diff --git a/MLEM.Ui/Elements/Element.cs b/MLEM.Ui/Elements/Element.cs
index 91141e5..803a622 100644
--- a/MLEM.Ui/Elements/Element.cs
+++ b/MLEM.Ui/Elements/Element.cs
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ namespace MLEM.Ui.Elements {
         /// <summary>
         /// An optional string that represents a group of elements for automatic (keyboard and gamepad) navigation.
         /// All elements that share the same auto-nav group will be able to be navigated between, and all other elements will not be reachable from elements of other groups.
-        /// Note that, if no element is previously selected and auto-navigation is invoked, this element can always be navigated to if it is the first one chosen by auto-navigation.
+        /// Note that, if no element is previously selected and auto-navigation is invoked, this element cannot be chosen as the first element to navigate to if its auto-nav group is non-null.
         /// </summary>
         public virtual string AutoNavGroup { get; set; }
 
diff --git a/MLEM.Ui/UiControls.cs b/MLEM.Ui/UiControls.cs
index c099c3a..ad05fae 100644
--- a/MLEM.Ui/UiControls.cs
+++ b/MLEM.Ui/UiControls.cs
@@ -373,7 +373,9 @@ namespace MLEM.Ui {
                 // we can't add these checks to GetChildren because it ignores false grandchildren
                 .Where(c => c.CanBeSelected && c.AutoNavGroup == this.SelectedElement?.AutoNavGroup);
             if (this.SelectedElement?.Root != this.ActiveRoot) {
-                return backward ? children.LastOrDefault() : children.FirstOrDefault();
+                // if we don't have an element selected in this root, navigate to the first one without a group
+                var allowed = children.Where(c => c.AutoNavGroup == null);
+                return backward ? allowed.LastOrDefault() : allowed.FirstOrDefault();
             } else {
                 var foundCurr = false;
                 Element lastFound = null;
@@ -406,7 +408,8 @@ namespace MLEM.Ui {
                 // we can't add these checks to GetChildren because it ignores false grandchildren
                 .Where(c => c.CanBeSelected && c.AutoNavGroup == this.SelectedElement?.AutoNavGroup);
             if (this.SelectedElement?.Root != this.ActiveRoot) {
-                return children.FirstOrDefault();
+                // if we don't have an element selected in this root, navigate to the first one without a group
+                return children.FirstOrDefault(c => c.AutoNavGroup == null);
             } else {
                 Element closest = null;
                 float closestPriority = 0;