> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.quiva.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Cancelling and deferring

> Telling Abbie to stop working on something, or to come back to it later.

## Cancelling an item

Selecting **Stop Abbie** on a backlog item cancels it. This is how you tell Abbie to stop working on something for good: she won't pick it back up, and any reminder or schedule attached to it is cleared too.

<Note>
  If Abbie is in the middle of a step on that item right now, that step finishes before the cancellation takes effect; she won't pick up a next step afterwards. If you need something stopped immediately rather than after its current step, use **Stop this run** in the chat instead. See [Stopping a run](/abbie/chatting/stopping-a-run).
</Note>

## Deferring

If an item is waiting on you but you're not ready to deal with it yet, **Defer** lets you push its follow-up date out to whenever suits you; Abbie won't chase you about it again before then. Use **Change follow-up** to move an existing date, or **Clear follow-up** to remove it entirely.

Deferring is different from cancelling: the item stays open and Abbie still considers it hers to finish. You're just controlling when she next brings it up.

See [Check-ins and follow-ups](/abbie/proactive/check-ins-and-follow-ups) for how follow-up timing interacts with Abbie's own proactive nudges.