> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.flowforth.co/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Wait Step

> Pause an automation before the next step runs — for a set duration or until a specific day of the week.

A **Wait** step pauses an automation before the next step runs. Use it to space out emails in a series, hold a message until a specific day, or give an auto-refreshing list time to settle before sending.

Waits come in two modes.

<Note>
  A Wait pauses for a set amount of time. To hold someone until they're on a Planning Center list instead, use a [Wait Until on List](/automations/builder/wait-until) step.
</Note>

***

## Wait for a Duration

Delay the next step by a number of **hours** or **days**. For example, wait 3 days after the welcome email before sending a follow-up.

* A duration wait can be **at most 31 days**.

***

## Wait Until a Day of the Week

Pause until the next time it's a chosen **weekday and hour**, like *Friday at 8:00 PM*, in a timezone you pick.

* If that moment has already passed when a person reaches the step, they wait until the **following week** — so this wait is always somewhere between an instant and seven days.
* The step's settings show when the next occurrence would be.

For example, you could wait until the next Saturday to remind new people about church the following morning.

***

## Rules

* You **cannot end** an automation (or a path) with a wait — though a path may end with one when it rejoins into more steps afterwards.
* You **cannot place two waits** back-to-back.

<Warning>
  Because auto-refreshing Planning Center lists refresh at 2:00 AM, we recommend adding a wait before sending your first email when using a list trigger — or setting a [start offset](/automations/triggers/list-triggers#auto-refreshing-lists-and-the-start-offset).
</Warning>