# Pause or stop outreach

> Five switches hold outreach at different distances: pause or stop one sequence, disconnect a mailbox, narrow a project's sending window, switch off auto-promotion, or set outreach aside on the deck. Which to press, where it lives, and what keeps running afterwards.

sourcesignal documentation, Outreach. Updated 2026-10-19. The page for people: https://www.sourcesignal.ai/docs/outreach/pause-or-stop-outreach. Every article: https://www.sourcesignal.ai/llms.txt

Sometimes you want nothing more to go out, now. Five switches can do that, each at a different distance: one sequence, one mailbox, one project's hours, the rules that draft new pitches, or the deck that asks you to decide. This page gives the exact label for each and where it lives, so you pick the smallest one.

Pause is a break. Stop is final. Disconnect ends an address. The sending window holds a project to certain hours. Auto-promotion decides whether new drafts appear. The deck's switches change what you are asked, never what sends.

## Pause or stop one sequence

Both live on the sequence's Tracker card and on its action bar on Sequences. See [The tracker and calendar](https://www.sourcesignal.ai/docs/outreach/the-tracker-and-calendar.md).

### Pause

1. Open the Tracker and find the card. "Sending" lists every live sequence.
2. Press "Pause". The chip reads "Paused" and nothing more goes.
3. When you are ready, press "Resume sending". The next email is booked at the next slot the schedule allows ("Resumed: the next email is booked").

If you are already talking to the person, "Resume sending" asks first ("You are already talking to them"): "Send anyway" sends, "Keep paused" changes nothing. While an email's delivery is unknown, resume is refused until you mark that email as sent or retry it. A sequence you paused by hand counts under "Needs you", so it is never forgotten.

### Stop

1. Press "Stop" on the card (on Sequences: the more menu, then "Stop this sequence…").
2. The dialog "Stop the sequence to …?" names the person and says what will not send, for example "The 2 emails not sent yet will not send, and a stopped sequence cannot be resumed."
3. Press "Stop sequence" to end it, or "Keep the sequence" to change nothing.

The chip reads "Stopped", the card sits under "Done", and every email that had not gone is skipped.

> **Heads up:** a stopped sequence cannot be resumed. If you only want a break, pause it. To pitch the same page again later, promote it again from Opportunities.

## Hold one mailbox

Every sequence sends from one connected address, so cutting the address off holds everything on it, in every project. Open Settings, then Mailboxes (see [Mailboxes](https://www.sourcesignal.ai/docs/account-and-billing/mailboxes.md)).

1. Press "Disconnect" on the mailbox. The dialog "Disconnect …?" names the address and reminds you: "Nothing sends from this address once it is disconnected. Reconnecting later makes a new connection rather than bringing this one back."
2. Read what is using it: live sequences, drafts waiting in the review queue, and projects that send from it by default.
3. Under "What happens to it", choose:
  - "Move it to another mailbox": pick the address, and the live sequences continue from it. Moved drafts return to Needs review, since the sender changed.
  - "Stop it": "Live sequences stop and their unsent emails are skipped. Nothing already sent is recalled or deleted." Drafts "stay in the review queue but lose their signoff, so none can be approved until they have a sender."
4. Confirm with "Disconnect and move", "Disconnect and stop outreach" or, when nothing was using it, "Disconnect". "Cancel" leaves everything as it was.

With no other connected mailbox, only "Stop it" is offered. Drafts left without a sender show "Re-home…" above the Outreach queue: pick an address under "Send them from" and press "Move every stranded draft".

Disconnect is not a pause: reconnecting later starts from scratch. To keep the address and only slow it down, open any draft in Outreach, press its "Sends" chip and expand "Mailbox limits" (see [Sending schedule and limits](https://www.sourcesignal.ai/docs/outreach/sending-schedule-and-limits.md)).

## Narrow or close the project's sending window

The sending window holds one project's emails to certain days and hours without touching the mailbox or any other project. Emails due outside it wait for the window to open.

1. Open the project's settings and jump to "Send schedule". The "Sending window" card shows what your mailboxes currently allow.
2. Check "Set a window for this project".
3. Pick the days, the start and end times, and the time zone.
4. Press "Save window".

The window only narrows. It can never widen the mailbox's own window, and the mailbox's daily cap applies either way. If your window never overlaps the mailbox window, the save warns you and the mailbox window is used instead. With no day picked, the card warns "Pick at least one day, or nothing will ever send." To return to the mailbox window, uncheck "Set a window for this project" and press "Save window" ("Send window cleared").

Two presses go past the window on purpose, because each is one explicit act of yours: "Send now" on a Tracker card and "Launch & send now" on a launch.

## Switch off auto-promotion

While auto-promotion is on, each running rule promotes the pages that match, the highest priority first, up to 30 a day, and leaves a drafted sequence under Needs review. Switching it off stops new drafts; drafts already waiting and launched sequences are untouched. See [Auto-promotion and reply rules](https://www.sourcesignal.ai/docs/outreach/auto-promotion-and-reply-rules.md).

The same switch sits in three places.

- **The engine room.** Press "Engine room" on the engine bar at the bottom of any project page. Under "Rules & levers", the "Auto-promotion" row ("Creates drafts only, and every email still lands in your deck") holds the master switch, and each rule has a switch of its own. See [The engine room and pipeline](https://www.sourcesignal.ai/docs/autopilot/the-engine-room-and-pipeline.md).
- **The Autopilot console.** The "Auto-promotion" row reads "Off", or "On" with the running rule's name or count, with the switch beside it and "Manage rules" next to that.
- **The rules page.** Open Outreach, "Set up", then "Auto-promote & reply rules". The top reads "Master switch: auto-promotion is ON" or "OFF". Each rule row has "Switch off" or "Switch on", and its badge reads "Running", "Running when master is on" or "Off · not promoting".

A rule runs only while both its own switch and the master are on, so use the rule's switch to silence one and the master to stop them all. Switching the master back on runs your rules straight away ("Auto-promotion on. Running your rules now; watch the engine bar.").

While auto-promotion is off, scored pages can still reach you as Promote? cards on the deck; "Why this card" reads "Auto-promotion is off for this project, so scored pages come to you." Nothing is drafted until you press one.

## Set outreach aside on the deck

The deck's switches stop nothing. Press "Decisions" on the deck's header row; the panel says "Choose what Autopilot brings into your deck. Switching a type off sets its decisions aside, it never deletes them." Switch "Outreach" off and the deck stops dealing replies, drafts, pages to pitch and follow-ups; the row reads "Off. Replies wait in the Inbox, everything else in Outreach." See [The deck](https://www.sourcesignal.ai/docs/autopilot/the-deck.md).

Launched sequences keep sending, rules keep drafting, and every decision waits on its own page until you switch the type on again. When every type is off, the deck reads "Every decision type is off."

## What keeps happening afterwards

- **Replies still arrive.** A reply to a paused, stopped or moved sequence lands in [the Inbox](https://www.sourcesignal.ai/docs/outreach/the-inbox.md) like any other, so stopping never hides a conversation.
- **Nothing is deleted.** Emails already sent are never recalled. A skipped email stays on the card's step rail, marked skipped.
- **A stopped sequence stays stopped.** Pause is the only reversible hold on a single sequence.
- **Drafts stay where they are.** A draft under Needs review is untouched by every switch here, with one exception: "Stop it" on a disconnected mailbox clears its sign-off until it has a sender again.
- **The data update keeps running.** Tracking and the answer feed do not depend on outreach. Switching auto-promotion off changes what is drafted, not what is measured.

## I want to…

| I want to… | Press… |
|---|---|
| Take a break on one sequence | "Pause" on its Tracker card, then "Resume sending" when ready |
| End one sequence for good | "Stop" on its Tracker card, then "Stop sequence" |
| Stop everything from one address | Settings, Mailboxes: "Disconnect", "Stop it", "Disconnect and stop outreach" |
| Keep it sending from a different address | Settings, Mailboxes: "Disconnect", "Move it to another mailbox", "Disconnect and move" |
| Hold this project to certain hours | Project settings, Send schedule: "Set a window for this project", "Save window" |
| Stop new drafts from appearing | Engine room, "Rules & levers": the "Auto-promotion" switch, or one rule's switch |
| Stop being asked about outreach on the deck | "Decisions" on the deck: switch "Outreach" off |

## Related

- [The tracker and calendar](https://www.sourcesignal.ai/docs/outreach/the-tracker-and-calendar.md): The Tracker shows every sequence you launched as a card with its send plan. The Calendar shows the same sends as a month, so you can see what went out, what is booked and what is still an estimate.
- [Mailboxes](https://www.sourcesignal.ai/docs/account-and-billing/mailboxes.md): Outreach sends from a Gmail, Outlook or any other mailbox with IMAP and SMTP that your organization connects. This page covers connecting one, how its emails sign off, its sending limits, and what to do when it reads Reauth required, stops sending or you retire it.
- [Sending schedule and limits](https://www.sourcesignal.ai/docs/outreach/sending-schedule-and-limits.md): How the mailbox limits, the project sending window and a sequence's own timing decide when each email leaves, what "(queued)" means, and what happens when a send fails.
- [Auto-promotion and reply rules](https://www.sourcesignal.ai/docs/outreach/auto-promotion-and-reply-rules.md): Rules that turn matching pages into drafted pitches for your review, the switches that steer what Autopilot works on, and the reply conditions the AI flags so you look first.
- [The engine room and pipeline](https://www.sourcesignal.ai/docs/autopilot/the-engine-room-and-pipeline.md): Where you watch the autopilot work: the engine room shows the run in progress and your levers, and the Pipeline page shows the steps your data moves through, each with a status and when it moves next.
- [The deck](https://www.sourcesignal.ai/docs/autopilot/the-deck.md): Your deck deals the decisions only you can make, one card at a time. This article covers every card, the keys, undo, the daily budget and what a cleared deck means.