In ENS Explorer, anything that writes to the chain (saving records, changing a resolver, granting roles, deploying a subregistry, creating a subname) opens the Transaction Manager. It lists the steps, estimates the gas and walks through signing.
The four states
Note: each step costs gas (the network fee), paid in ETH to the network, not to ENS. The wallet shows the exact fee before approval.
Not started. Each step shows its estimated gas. Nothing has been sent. Start begins; closing the dialog costs nothing.
Waiting. The transaction is with the wallet: signing continues, rejecting cancels. A progress bar fills while the network confirms it; on a slow network this can take a while.
Confirmed. The step shows a tick and a link to Etherscan. On the last step the button becomes Done.
Rejected. The transaction was turned down in the wallet. Nothing was sent and nothing was paid. Try again restarts the flow.
Actions with more than one step
Some actions have more than one step, each with its own wallet prompt. Deploying a subregistry (the contract that manages a name's subnames) deploys it, then sets it on the name. Deploying a permissioned resolver deploys it, then points the name at it. After the first step confirms, Next sends the second. Rejecting either step stops the flow there; anything already confirmed stays done.
Common questions
What's the "Syncing changes" banner after saving records?
ENS Explorer is catching up with the chain. The change has already landed. If a value still shows the old state a minute later, a page refresh shows the change.
Can the dialog be closed mid-flow?
Yes. Confirmed steps stay confirmed; reopening the action finishes the rest.