Just switched from Thunderbird (because of some dumb font issues while composing) to Mail and the default behavior of jumping UP to the next message rather than jumping DOWN is driving me nuts!

There has to be a way to change the default behavior.

Change the sort order.

nada..
 

How about they fix the problem?

Every other email client I have ever seen in my life behaves the opposite way. The only real question I have is whether this is some sort of strange Mac purist ideology of some sort or whether is just an oversight that they'll consider fixing. That just might be worth the phone call...


Either way, if they continue with their Microsoft inspired micro-management of the users they'll soon find we're all on Android or Linux anyway. ..... We'll move some place we're "Free as in Freedom".

I don't think they regard it as a problem. Mail is set up to move from oldest to newest no matter which way you have them sorted in the display.

This is pretty interesting. Unlike sokol99, I was aggravated by my work's Microsoft Outlook's behavior, when deleting, moving down to the "older" message! Thankfully, Outlook's options menu allowed me to change the behavior to moving upward to the "newer" message after I delete a message.

When Outlook opens at work, it opens on my last read message. So it's more natural for me to move upward, to each more recent message, deleting as I go. I was glad that Microsoft allowed me to modify Outlook. I was frustrated for a bit when our work upgraded to Office 2007 and Outlook would move downward to the older message. Previously, in whatever year we were using, it moved upward to the newer message.

Too bad Apple hasn't incorporated a way for a user to configure that behavior the way that Microsoft has.

Exactly -- what's needed is a preference for "move to next oldest" or "move to next newest" whenever you remove an email from your inbox stack (or in my case, a "To Read" smart folder).

Found a great tip
 

I may be too late, but I found a great tip to solve this, as it was driving me crazy. :)

Click here: http://support.indev.ca/discussions/...e-next-message

Worked like a charm for me, and I thought I would share. Thanks.

Lion Update
 

Just a quick note that this behavior has not changed in Lion. Sigh... I know this can't be an issue for only 1-2 people though. I haven't looked for a plist but I definitely don't see any blatant options in the application otherwise..

NovaScotian, since I know you have Keyboard Maestro, you could set up a simple macro like the one I have, shown in the picture below. Mine is designed to delete the currently open message, then open the next message. Obviously, you could adjust it for different situations, or create multiple macros for the various situations.

Hadn't thought of that.

The default behavior of Mail is the way that I prefer it, but one would think that Apple would create a way to allow users to choose the behavior. Microsoft's Outlook allows the user to choose.

Perhaps other email clients allow the user to choose the behavior?

This worked instantly with no overhead or issues, or need to install additional software. I registered just to comment on it.

Is there a way to sticky this response to the top of the thread? I have literally been searching for the response on how to fix this backwards behavior of Mail.app for years with success. This is the only response in the whole thread that accomplishes the desired goal without any cruft.

(For the record, yes, every mail application I have ever used besides Mail.app behaves the other way. If not for this terminal command, there was no way to fix it.)

Thank you!

Yes! Thanks freebird300 and glassFractals! This did the trick! Finally, no more backwards feeling! I knew there HAD to be something we could do. Great! :)

For the record, here is the command:
defaults write com.apple.mail IgnoreSortOrderWhenSelectingAfterDelete 1

I'll see whether I can edit my original question with this.

LOL, February 2007 to February 2012. Glad that a way has been found and communicated.

Ouch. I must be the only slow one here. I tried copying the command "defaults write com.apple.mail IgnoreSortOrderWhenSelectingAfterDelete 1" into the Terminal but the problem isn't fixed. Is there a special way to close the Terminal window after pasting the command?