Dialogue box oddities following [⌘] W keypress

[jepho]

I have been editing a number of 16bit .tif images today. Each of the several hundred images is being cropped differently (using the mark one eyeball) preparatory to being laid out in a book. There will be more image processing for each image when they are examined in greater detail and to suit the text. For now each 24Mb RAW image is roughly adjusted for subject matter, exposure, colour balance and pre-process sharpening in another image processor (DXO). The images open out to 144Mb and 6000 x 4000 pixels, which equates to 20 x 13.333 inches at 300 dpi. My workflow is to crop the image to give me a useable image and then process it to the dpi required and apply the post processing sharpening and icc profile as required.

In AP when I have reached the second stage of my workflow and cropped the image, I just want to export the image as a 16bit .tif file and I know then that it is awaiting further refinement. I don't get to keep the .tif file when I select 'save as' because the file is saved as an AP file. I think this behaviour is unhelpful because the file-type is already explicit when the file is opened in AP. I then export the file and can select the file-type I want. (the same one that the file actually is when being worked upon in AP)

After the file has been modified (cropped) exported and saved, the original file remains and the [⌘] W keypress should close the file. A dialogue box appears and states that the file has been modified and asks "Would you like to save this document?" A blue highlight encloses the Don't Save button and clicking on the button removes the image. However, using the well known Mac shortcut 'D' does not remove the image, even though the Don't Save button is highlighted. The image remains on screen so the 'D' system function does not appear to work. The way the image can be removed is to press return and then  [⌘] W. 

This confusion of method could usefully be eliminated. I don't mind that the process is different but it appears somewhat illogical to me at this time. My workflow should not create a problem and it is only a matter of time before I trust the RAW conversion engine of AP rather than DXO. When a .tif file is imported for processing, should it not be the case that the software assumes that the file saving should be in the format of the file being processed? Any additional file-types should be the subject of the export dialogue box if one was to follow a logical behaviour pattern. It is extremely tedious to have to keep exporting files that have been converted to the final processing format, back into that format to save them after the work is completed.

The dialogue boxes should generally adhere to the operating system guidelines  under which they are being used with. I would like to see the 'D' reinstated as a means to dismiss a dialogue box. Where the option is already highlighted to dismiss the box, there should be no need for two operations to remove it. Pressing the return key should both select the highlighted option and action it. These adjustments would certainly help to smooth the workflow when processing a large number of images in a manner which means that all images will have a different processing endpoint, despite similar processes being followed for all of them. 

Edited January 5, 2019 by jepho
typos and additional clarifying text