Pausing stops your billing for 4 or 12 weeks. Your uploads, saved documents, and plan stay exactly as they are, and your subscription restarts on its own when the pause ends. Useful when you've finished what you needed Scribd for, and you'll be back for the next thing.
Your subscription covers both Scribd and Slideshare, so pausing here pauses both.
Subscribed to Everand? See How to pause your Everand subscription.
Sign in on the Scribd website, then:
- Go to Your account.
- In the Your subscription section, select Pause subscription.
- Choose 4 weeks or 12 weeks from the drop-down.
- Select Pause subscription to confirm.
Once your pause is set, your account page shows the date your subscription comes back.
Step 2. Pause subscription sits at the bottom of the Your subscription section.
Subscribed through Slideshare? Your account settings page has a Scribd Membership tab that brings you to the same place above.
Your billing during a pause
Some pauses start the moment you set them. Others start on your next billing date, and you keep full access until then. Your account page shows which one applies to you.
You won't be billed during the pause, and your renewal date moves out by the same number of weeks.
What you can still do while paused
You'll be on Basic, the free plan, so search across 300M+ documents stays open and your account keeps everything in it. AI summaries, Ask AI, text copying, ad-free reading, and offline access come back when your subscription does.
Coming back before the pause ends
You don't have to wait it out. To unpause early, sign in on the Scribd website, open Your account, and select Resume subscription in the Your subscription section. Billing picks up from there.
When you won't see the Pause subscription button
- Apple bills you. App Store subscriptions can't be paused.
- Google bills you. Pause through Google Play instead.
- You pay through PayPal. Some PayPal subscriptions can't be paused.
- A payment didn't go through. The button comes back once that's sorted out.
- You're in a free trial. Pause starts with your paid subscription.
If none of those fit, chat with support from your account page and we'll take a look.
Pausing versus canceling
Pausing is a hold. Canceling is an ending.
Pause, and your plan waits for you with your uploads and saved documents untouched. Cancel, and your billing stops for good and your plan ends. Both put you on Basic in between, but only a pause brings your plan back. See How to cancel your Scribd subscription.
Want to cancel while a pause is running? Resume first, then cancel right away, and no charge goes through in between.
Frequently asked questions
Q: When does my pause start?
A: Either the moment you set it, or on your next billing date. Your account page shows the date, so check there if you're not sure.
Q: Can I pause if I subscribed through the App Store or Google Play?
A: Google Play has its own pause feature, so you can pause from there. App Store subscriptions can't be paused at all.
Q: Can I pause more than once?
A: Yes, up to three times in a three-month period.
Q: Can I change my billing date?
A: Pausing does that. A 4-week pause moves your renewal 4 weeks out, and a 12-week pause moves it 12 weeks out. If your pause starts on your next billing date versus right away, the shift counts from there.
Not sure whether your pause went through? Your subscription status shows where things stand. If it still looks wrong, chat with support from your Scribd account page.