When changing state (paused/active) of a project Symplify will (re-)build the script that is loaded into the end users (your website's visitors). This means a new script is built containing only the (now) active projects. This means that if you pause a project it will no longer be included in the script. This will have effects for your website's visitors.
Activating a project
It might take a couple of minutes for the project to become active because of the script build mentioned above. It also depends on the browser's cache, if a visitor get the newly build or a cached version of the script. The Symplify script is set to a 5 minute cache, so entering the website (again) within this time will get you a cached script.
The easiest way to see new projects (after activating) is to either browse the website in a new incognito window, or to do a hard reload (cmd/ctrl + shift + r) of a page when browsing normally. This will disregard any cache. You can also open up the browsers dev tools and go to the network tab and check the box for Disable cache (see image below) and then reload the page.
Pausing a project
It might take a couple of minutes for the project to become paused because of the script build mentioned above. It also depends on the browser's cache, if a visitor get the newly build or a cached version of the script. The Symplify script is set to a 5 minute cache, so entering the website (again) within this time will get you a cached script.
Issues with re-activating a paused project
Because browsers have limits for how big a cookie may be, the Symplify script will garbage collect in the cookies the script uses. To prevent the Symplify cookie that holds all info needed for active projects from getting too big, the script will automatically remove all info of non active projects from the cookie. This means that if you pause a project, and a visitor that has already been allocated that project, goes in to the website (while the project is paused), the given variation will be removed from the cookie. If the project is activated again, this visitor will be randomised a new variation of that project.