diff --git a/src/public/app/services/ws.js b/src/public/app/services/ws.js
index 89fcdebcc..6c4e6e160 100644
--- a/src/public/app/services/ws.js
+++ b/src/public/app/services/ws.js
@@ -37,6 +37,10 @@ function subscribeToMessages(messageHandler) {
 // used to serialize sync operations
 let consumeQueuePromise = null;
 
+// most sync events are sent twice - once immediatelly after finishing the transaction and once during the scheduled ping
+// but we want to process only once
+const receivedSyncIds = new Set();
+
 async function handleMessage(event) {
     const message = JSON.parse(event.data);
 
@@ -52,14 +56,19 @@ async function handleMessage(event) {
 
         if (syncRows.length > 0) {
             const filteredRows = syncRows.filter(row =>
-                row.entityName !== 'recent_notes'
+                !receivedSyncIds.has(row.id)
+                && row.entityName !== 'recent_notes'
                 && (row.entityName !== 'options' || row.entityId !== 'openTabs'));
 
             if (filteredRows.length > 0) {
                 console.debug(utils.now(), "Sync data: ", filteredRows);
             }
 
-            syncDataQueue.push(...syncRows);
+            for (const row of filteredRows) {
+                receivedSyncIds.add(row.id);
+            }
+
+            syncDataQueue.push(...filteredRows);
 
             // we set lastAcceptedSyncId even before sync processing and send ping so that backend can start sending more updates
             lastAcceptedSyncId = Math.max(lastAcceptedSyncId, syncRows[syncRows.length - 1].id);
diff --git a/src/public/app/widgets/note_tree.js b/src/public/app/widgets/note_tree.js
index 69cb8a93c..e7c8a6c52 100644
--- a/src/public/app/widgets/note_tree.js
+++ b/src/public/app/widgets/note_tree.js
@@ -804,7 +804,9 @@ export default class NoteTreeWidget extends TabAwareWidget {
 
     async entitiesReloadedEvent({loadResults}) {
         const activeNode = this.getActiveNode();
+        const nextNode = activeNode ? (activeNode.getNextSibling() || activeNode.getPrevSibling() || activeNode.getParent()) : null;
         const activeNotePath = activeNode ? treeService.getNotePath(activeNode) : null;
+        const nextNotePath = nextNode ? treeService.getNotePath(nextNode) : null;
         const activeNoteId = activeNode ? activeNode.data.noteId : null;
 
         const noteIdsToUpdate = new Set();
@@ -926,6 +928,17 @@ export default class NoteTreeWidget extends TabAwareWidget {
             if (node) {
                 node.setActive(true, {noEvents: true});
             }
+            else {
+                // this is used when original note has been deleted and we want to move the focus to the note above/below
+                node = await this.expandToNote(nextNotePath);
+
+                if (node) {
+                    this.tree.setFocus();
+                    node.setFocus(true);
+
+                    await appContext.tabManager.getActiveTabContext().setNote(nextNotePath);
+                }
+            }
         }
     }
 
diff --git a/src/public/app/widgets/tab_row.js b/src/public/app/widgets/tab_row.js
index 0ae79bcc5..ba8ee27fc 100644
--- a/src/public/app/widgets/tab_row.js
+++ b/src/public/app/widgets/tab_row.js
@@ -614,6 +614,7 @@ export default class TabRowWidget extends BasicWidget {
 
         if (!note) {
             this.updateTitle($tab, 'New tab');
+            return;
         }
 
         this.updateTitle($tab, note.title);
diff --git a/src/services/sql.js b/src/services/sql.js
index 325dbc292..179b35103 100644
--- a/src/services/sql.js
+++ b/src/services/sql.js
@@ -221,6 +221,7 @@ async function transactional(func) {
 
             await commit();
 
+            // note that sync rows sent from this action will be sent again by scheduled periodic ping
             require('./ws.js').sendPingToAllClients();
 
             transactionActive = false;
@@ -267,4 +268,4 @@ module.exports = {
     executeScript,
     transactional,
     upsert
-};
\ No newline at end of file
+};