# SFC's - manual for version 8.3 language about wait or sleep in SFC 'transactions'?

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/sfcs-manual-for-version-8-3-language-about-wait-or-sleep-in-sfc-transactions/114804>\
**Category:** Ignition\
**Created:** [March 31, 2026, 3:43pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/sfcs-manual-for-version-8-3-language-about-wait-or-sleep-in-sfc-transactions/114804 "2026-03-31T15:43:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![paul.nelson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@paul.nelson](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul.nelson)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 3:43pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/sfcs-manual-for-version-8-3-language-about-wait-or-sleep-in-sfc-transactions/114804/1 "2026-03-31T15:43:19Z")

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Is the language in the manual correct? It mentions ‘transactions’ but isn’t it supposed to mention ‘transitions’ ??

> **[Use Transactions for Pausing or Waiting​ - Action Step Best Practices | Ignition...](https://www.docs.inductiveautomation.com/docs/8.3/ignition-modules/sequential-function-charts/SFCs-in-action/action-step-best-practices#use-transactions-for-pausing-or-waiting)**
>
> This is the primary rule for SFCs. You want your scripts to run as quickly as possible. This means that you don't want to use any sort of sleep() or wait() call. Pausing or waiting is the job of transactions in an SFC. | When designing SFCs, the...

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**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2026, 4:25pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/sfcs-manual-for-version-8-3-language-about-wait-or-sleep-in-sfc-transactions/114804/2 "2026-03-31T16:25:14Z")

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This page in the manual looks like it's persisted for a long time (the 'last edited' timestamp is wrong, this is carried over from a previous version of the manual).  
The 'source of truth' seems to be the original IU video recorded by Carl Gould \[1\]

> **[Action Step Best Practices Video at Inductive University](https://inductiveuniversity.com/videos/action-step-best-practices/7.9)**
>
> Learn important best practices about how to make a chart that is responsive to the pause command. Breaking tasks into smaller chunks using Loop Refactoring will help Gateway shutdown events better able to Persist the state of the SFC.

I would just watch that and attempt to internalize the lessons in it, rather than any dilutions that have happened after the fact.

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1. at the time, the primary dev who implemented the SFC module, currently the CTO of Inductive Automation.