Add a delay, or wait until a set time or business hours
The Wait step pauses the run for a set time, until a certain time of day, or until business hours start, then continues.
Before you start · for owners and managersPermission to edit workflows
- You need: Permission to edit workflows
Steps
How it works
If the time is already inside the required hours, the step continues right away without waiting.
Time is counted in the run’s time zone, and takes daylight saving time into account. An owner without working hours doesn’t wait.
While it waits, the run’s status shows as Waiting, and it doesn’t count as an execution until it ends.
After the wait, the record is read as it is now, not as it was before the wait.
Pausing the automation during the wait ends the run as Skipped when it wakes up.
Changing the delay’s length after you publish doesn’t change the time of runs that are already waiting.
The wait can end early when the goal is reached.
If something goes wrong
A real example
Follow-up messages reached patients in the middle of the night.
- After the patient’s visit: a 1-day delay.
- Then a wait until business hours, 09:00–21:00.
- Then the message “How are you feeling after your visit?”.
The follow-up always arrives at a good time.