Waits
A wait lets days pass before the next step. It is what turns an instant reaction into a follow-up.
Set up a wait
- Click Add a step › Add wait. Edit wait opens.
- Enter the Days (0 to 30) and, if needed, the Hours. The other options are explained below.
- Click Done. On the canvas the step reads “Wait 1 day” or “Wait N days”.
You can add several waits to the same workflow, at the main level or inside a branch. For example: notify at 3 days and again at 7.
When it continues
Days are counted from the moment the run reaches the wait. Once they have passed, the next step runs in Cord’s next check. Cord checks every 5 minutes and also whenever something happens in your account (a quote is sent, a payment comes in).
Example: a quote is sent on Monday at 16:00 and the workflow waits 3 days. The 3 days are up on Thursday at 16:00, and the next step runs in the first check after that time.
Meanwhile the run shows as Waiting in the Runs tab, with the date it resumes (“Resumes …”).
If you need something right away, do not use a wait: put the action directly after the trigger. Actions without a wait run as soon as the event happens.
Business days, hours and document dates
A wait has more options than days:
| Option | What it does |
|---|---|
| Days and Hours | They add up: “1 day and 4 hours”. With 0 days you can wait only hours. |
| Business days only (Monday to Friday) | Days count Monday to Friday: 1 business day from a Friday lands on Monday. Holidays are not skipped. |
| Continue at a set time | It continues at that time in your account’s time zone, for example “the next business day at 09:00”. When a time is chosen, hours are not added. |
| Counts from | It starts from a date on the document instead of the moment the run reaches the step, before or after it: “3 days before Due date”. If you do not choose a time, it continues at 09:00. |
The dates you can use are the ones the trigger carries: Due date on invoice triggers, Expiration date on “A quote is about to expire”, Response deadline on dispute triggers and Promised date on “A payment promise is recorded”.
- If the calculated moment has already passed (for example, the invoice was sent two days before its due date and the wait is 3 days before), there is nothing to wait for: the run continues right away.
- If the document does not have that date, the step fails with “The document does not have the date the wait counts from, so there is no way to know when to continue.”
Wait plus condition: the follow-up pattern
A wait is almost always followed by a condition that asks whether something is still the same. That is what the current status is for: it is read when the condition is evaluated, not when the event happened.
| You want | Trigger | Wait | Condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Call if the quote was not opened | A quote is sent | 3 days | Current quote status is Sent |
| Nudge if approved but not paid | A quote is approved | 5 days | Current quote status is Approved |
| Escalate an overdue invoice | An invoice becomes overdue | 7 days | Current invoice status is Open |
If you used Status at the event instead of current status, the condition would always answer with the status from days ago, and the follow-up would happen even if the client had already responded. More in Conditions.
What happens if something changes during the wait
| If while waiting you… | Then |
|---|---|
| Publish changes to the workflow | The run continues with the version it started with. Changes apply to new runs. |
| Pause the workflow | The run does not move forward while the workflow is paused: it stays on its step and continues when you resume it. If its wait ended in the meantime, it continues as soon as you resume it. |
| Delete the workflow | The run is canceled. Its history is kept. |
| Downgrade and the workflow falls outside the limit | If it is still outside the limit when the wait ends, the run is canceled with “Your current plan does not include this active workflow.” |
| The quote or invoice changes | Nothing is interrupted. The following condition reads the new status if it uses the current status. |
Cancel a waiting run
In Runs, open the waiting run and click Cancel. It becomes Canceled and no more steps run. Only Queued or Waiting runs can be canceled.
Wait until something happens
A plain wait counts days. Wait until… counts days and watches a condition: the moment it is met, the workflow continues without sitting out the rest of the limit.
- Click Add a step › Wait until….
- Define the condition just like a regular one: for example, Current quote status is Viewed.
- Set the Time limit in days (1 to 30).
The step has two branches:
| Branch | When it is taken |
|---|---|
| If it happens | The condition was met before the limit ran out. |
| If the time runs out | The days passed without it being met. |
If what you are waiting for happens to the workflow’s document (the client opens or approves the quote, the invoice payment comes in), the step continues the moment it happens. Otherwise, Cord checks again as often as it checks waits. The limit is set the first time the run reaches the step and does not move: checking does not push it forward.
Example, the “Don’t let a quote go cold” idea: after sending, it waits until the client opens it, with a 2-day limit. If they open it, it creates the task to call while the deal is warm; if not, it emails them and waits another 5 days for a decision.
Use Current status in these conditions, not Status at the event: the status at the event never changes, so a condition on it would always answer the same and the wait would burn the whole limit for nothing.
End early: the goal
A sequence of reminders should not keep going once the client has paid. In the trigger panel, Add a goal sets the conditions under which the workflow considers its job done, for example “Current invoice status is Paid”.
- Cord checks the goal before each step, with the data at that moment: if it is met, the run ends as Completed without doing what was left, and its details say “Ended early: the workflow’s goal was met.”
- If the run is in a wait of days, an event about its document checks it right away: when the invoice is paid, it ends there instead of waiting for the wait to run out. If something that does not meet the goal wakes it, it goes back to waiting until the same deadline.
- Unlike the filter, the goal can read what Cord reads live, such as the current status.
- Test checks it too: if the document of the latest event already meets it, the test says the run would end early.