Google Workspace Studio now lets you pause automated workflows and resume them at a specific time—all within a single flow. The new "Wait until" step means you can build sequences like "send a follow-up email three days after a meeting" without splitting your automation across multiple scheduled flows or writing any code.
For anyone who's tried to set up a proper onboarding sequence or spaced-out reminder system in Workspace, you'll know the workaround was clunky: create one flow to trigger the first action, then a separate scheduled flow for the follow-up, then another for the next step. It worked, but managing five flows for what should be one process? Nobody has time for that.
What does the "Wait until" step actually do?
It pauses your flow mid-execution and automatically resumes at the time you specify. You can drop it anywhere in your workflow—including inside conditional branches and loops—and the flow just... waits.
Three timing options are available:
- Specific day next week: Resume next Monday at 8AM. Useful for weekly digests or deferring notifications until people are actually at their desks.
- Specific day and time: Wait 3 days, then continue at 5PM. Perfect for follow-up email sequences or deadline reminders.
- Set duration: Pause for 30 minutes, 6 hours, or up to 14 days before moving to the next step.
Where would you actually use this?
Here are some practical scenarios:
Customer follow-ups: A client fills out a contact form. Your flow sends an acknowledgement immediately, waits three days, then sends a check-in if no one's responded yet.
Employee onboarding: New hire starts Monday. Day one: welcome email and IT setup instructions. Day three: reminder about benefits enrolment. Day seven: check-in from their manager. One flow handles the lot.
Project deadlines: Task assigned on Tuesday with a Friday deadline. Flow waits until Thursday afternoon, checks if it's marked complete, and sends a nudge if it isn't.
Team updates: Collect data throughout the week, then post a summary to Google Chat every Monday morning—without maintaining separate collection and posting flows.
How do you track paused flows?
The Workspace Studio Activity tab shows you exactly where each flow instance is sitting. You'll see entries like "Waiting until 15 November 2026, 9:00 AM GMT" and "Flow resumed on 15 November 2026, 9:00 AM GMT". No guessing whether something's stuck or just waiting its turn.
Which Google Workspace plans include this?
| Plan Type | Included Editions |
|---|---|
| Business | Starter, Standard, Plus |
| Enterprise | Standard, Plus |
| Education | Fundamentals, Standard, Plus |
| Add-ons | AI Expanded Access, Google AI Pro for Education, Teaching and Learning |
There's no admin toggle to enable this—it's available by default in Workspace Studio for eligible plans.
Frequently asked questions
What's the maximum wait time for a single step?
Up to 14 days. If you need longer delays, you'd chain multiple wait steps or use a different approach.
Can I cancel a flow while it's paused?
Yes. Paused flows appear in the Activity tab, and you can stop them from there.
Does the wait step work inside loops?
It does. You can pause inside "Repeat for each" loops, which is handy for spacing out actions across a list—like sending personalised emails to 50 contacts with a gap between each.
Do I need coding skills to use this?
No. Workspace Studio is a no-code builder. You configure the wait step through dropdown menus and time pickers.
If you're looking to get more from Google Workspace—whether that's setting up automated workflows, sorting out user management, or just figuring out what's possible—Blue Chip Technologies Ltd. can help. We support businesses worldwide with remote setup and ongoing assistance, plus on-site help for organisations in Trinidad and Tobago.
Learn more about our Google Workspace solutions, or get in touch:
📞 Phone: 1 (868) 609-2288
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✉️ Email: [email protected]
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