diff --git a/hgext/histedit.py b/hgext/histedit.py
--- a/hgext/histedit.py
+++ b/hgext/histedit.py
@@ -143,6 +143,9 @@ as running ``hg histedit 836302820282``.
 repository that Mercurial does not detect to be related to the source
 repo, you can add a ``--force`` option.
 
+Config
+------
+
 Histedit rule lines are truncated to 80 characters by default. You
 can customize this behavior by setting a different length in your
 configuration file::
@@ -156,6 +159,14 @@ revset in your configuration file::
 
   [histedit]
   defaultrev = only(.) & draft()
+
+By default each edited revision needs to be present in histedit commands.
+To remove revision you need to use ``drop`` operation. You can configure
+the drop to be implicit for missing commits by adding:
+
+  [histedit]
+  dropmissing = True
+
 """
 
 try:
@@ -1225,10 +1236,17 @@ def verifyactions(actions, state, ctxs):
                         ha[:12])
             seen.add(ha)
     missing = sorted(expected - seen)  # sort to stabilize output
-    if missing:
+
+    if state.repo.ui.configbool('histedit', 'dropmissing'):
+        drops = [drop(state, node.bin(n)) for n in missing]
+        # put the in the beginning so they execute immediately and
+        # don't show in the edit-plan in the future
+        actions[:0] = drops
+    elif missing:
         raise error.Abort(_('missing rules for changeset %s') %
                 missing[0][:12],
-                hint=_('use "drop %s" to discard the change') % missing[0][:12])
+                hint=_('use "drop %s" to discard, see also: '
+                       '"hg help -e histedit.config"') % missing[0][:12])
 
 def newnodestoabort(state):
     """process the list of replacements to return
diff --git a/tests/test-histedit-arguments.t b/tests/test-histedit-arguments.t
--- a/tests/test-histedit-arguments.t
+++ b/tests/test-histedit-arguments.t
@@ -159,7 +159,7 @@ Test that missing revisions are detected
   > pick 08d98a8350f3 4 five
   > EOF
   abort: missing rules for changeset c8e68270e35a
-  (use "drop c8e68270e35a" to discard the change)
+  (use "drop c8e68270e35a" to discard, see also: "hg help -e histedit.config")
   [255]
 
 Test that extra revisions are detected
diff --git a/tests/test-histedit-drop.t b/tests/test-histedit-drop.t
--- a/tests/test-histedit-drop.t
+++ b/tests/test-histedit-drop.t
@@ -148,4 +148,26 @@ Drop the last changeset
      summary:     a
   
 
-  $ cd ..
+  $ hg histedit cb9a9f314b8b --commands - 2>&1 << EOF | fixbundle
+  > pick cb9a9f314b8b a
+  > pick ee283cb5f2d5 e
+  > EOF
+  abort: missing rules for changeset a4f7421b80f7
+  (use "drop a4f7421b80f7" to discard, see also: "hg help -e histedit.config")
+  $ hg --config histedit.dropmissing=True histedit  cb9a9f314b8b --commands - 2>&1 << EOF | fixbundle
+  > pick cb9a9f314b8b a
+  > pick ee283cb5f2d5 e
+  > EOF
+  0 files updated, 0 files merged, 3 files removed, 0 files unresolved
+  $ hg log --graph
+  @  changeset:   1:e99c679bf03e
+  |  tag:         tip
+  |  user:        test
+  |  date:        Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+  |  summary:     e
+  |
+  o  changeset:   0:cb9a9f314b8b
+     user:        test
+     date:        Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+     summary:     a
+