/indentation.spec.ts
+++ b/src/tests/frontend-new/specs/indentation.spec.ts
@@ -12,6 +12,10 @@ test.describe('indentation button', function () {
     // get the first text element out of the inner iframe
     const $firstTextElement = padBody.locator('div').first();
 
+    // Click first to land focus inside the editor iframe; the load-time
+    // auto-focus that previously did this was removed in #7255 so Tab
+    // could reach the skip-to-content link.
+    await $firstTextElement.click();
     // select this text element
     await $firstTextElement.selectText()