How to Have Gmail Open the Next Message Automatically When You Delete or Archive

After deleting a message or archiving it, what do you usually do in Gmail? Do you open the next immediately; or do take a good look at the message list before deciding how to proceed?

If you open the next email immediately, Gmail need not take you on the message list detour. You can have it open the next (or the previous, if you prefer) message in the list automatically when you're done with one — archiving, deleting or muting it.

Have Gmail Open the Next Message Automatically When You Delete or Archive

To make Gmail automatically open the next (or previous) message instead of going back to the message list:

• Make sure Auto-advance is enabled. (See below.)
• Follow the Settings link in Gmail.
• Go to the General tab.
• Make sure either Go to the previous (older) conversation (recommended if you begin processing your Gmail messages on top) or Go to the next (newer) conversation is selected under Auto-advance: for After archiving, deleting, muting, etc. a conversation:.
• Click Save Changes.

Enable "Auto-advance" in Gmail Labs

To turn on Gmail's auto-advancing lab experiment:

• Select Settings in Gmail.
• Go to the Labs tab.
• Make sure Enable is selected for Auto-advance.
• Click Save Changes.