don't select next email after delete

[hundred17]

When going through emails, I find it a little infuriating that when I open an email, desk with it, then delete it, Thunderbird opens the next email automatically.

It feels like a struggle to simply keep unread emails unread. Wish there was a setting so that deleting an email would just show an empty screen instead of selecting the next email and marking it unread automatically.

[Jon]

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[ThePillenwerfer]

Open Settings and scroll down to Reading & Display.  Tick the "Close message window/tab on move or delete" box.

[Menomoree]

Unchecking that box does not help me. It still marks the next message as read. I have had to select never automatically mark messages read to keep unread status.

[jw70]

This idea is not just convenient -- it is critical.   I use read/unread status
to know if I have read the email to ensure I deal with all important emails.
Thunderbird choosing to open it is NOT the same as me choosing it -- because
I do not always have time to read it and sometimes I do not even notice that thunderbird did it.  
This is not just a feature request it is an essential bugfix -- thunderbird is not fit for use at the moment.
Note that not everyone uses separate message windows (I don't -- I dislike them).  
No options related to separate message windows can fix this issue.   Also -- as noted
the separate message window options don't currently work to prevent the issue either.

Previously there were extensions that fixed this issue but they no longer work in recent versions (2025).    If I cannot find a way to STOP Thunderbird jumping to the next message and opening it/marking it read I will be forced to abandon Thunderbird.

[jziggy101]

This is by far the worst idea I have ever seen.  We (my whole family uses Thunderbird) don't always want to read the next message but would rather act on it when we have more info for the reply.

[magnus_]

I have exactly the same problem - used to fix it with the AddOn "Deselect on Delete" and later "Deselect on Delete TB78).Unfortunately with the current version(140.5.0), it does deselect the mail but only after it was selected for a short time automatically, thereby it is marked as read and then deselected.

A workaround is to use the after displaying for N seconds option instead of immediately on display for the Automatically mark messages as read setting, but I would like to preserve the immediate read status when opening a mail, so not automatically opening the next mail after deleting one would still be very much appreciated.

@jziggy101 did you maybe misread the idea? It is about not automatically opening the next mail when deleting the currently selected one, or giving an option not to do so, so if anything it should simply not reading the next message like you want to?

[aster]

Agree new user here and i find this very strange

[aster]

Agree it's not working! thunderbird goes directly to the next email

this needs an urgent fix!