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Question

How to bypass the delay for the first item in a Zap queue?

  • January 26, 2026
  • 7 replies
  • 22 views

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I can’t seem to find a specific answer to this question: How do I immediately release and/or bypass a delay after queue event for the first event in the queue.

I have a Zap that I want to run immediately upon the trigger. However, the trigger may be invoked by users multiple times (usually, by accident). To solve this, I’ve implemented a 5 minute delay after queue and some filtering logic to prevent errors and other odd behavior if the Zap is triggered multiple.

It seems that even that first item is delaying for 5 minutes. I don’t want that. I just want subsequent items in the queue to be delayed.

The exact behavior of the first item doesn’t appear to be documented, although the docs seem to hint that every queue item will be subject to the delay.

If that’s the case, I’d like to propose a feature request to delay after queue for a simple yes/no toggle that would allow the user to decide if the delay should be applied to the first item or not.

The workaround, in my head, is some weird combination of a storage and code script that determines whether or not the zap has recently run, and changes output based upon that to edit the “delay” feature.

7 replies

Troy Tessalone
Zapier Orchestrator & Solution Partner
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  • Zapier Orchestrator & Solution Partner
  • January 26, 2026

Hi ​@Andrew504 

Help links for Delay After Queue: https://zapier.com/apps/delay/integrations#help

You can’t.

Any record added to the delay queue will delay for the delay interval before being processed.

 

You may want to look into configuring your own logic with Zapier Tables as a queue.

Add all records to a Zapier Table that functions as your queue.

Configure other Zap logic that picks 1 record at a time to process in a sequential loop, thus the delay becomes the time it takes for the Zap to process rather than a set delay interval.

You’ll need to configure custom duplicate check logic to decide if a record should be added to the queue in the first place and if a recent record was processed from the queue that was a duplicate to handle race conditions.

 

Feedback and feature requests can be submitted via a ticket to Zapier Support to be logged for consideration: https://zapier.com/app/get-help


drtanvisachar
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  • Zapier Solution Partner
  • January 26, 2026

Hello ​@Andrew504  

You’re reading it right. Delay After Queue applies to every item, including the first one. There’s no way to bypass or immediately release the first run once it hits that step.

The usual workaround is to branch before the delay. Use Storage by Zapier to save a timestamp or flag, then use a Filter or Paths step to decide whether the run should go straight through or be sent to Delay After Queue. First run executes immediately, repeat runs within your window get queued and delayed.

A toggle to skip the first item would be a solid feature request and worth submitting.

Dr. Tanvi Sachar
Monday Certified Partner, Tuesday Wizard


SamB
Community Manager
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  • Community Manager
  • February 12, 2026

Hey there ​@Andrew504! 👋

How did it go with the suggestions from Troy and drtanvisachar here? Were you able to get all but the first item delayed?

Let us know what worked, or whether you need some more help on this. Want to make sure you’re all set!


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  • Author
  • Beginner
  • February 12, 2026

Hey there ​@Andrew504! 👋

How did it go with the suggestions from Troy and drtanvisachar here? Were you able to get all but the first item delayed?

Let us know what worked, or whether you need some more help on this. Want to make sure you’re all set!

No, it’s too much work to implement that, so we’re just dealing with it. I didn’t submit a feature request, either, because well, I posted here.


SamB
Community Manager
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  • Community Manager
  • February 16, 2026

Sorry to hear that ​@Andrew504. I’ve shared your interest in wanting an option to be able to set whether a delay should be applied to the first item in a queue or not, so hopefully it’s something we could offer in the future. 

That said, is it that you’re trying to prevent duplicate records/items being created in another app, when the Zap triggers for the same item multiple times?

If so, wonder if it would be simpler to remove the delays and use a search action to determine if it already exists - often search actions will have the ability to create new items where one isn’t found. Then you could have a filter (or paths) that check to see whether an existing item was found, can carry out any subsequent actions as needed. Could that approach work or does the app you’re working with not have a search action available? 


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  • Author
  • Beginner
  • February 19, 2026

No, that won’t help here. I’m processing files, and there are errors when multiple files are processed at the same time. So I need the delay to give the zap time to run one at a time.


SamB
Community Manager
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  • Community Manager
  • February 20, 2026

Ah, thanks for clarifying that ​@Andrew504. Not sure what apps are involved, but it might be worth seeing if you can lower the delay from 5 minutes to 1 or 2 minutes to help minimize the wait on the first file being processed. Just thinking that if the files don't take long to process individually, then a 1-2 minute gap might be enough to prevent them from being processed at the same time. 

Let me know if that works!