diff --git a/jdaviz/configs/default/plugins/subset_plugin/subset_plugin.py b/jdaviz/configs/default/plugins/subset_plugin/subset_plugin.py
index dc76774b29..e5097be284 100644
--- a/jdaviz/configs/default/plugins/subset_plugin/subset_plugin.py
+++ b/jdaviz/configs/default/plugins/subset_plugin/subset_plugin.py
@@ -860,9 +860,11 @@ def _load_regions(self, regions, combination_mode=None, max_num_regions=None,
         if combo_mode_is_list and len(combination_mode) != (len(regions)):
             raise ValueError("list of mode must be size of regions")
         elif combo_mode_is_list:
-            for mode in combination_mode:
-                if mode not in COMBO_OPTIONS:
-                    raise ValueError(f"{mode} not one of {COMBO_OPTIONS}")
+            unknown_options = list(set(combination_mode) - set(COMBO_OPTIONS))
+            if len(unknown_options) > 0:
+                raise ValueError(f"{unknown_options} not one of {COMBO_OPTIONS}")
+
+        previous_mode = self.app.session.edit_subset_mode.mode
 
         for index, region in enumerate(regions):
             # Set combination mode for how region will be applied to current subset
@@ -968,6 +970,9 @@ def _load_regions(self, regions, combination_mode=None, max_num_regions=None,
             if max_num_regions is not None and n_loaded >= max_num_regions:
                 break
 
+        # Revert edit mode to before the import_region call
+        self.app.session.edit_subset_mode.mode = previous_mode
+
         n_reg_in = len(regions)
         n_reg_bad = len(bad_regions)
         if n_loaded == 0:
diff --git a/jdaviz/configs/default/plugins/subset_plugin/tests/test_subset_plugin.py b/jdaviz/configs/default/plugins/subset_plugin/tests/test_subset_plugin.py
index 825f9a366a..0f8a4c563b 100644
--- a/jdaviz/configs/default/plugins/subset_plugin/tests/test_subset_plugin.py
+++ b/jdaviz/configs/default/plugins/subset_plugin/tests/test_subset_plugin.py
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 import astropy.units as u
 from specutils import SpectralRegion
 from glue.core.roi import EllipticalROI, CircularROI, CircularAnnulusROI, RectangularROI
+from glue.core.edit_subset_mode import ReplaceMode, OrMode
 from numpy.testing import assert_allclose
 
 from jdaviz.configs.default.plugins.subset_plugin import utils
@@ -198,6 +199,7 @@ def test_import_spectral_region(cubeviz_helper, spectrum1d_cube, spec_regions, m
     subsets = cubeviz_helper.app.get_subsets()
     assert len(subsets) == len_subsets
     assert len(subsets['Subset 1']) == len_subregions
+    assert cubeviz_helper.app.session.edit_subset_mode.mode == ReplaceMode
 
 
 def test_import_spectral_regions_file(cubeviz_helper, spectrum1d_cube, tmp_path):
@@ -216,5 +218,11 @@ def test_import_spectral_regions_file(cubeviz_helper, spectrum1d_cube, tmp_path)
     subsets = cubeviz_helper.app.get_subsets()
     assert len(subsets['Subset 1']) == 2
 
+    subset2 = (SpectralRegion(5.772486091213352 * u.um, 6.052963676101135 * u.um) +
+               SpectralRegion(5.8 * u.um, 5.9 * u.um))
+    plg.import_region(subset2, combination_mode=['new', 'andnot'])
+
+    assert cubeviz_helper.app.session.edit_subset_mode.mode == OrMode
+
     with pytest.raises(ValueError, match='test not one of'):
         plg.combination_mode.selected = 'test'