---
title: Pause, Resume and Stop Schedules
description: "Four ways to stop submissions, with different scope and different reversibility. Pick by *how much* you want to stop and for *how long*. --- ## The Options at a Glance | Action | Scope | Reversible | Progress kept |…"
url: "https://brightleafdigital.io/docs/pause-resume-and-stop-schedules/"
updated: "2026-10-18"
category: Recurring Form Submissions for Gravity Forms / How To Guides Recurring Form Submissions For Gravity Forms
---

# Pause, Resume and Stop Schedules

Four ways to stop submissions, with different scope and different reversibility. Pick by *how much* you want to stop and for *how long*.

---

## The Options at a Glance

| Action | Scope | Reversible | Progress kept | Use it for |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Pause** | One series | Yes — **Resume** | Yes | A holiday, an investigation, a temporary hold |
| **Deactivate the feed** | Every series on that feed | Yes — reactivate | Yes | Stopping a whole programme at once |
| **Cancel Series** | One series | No | Kept as history | Ending something for good *(Premium plan)* |
| **Delete the feed** | Every series on that feed | No | Ends the series | Removing the configuration entirely |

---

## Pause One Series

**Where:** Queue, or the parent entry's card.

**Available when:** the series is scheduled or processing.

**What happens:** automatic execution stops. Progress and history are preserved.

### Resuming

**Resume** schedules the next eligible **future** slot and skips the paused interval entirely. You never get a burst of catch-up submissions.

Requirements:

- The feed must be **active**.
- Resume is available from Queue (not from the front-end widget).

> A paused series stays paused until *you* resume it. Reactivating a feed does not resume a series you paused by hand.

---

## Deactivate a Feed

**Where:** the **Feeds** tab under GravityOps, or the feed's own activation toggle on the form.

**What happens:**

- Every scheduled series on that feed is paused, with the reason recorded as *feed inactive*.
- A series that was already claimed will not submit — a final guard checks feed activation before the submission goes through.
- Those series disappear from Queue's default **Current** view. Use the **Paused** filter to see them.

### Reactivating

Reactivating the feed resumes **only** the series that were paused *by the feed toggle*.

It deliberately does **not** resume:

- series a person paused,
- series stopped at the failure threshold.

Those need their own explicit **Resume**.

---

## Cancel One Series

**Where:** Queue, the entry card, or the entry widget shortcode.

**Requires the Premium plan.** On a lower plan the button is hidden and a cancel request is refused — pause the series or deactivate its feed instead.

**What happens:**

- The series ends permanently. It cannot be resumed.
- Child entries, entry notes and retained attempts are all **kept**.
- A submission already in flight may still finish; its child and attempt stay recorded, but nothing further is scheduled.

**To run it again later:** use **Start Series From Now** on the parent entry. That begins a *new* series.

---

## Delete a Feed

Deleting a feed **ends** its series. There is no undo and no resume path.

If there's any chance you'll want the schedules back, deactivate instead.

---

## Things That Stop Submissions Without You Pressing Anything

| Cause | Effect | Recovery |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Failure threshold reached | Series becomes **failed**, automatic attempts stop | Fix the cause, then **Retry** or **Resume** |
| Parent entry trashed or deleted | All its unfinished series are **canceled** immediately | Restore the parent, then **Start Series From Now** |
| Form trashed, or parent missing | Submission is prevented | Restore the form or entry |
| Feed deactivated | Series paused as *feed inactive* | Reactivate the feed |
| Feed deleted | Series ended | Recreate the feed and start new series |
| Worker unhealthy | Nothing runs at all, site-wide | Fix cron — see *Nothing Is Being Submitted* |

All of these are recorded in the Gravity Forms add-on log, which is otherwise the only way to see attempts stop with no visible action in Queue.

---

## Choosing Well

- **Temporary and narrow?** Pause.
- **Temporary and broad?** Deactivate the feed.
- **Permanent and narrow?** Cancel.
- **Permanent and broad?** Delete the feed — but export or note anything you'll want later first.