diff --git a/source/blender/editors/space_image/image_sequence.cc b/source/blender/editors/space_image/image_sequence.cc
index 5ab31fa9e3d..19cc4588870 100644
--- a/source/blender/editors/space_image/image_sequence.cc
+++ b/source/blender/editors/space_image/image_sequence.cc
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@
  *
  * The output is a list of frame ranges, each containing a list of frames with matching names.
  */
-static void image_sequence_get_frame_ranges(wmOperator *op, ListBase *ranges)
+static void image_sequence_get_frame_ranges(wmOperator *op, ListBase *ranges, bool *r_was_relative)
 {
   char dir[FILE_MAXDIR];
   const bool do_frame_range = RNA_boolean_get(op->ptr, "use_sequence_detection");
@@ -75,6 +75,8 @@ static void image_sequence_get_frame_ranges(wmOperator *op, ListBase *ranges)
     MEM_freeN(filename);
   }
   RNA_END;
+
+  *r_was_relative = BLI_path_is_rel(dir);
 }
 
 static int image_cmp_frame(const void *a, const void *b)
@@ -143,16 +145,12 @@ ListBase ED_image_filesel_detect_sequences(blender::StringRefNull root_path,
   ListBase ranges;
   BLI_listbase_clear(&ranges);
 
-  char filepath[FILE_MAX];
-  RNA_string_get(op->ptr, "filepath", filepath);
-
   /* File browser. */
   if (RNA_struct_property_is_set(op->ptr, "directory") &&
       RNA_struct_property_is_set(op->ptr, "files"))
   {
-    const bool was_relative = BLI_path_is_rel(filepath);
-
-    image_sequence_get_frame_ranges(op, &ranges);
+    bool was_relative = false;
+    image_sequence_get_frame_ranges(op, &ranges, &was_relative);
     LISTBASE_FOREACH (ImageFrameRange *, range, &ranges) {
       image_detect_frame_range(range, detect_udim);
 
@@ -163,6 +161,9 @@ ListBase ED_image_filesel_detect_sequences(blender::StringRefNull root_path,
   }
   /* Filepath property for drag & drop etc. */
   else {
+    char filepath[FILE_MAX];
+    RNA_string_get(op->ptr, "filepath", filepath);
+
     ImageFrameRange *range = MEM_callocN<ImageFrameRange>(__func__);
     BLI_addtail(&ranges, range);