diff --git a/addons/web/static/src/js/view_form.js b/addons/web/static/src/js/view_form.js
index cfd01b7fbdd..eda2a0861d2 100644
--- a/addons/web/static/src/js/view_form.js
+++ b/addons/web/static/src/js/view_form.js
@@ -255,7 +255,7 @@ instance.web.FormView = instance.web.View.extend(instance.web.form.FieldManagerM
     /**
      *
      * @param {Object} [options]
-     * @param {Boolean} [editable=false] whether the form should be switched to edition mode. A value of ``false`` will keep the current mode.
+     * @param {Boolean} [mode=undefined] If specified, switch the form to specified mode. Can be "edit" or "view".
      * @param {Boolean} [reload=true] whether the form should reload its content on show, or use the currently loaded record
      * @return {$.Deferred}
      */
@@ -292,9 +292,7 @@ instance.web.FormView = instance.web.View.extend(instance.web.form.FieldManagerM
             });
         }
         return shown.pipe(function() {
-            if (options.editable) {
-                self.to_edit_mode();
-            }
+            self._actualize_mode(options.mode || self.options.initial_mode);
             self.$element.css({
                 opacity: '1',
                 filter: 'alpha(opacity = 100)'
@@ -634,12 +632,21 @@ instance.web.FormView = instance.web.View.extend(instance.web.form.FieldManagerM
         this._actualize_mode("edit");
     },
     /**
-     * Reactualize actual_mode.
+     * Ask the view to switch to a precise mode if possible. The view is free to
+     * not respect this command if the state of the dataset is not compatible with
+     * the new mode. For example, it is not possible to switch to edit mode if
+     * the current record is not yet saved in database.
+     *
+     * @param {string} [new_mode] Can be "edit", "view", "create" or undefined. If
+     * undefined the view will test the actual mode to check if it is still consistent
+     * with the dataset state.
      */
     _actualize_mode: function(switch_to) {
         var mode = switch_to || this.get("actual_mode");
         if (! this.datarecord.id) {
             mode = "create";
+        } else if (mode === "create") {
+            mode = "edit";
         }
         this.set({actual_mode: mode});
     },
diff --git a/addons/web_kanban/static/src/js/kanban.js b/addons/web_kanban/static/src/js/kanban.js
index 6c70ecfb8ec..dc06eb14444 100644
--- a/addons/web_kanban/static/src/js/kanban.js
+++ b/addons/web_kanban/static/src/js/kanban.js
@@ -321,7 +321,7 @@ instance.web_kanban.KanbanView = instance.web.View.extend({
     },
     open_record: function(id, editable) {
         if (this.dataset.select_id(id)) {
-            this.do_switch_view('form', null, { editable: editable });
+            this.do_switch_view('form', null, { mode: editable ? "edit" : undefined });
         } else {
             this.do_warn("Kanban: could not find id#" + id);
         }