Sometimes you may want to pause an automation. You can pause an automation by setting it to inactive. The contacts within the automation will also be paused at the step they are currently in. When you reactivate the automation, the contacts will resume the automation from where they left off.
If a contact is in a wait step, the countdown will continue until the set time has elapsed.
For example, if you pause a wait step of 30 days on day 29 and then reactivate the automation after 7 days, the contacts in this wait step will continue to flow to the next step. If you were to pause the automation on day 10 (out of 30) and then reactivate it after 7 days, the contacts would remain in this wait step for another 13 days.
Imagine you have set a 'Wait until' condition where the contact needs to wait for 30 days OR click on a link, and you pause the automation on day 29. At that moment, the contact would still need to wait for 1 more day or click on the link to proceed. When you reactivate the automation after 7 days, the contact will still move on to the next step, regardless of whether they clicked on the link. This is because the 30-day waiting period has already elapsed after this 7-day pause.