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Pause, cancel, and resume projects

Stop project work without losing its history, then restart recurring tasks and billing deliberately.

Written by Geoff Mina

Pause a project when work is temporarily on hold, or cancel it when the engagement will not continue. Moxie keeps the project and its history so you can resume or reopen it later, with control over which recurring tasks and billing periods restart.

Before you begin

  • You need access to manage projects. Collaborators cannot pause, cancel, resume, or reopen projects.

  • Use Pause project for an active project you expect to continue. Use Cancel project when the work has stopped without being successfully completed.

  • Use Mark complete for a finished engagement. Pausing or canceling does not mark the project or its individual tasks complete.

  • Existing invoices, outstanding balances, and payment collection continue. Pausing or canceling a project does not cancel an invoice or stop collecting an existing balance.

Pause or cancel a project

  1. Open Work → Projects and select the project.

  2. Open More project actions (the three-dot menu in the project header).

  3. Select Pause project… or Cancel project….

  4. Review the consequences in the confirmation dialog, then select Pause project or Cancel project.

Project actions menu showing Pause project and Cancel project

Open the project's three-dot menu to pause or cancel active work.

Pause project confirmation explaining preserved task progress and stopped reminders, recurring tasks, and automated billing

Review what stops and what stays preserved before pausing the project.

Cancel project confirmation with Keep project and Cancel project actions

Canceling preserves work and history without marking the engagement complete.

You can also use the project's action menu from the Projects list. After pausing or canceling, Moxie opens the list filtered to Paused or Canceled so you can find the project again.

Projects list with the Paused status filter selected and a paused project card showing preserved task progress

Use the Paused filter to find projects on hold.

What happens next

  • Work stays preserved. Task statuses, progress, assignments, due dates, and history stay unchanged. Pausing or canceling does not move the schedule forward.

  • Reminders and new recurring tasks stop. Automatic client-facing task emails, including approvals, reminders, assignments, comments, and mentions, are suppressed while the project is paused or canceled.

  • New project billing stops. Paused and canceled projects, including their expenses, are excluded from billable work. Existing invoices and payment collection remain unchanged.

  • New time tracking is unavailable. You cannot start or resume a timer for the project, or assign a running timer to it. Existing time and financial records remain accessible.

  • Paused tasks remain editable internally. Canceled tasks, their comments, dependencies, and task files are read-only until you reopen the project.

Pausing or canceling is not a general stop switch for unrelated workflows or financial records. A workflow waiting for project completion continues waiting; neither state counts as completion.

What clients see in the client portal

When you pause or cancel a project, it becomes read-only in the client portal, even if its sharing setting is Full project collaboration. Clients who already have access can still review the shared project information, tasks, history, and files available to them, but cannot make changes while the project is paused or canceled.

  • Clients cannot edit tasks, change their status, or move them between board columns.

  • Clients cannot add or edit task comments, upload or remove task files, or submit task approvals.

  • The portal identifies the project as Paused or Canceled. Clients can use those status filters to find it.

This does not give clients new access: an Overview only project keeps its limited view, and a Not visible project remains hidden. Your existing project sharing setting is preserved.

After you resume or reopen the project, portal collaboration follows that sharing setting again. A project shared with Full project collaboration becomes editable again; a project configured for Read only project collaboration remains read-only.

Portal restrictions apply to the project's work. Clients can still access and pay existing invoices according to their usual portal permissions.

Resume or reopen a project

  1. Return to Work → Projects and use the Paused, Canceled, or All status filter to find the project.

  2. Open the project and select Resume project for a paused project, or Reopen project for a canceled project.

  3. If recurring task schedules appear, select only the schedules you want to restart. Nothing is selected automatically.

  4. If the project uses recurring fees, choose how recurring billing should restart using the options below.

  5. Confirm with Resume project or Reopen project.

Resume project dialog with unchecked recurring task schedules and options to move or keep the recurring billing start date

Choose which recurring tasks restart and how recurring billing resumes before confirming.

The project returns to active work and Moxie opens its workspace. Task progress and due dates remain as they were, so review overdue work before continuing.

Choose which recurring tasks restart

Selected schedules restart at their next future occurrence. Missed tasks are skipped rather than created in a backlog. Unchecked schedules stay stopped.

A schedule labeled Schedule ended — update it before restarting cannot be selected. Update that schedule before trying to restart it.

Choose how recurring billing restarts

For projects with recurring fees, Moxie requires an explicit billing choice before you confirm:

  • Move the recurring start date forward: Choose today or a future date, no earlier than the existing start date. Unbilled periods before the new date are skipped. This resets the billing cycle and any limited number of periods. Choose a date after any period already invoiced to avoid overlapping charges.

  • Keep the existing start date: Retain the original billing schedule. This can generate charges for all unbilled periods while the project was paused or canceled.

Example: If a monthly project was paused for two unbilled months, keeping its original start date can make those months billable again. Moving the start date forward skips unbilled periods before the new date.

Neither choice changes invoices already issued, existing balances, or payment collection.

Troubleshooting

  • I cannot find Pause project. Pause is available only for active projects, and project management access is required.

  • My project disappeared from the active list. Switch the status filter to Paused, Canceled, or All. The project has not been deleted.

  • I cannot confirm Resume or Reopen. For recurring-fee projects, select a billing option and, if moving the start date, enter a valid date.

  • Recurring tasks did not restart. Only explicitly selected schedules restart. Missed occurrences are skipped and ended schedules must be updated first.

  • My client still has an outstanding invoice. Existing invoices and their collection continue independently of the project's paused or canceled status.

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