diff --git a/thunar/thunar-tree-view.c b/thunar/thunar-tree-view.c
index 46098bf8..782a0567 100644
--- a/thunar/thunar-tree-view.c
+++ b/thunar/thunar-tree-view.c
@@ -2509,6 +2509,7 @@ thunar_tree_view_cursor_idle (gpointer user_data)
   gboolean        done = FALSE;
   GList          *lp;
   GList          *path_as_list = NULL;
+  gboolean        keep_path = FALSE;
 
 THUNAR_THREADS_ENTER
 
@@ -2525,8 +2526,41 @@ THUNAR_THREADS_ENTER
   if (G_UNLIKELY (view->current_directory == NULL))
     return TRUE;
 
-  /* get the preferred toplevel path for the current directory */
-  path = thunar_tree_view_get_preferred_toplevel_path (view, view->current_directory);
+
+  /* get active toplevel path and check if we can reuse it */
+  gtk_tree_view_get_cursor (GTK_TREE_VIEW (view), &path, NULL);
+  if (path != NULL)
+    {
+      if (gtk_tree_path_get_depth (path) != 1)
+        while (gtk_tree_path_get_depth (path) > 1)
+          gtk_tree_path_up (path);
+      // check if path valid?
+
+      if (gtk_tree_model_get_iter (GTK_TREE_MODEL (view->model), &iter, path))
+        {
+          /* lookup file for the toplevel item */
+          gtk_tree_model_get (GTK_TREE_MODEL (view->model), &iter, THUNAR_TREE_MODEL_COLUMN_FILE, &file, -1);
+          if (file)
+            {
+              /* check if the toplevel file is an ancestor */
+              if (thunar_file_is_ancestor (view->current_directory, file))
+                keep_path = TRUE;
+
+              g_object_unref (file);
+            }
+        }
+
+      if (!keep_path)
+        {
+          gtk_tree_path_free (path);
+          path = NULL;
+        }
+    }
+
+
+  /* fallback to preferred toplevel path for the current directory */
+  if (path == NULL)
+    path = thunar_tree_view_get_preferred_toplevel_path (view, view->current_directory);
 
   /* fallback to a newly created root node */
   if (path == NULL)