# Previous/next topic
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884
**Category:** Feature
**Tags:** completed, keyboard-shortcuts
**Created:** [February 5, 2015, 9:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884 "2015-02-05T21:21:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@JSey](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JSey)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2015, 9:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884/1 "2015-02-05T21:21:52Z")
I have a bit of an odd request: one of my team members would like to see a previous/next topic (sic!) buttons somewhere (and possibly, keyboard shortcuts, too). This partially comes from my attempts to create gallery-like topics (where it really makes sense, if you want to browse through the pictures), and from the fact that other forum software also has it (that’s the weaker argument, I know…).
I know that chances are small to include this in the main code, but if anyone could give me a little hint which data object I could access to create links from the HTML customize page, I’d be grateful!
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### Author:  [@tobiaseigen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tobiaseigen)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2015, 10:15pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884/2 "2015-02-05T22:15:37Z")
I have had this request in my community too. People are looking for gmail next/previous functionality to go to the next message in the list.
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### Author:  [@cpradio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/cpradio)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2015, 10:22pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884/3 "2015-02-05T22:22:27Z")
Knowing that on a forum, the next message can change? I find it odd to want this behavior. As the next/prev message is not guaranteed to be in the same position when you were originally on the topic list… So you may be taken to a new topic, you may go to a different topic, click next and be back at the topic you started in…
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### Author:  [@tobiaseigen](https://meta.discourse.org/u/tobiaseigen)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2015, 10:25pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884/4 "2015-02-05T22:25:09Z")
Yeah, agreed. But the habitual workflow people have that I am trying to fit discourse into is about logging into discourse, reading and handling every single post one by one, then logging out and on to some other task. That’s what they want to be able to do.
Even if there is no “previous” button, to have a “read next new post” is something they look for and ask me about all the time.
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### Author:  [@cpradio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/cpradio)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2015, 10:26pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884/5 "2015-02-05T22:26:48Z")
I wonder how difficult this would be from a plugin perspective.
Read the topic-list.json, read the ID of the current topic the user is on, find that ID in the topic-list.json result, grab next item in the list to use for the Next button. Grab previous one for the Previous button…
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### Author:  [@purldator](https://meta.discourse.org/u/purldator)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2015, 10:29pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884/6 "2015-02-05T22:29:33Z")
I think this would make more sense to use this feature for posts that are currently considered ‘unread’ in the system. I would use that, greatly. Especially with a shortcut. It would make my reading flow easier so I don’t have to keep clicking back to the topic list to get another unread topic. Nor would I need to use NiftySplit to put all unread topics as new tabs in a new Chrome window.
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### Author:  [@riking](https://meta.discourse.org/u/riking)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 12:18am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884/7 "2015-02-06T00:18:28Z")
> [@purldator](#):
>
> I think this would make more sense to use this feature for posts that are currently considered ‘unread’ in the system. I would use that, greatly
1. Scroll down to Suggested Topics
2. Click the one on the top
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 12:31am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884/8 "2015-02-06T00:31:55Z")
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 12:57am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884/9 "2015-02-06T00:57:02Z")
Also J ENTER → next topic.
My issue with this concept is that what does even next mean?
Visit latest topics → topic
vs.
Visit category → topic
Next becomes contextual which is a nightmare on a few levels.
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### Author:  [@purldator](https://meta.discourse.org/u/purldator)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 12:59am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884/10 "2015-02-06T00:59:22Z")
If that suggested topic bug is fixed, then I’ll divert my eyes to that spot and see if it correlates with my current unread list.
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### Author:  [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 1:07am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884/11 "2015-02-06T01:07:13Z")
> [@purldator](#):
>
> if it correlates with my current unread list.
How to you think an “unread list” should be ordered?
Isn’t it more like an \_un\_ordered list?
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### Author:  [@purldator](https://meta.discourse.org/u/purldator)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 1:39am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884/12 "2015-02-06T01:39:32Z")
Don’t know what you’re saying or implying. I have been opening my new/unread tabs in new windows and checking them against the suggested reading list below to make sure the suggested topic bug was fixed. When that bug was in effect, I kind of stopped using the suggested topics list and ignored it.
I do not understand the relationship you are expressing between an unordered topic list and a topic list which contains topics I have not entered into and considered unread by the system.
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### Author:  [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 4:45am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884/13 "2015-02-06T04:45:50Z")
Ah, so you’re talking about what shows in Suggested Topics
AFAIK if you go to your Preferences and Mute every Category, and then only Watch the Topics you are interested in, only those will get the “unread” marker and none will ever be marked as “new”
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### Author:  [@purldator](https://meta.discourse.org/u/purldator)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 4:56am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884/14 "2015-02-06T04:56:08Z")
I like that! I am going to try it and see how it goes to lower the level of ‘automated prompting’ I’m getting with new posts. Much appreciated.
(I made it a point to not use the word ‘noise’ in terms of describing new posts in this case (for me). None of it is ‘spam’, but too much feedback going on at once easily flusters me, which isn’t a problem with the software, it’s just me and I admit that setback for the sake of utmost clarity.)
EDIT: Too powerful and mutes too much. It erases any mentions of those muted categories (ergo their topics) in the ‘latest’ topic listing for everything I _track_, which I hope it wasn’t going to do. I just didn’t want to get ‘new’ notifications and be able to have a more fine-tuned list for ‘suggested topics’. It also only accounts for ‘watching’ and not ‘tracking’ which according to the user preferences cannot be auto-applied to a topic that I may enter or read for an extended period. Oh well.
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### Author:  [@JSey](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JSey)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 11:36am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884/15 "2015-02-06T11:36:12Z")
Well - my main use case would involve prev/next in category:
…but an additional “next unread” would be nice, too…
The suggested topics aren’t really helpful here - what I would need would be a way to (programmatically) determine the next topic in the current category. Would that be feasible (from a user script)?
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### Author:  [@adopilot](https://meta.discourse.org/u/adopilot)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 4:13pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884/16 "2015-02-06T16:13:08Z")
Good Old Bug tracker.
We hope that DEV team will try to get more closer to this mature but great product
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### Author:  [@Mittineague](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Mittineague)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 7:50pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884/17 "2015-02-06T19:50:34Z")
Something like this?
[Previous][1]
[Next][2]
`[1]: https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous/24883`
`[2]: https://meta.discourse.org/t/next/24885`
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### Author:  [@Kuro](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Kuro)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884/18 "2015-02-06T20:44:19Z")
A PM I sent to a user breaks your Next-Link.
I would hope nobody besides me and the reciepient can actually see it.
Filed Under: [Just letting you know before you are confused](#tag)
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884/19 "2015-02-06T20:56:07Z")
Go to “unread”, go to your first topic, press next … it does not go to next unread
BUG BUG BUG
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### Author:  [@JSey](https://meta.discourse.org/u/JSey)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2015, 9:25pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884/20 "2015-02-06T21:25:22Z")
Uhm - the “next” link shows the error page, and “previous” jumps to another category. I was looking for an intra-category navigation - or through all unread posts that have accumulated while I was away…
[Next page](https://meta.discourse.org/t/previous-next-topic/24884.md?page=2)