Wait steps
Last updated
Last updated
In your workflow, you may want to pause your workflow until either a certain amount of time passes or until some condition is reached. To support that, Relay.app offers a flexible and powerful Wait step (also known as a "delay" step in other tools like Zapier and Make.com). Here's how to use it:
To create a Wait step, navigate to the flow control menu, where you'll see two options:
Wait for time
Wait for object to match rule
Depending on the data currently available in your workflow, you may see an additional shortcut to a special type of wait step, for example "Wait for reply" to an email, as pictured below.
If you want to wait for a defined amount of time, select Wait for time. Within Wait for time, you'll see two options:
Wait for some time - use this if you want to hard code an exact amount of time
Wait until a date - use this if you want to use a reference date from a variable in your workflow
In this option, you'll specific an exact number of minutes, hours, or days you want the workflow to wait, and it will be exactly the same amount in every workflow run.
For a more dynamic experience that uses your workflow data, here's what you'll see when you select Wait until a date. You'll first slect a reference date from within your workflow, then you can set an optional offset from that date. For example, you can wait for two days after the send time of an email or the upcoming date of a calendar event.
In addition to waiting for a specific amount of time to pass or until a specific date is reached, Relay.app lets you set more advanced wait steps that watch and object until it reaches a certain state. For example, you can wait until an email is starred in your email client or a deal is closed in your CRM.
First, you need to select the object you want to watch.
Next, you need to select what Rule you're watching for. Here's an example, in which we're waiting for an email to be starred.
Once your wait step is setup, you can create a test run to make sure it behaves as you expect.
If a wait step is not working, it's might be for one of these reasons:
Wait steps can take up to one hour to be registered (we're working to improve this!).
Your "wait" filter conditions may be set up incorrectly.
There may have been another error earlier in your run.
If you've checked all of those, it may be a bug! If so, please email support@relay.app with a screenshot or video recording of the event you expected to activate the wait step.
