Behavior of delay shapes when journeys are turned off and on
Overview
A relative delay shape lets you make contacts wait for a specific period during their journey. You can set delays in minutes, hours, or days before contacts continue.
Find out how these delay shapes work when you turn a journey off and then back on.
What happens to contacts in a delay shape when a journey is turned off
- When you switch off a journey, contacts will pause at their current step.
- Once the journey is switched back on, contacts will resume from where they left off.
- If a contact was in a delay shape when the journey was off, the countdown will continue as scheduled.
![](https://ic.autopilotapp.com/kb/430/bWFuaGF0dGFu/We26/AGaXwdgekqr5OVRT.jpg)
EX: Resuming a Journey after delay time has passed.
The journey was paused on day 15 of a 20-day wait. When it resumed 10 days later, contacts moved to the next step immediately because they had already completed the 20-day wait period, despite the journey being paused.
EX: Resuming a Journey before delay time has passed.
The journey was paused on day 15 of a 20-day wait. When it resumed 3 days later, contacts needed to wait an additional 2 days to complete the total 20-day wait before proceeding to the next step.
NOTE: The same principle applies to wait until shapes with attached conditions.
- For instance, if you use a filter shape that waits for 3 days or until a specific activity occurs, and you pause the journey on day 2, then resume it 5 days later, the contact will proceed to the next step regardless of whether the activity has occurred.
![](https://ic.autopilotapp.com/kb/540/bWFuaGF0dGFu/zWwf/AGaXvdzuVxmMD6Oi.jpg)