Send & next

Send & Next saves your team time when handling many conversations: after you send a reply, send a draft, update a conversation's status, or delete a conversation, Chatlane automatically moves you to the next active conversation in the list. You don't have to click back to the list and pick the next one—ideal for support teams handling high volume. This article explains how it works and how to turn it on.

What Send & Next does

When Send & Next is on for an inbox, Chatlane moves you to the next active conversation after you:

• Send a message — You send a reply to the customer; Chatlane then shows the next active conversation.
• Send a draft — You send a draft (e.g. an agent-suggested reply) as the final message; Chatlane then shows the next active conversation.
• Update conversation status — You change the status (e.g. from active to closed or pending); Chatlane then shows the next active conversation.
• Delete a conversation — You delete the current conversation (if your role allows); Chatlane then shows the next active conversation.

"Next active" means the next conversation in your list that is still active (not closed), in the order your inbox is sorted (e.g. by latest message). If there is no next active conversation, Chatlane stays on the current view or shows the list—so you're never left with nowhere to go.

How to turn it on

Send & Next is an inbox-level setting. Team admins can turn it on (or off) per inbox:

1. Open Inbox Settings for the inbox.
2. Find the setting for after you send or update (it may be called "Send & Next," "After conversation update," or similar).
3. Turn it on so that after you send, send a draft, update status, or delete, Chatlane moves to the next active conversation.

The setting applies to everyone using that inbox—so the whole team can work in a consistent flow. If you prefer to stay on the same conversation after sending (e.g. to add a note or check something), turn Send & Next off for that inbox.

Toggle in the inbox

In many setups, there is also a toggle in the inbox (e.g. near the send button) so you can turn Send & Next on or off for yourself during a session without changing the inbox default. That way you can switch to "stay on conversation" when you need to, and back to "next conversation" when you're clearing the queue.

Why this helps support teams

• High volume — When you're replying to many customers in a row, Send & Next removes the extra click to open the next conversation. You send, and you're already on the next one.
• Consistent flow — The whole team can use the same behaviour per inbox, so training and habits align.
• Managers and founders — You can enable Send & Next for busy inboxes to speed up throughput without changing how the team writes replies.

For organising which conversations you see (tags and filters), see Organise and find conversations with tags and filters. For step-by-step inbox setup, see Get started with Chatlane.