Get reminded before a deadline

Some dates on a deal cannot be missed: the long-stop date, the date by which each condition precedent must be satisfied, the filing deadline with the registry. On a busy matter nobody should have to remember to check the board for them. An automation on the board emails the person responsible a set number of days before each date, and again if it passes with the task still open.

Two questions decide the set-up. Who needs to hear about it? Usually whoever is on the task, so the reminder follows the work when it is reassigned. And how much warning do they need? A filing that takes a day to prepare needs less notice than a condition that depends on a third party.

Set up the reminder

1. Open the board and click Automate in the board header. Automations are set up by the board's managers.

   

2. On Templates, open Due date and click the template When date is upcoming or arrives … then notify someone via email. If you only want reminders for work that is still open, take the one with and only if a status is something in the middle. You can also build the same rule from scratch with Create your own automation.

3. Click "when" to choose the timing. When date arrives at sends the reminder on the day, at the time you set. The second option sends it a number of days, weeks or months before or after the date, at a time of day: "5 days before" gives the team a working week to prepare.

   

4. Click "date" and choose the date column the reminder runs from, such as "Long-stop date" or "Filing deadline". The list shows Date and Date & time columns; with a Date & time column, the reminder uses the time on the task instead of a time you set.

5. If you took the template with a condition, choose the status column, click "is" and change it to "is not", and pick the status that means the work is finished, such as "Done". A task that is already done then sends no reminder.

6. Click "notify" and write the message. Click the fields on the right to insert them: Item puts in the task's name, Task Board Name the board's, Receiver the name of the person reading it. The board's columns are there too, so the message can carry the date itself.

   

7. Click "someone" and choose who receives it. Pick a People column so the reminder goes to whoever is on each task, or pick a named person, such as the supervising partner. If the documents should travel with the reminder, click with attachments and choose the Files columns to attach.

8. Click create automation. Back on manage automations, the rule reads as one sentence; check that its switch is on.

When a date has passed

A reminder before the date does not help if the task is still open the day after. Add a second automation with Create your own automation: choose the trigger Every day when a date has passed and the same date column, add the condition and only if a status is something set to "is not" "Done", and notify the same people. It sends a reminder every day until the task is marked done or the date is changed.

Which reminder for which date

Tips from practice

• Try it on one task first. Give a test task a date for tomorrow, wait for the reminder, and then open Run history from the automation's menu to see when it ran and on which task.
• Point reminders at a People column, not a name. When the work moves to another associate, the reminders move with it.
• Name the date in the message. "The long-stop date for Project Alpha is in two weeks" reads better on a phone than a bare task name.
• One automation per kind of date. Separate rules for long-stop, CP and filing dates can each have their own warning time, and you can turn one off without losing the others.

For automations beyond reminders, see automate the routine steps on a deal. To see the same dates laid out by week, see see the deal's deadlines in a calendar.