What it does
Forms carry their own follow-up machinery: due dates, reminder schedules, overdue notices, expiration, and automatic cancellation. Reminder emails go out on the days you configure before the deadline, and administrators can also fire manual reminders for incomplete assignments at any time.
Who it's for
Program administrators and coordinators who own completion rates; responders just receive the resulting notifications without configuring anything.
How it works
Deadlines. When you set up how a form is assigned, you choose how many days responders get to complete it. You can add an expiration, after which the form can no longer be filled out. You can also notify responders when an assignment goes overdue, after a number of days you choose.
Scheduled reminders. In the builder's assignment step, the Deadlines card lets you turn reminders on and pick a timing preset — 1, 3, 7, or 14 days before the due date. Reminders, plus assignment-created and assignment-completed notices, go out automatically. No manual work is needed.
Manual reminders. From the assignments list, select any incomplete assignments and send a reminder now. A side panel keeps the list visible while you review recipients and override the subject and body for that send. Each person appears once in the recipient list, even with more than one selected assignment. The platform reports how many reminders were queued, skipped, or failed.
Extensions and auto-cancel. Deadlines can be extended in bulk for selected assignments. Separately, an auto-cancel policy can tidy up unfinished assignments. Set the Cancel Condition field to Never, End of Academic Year, Days After Assignment, or Specific Date.
Before you start
You need edit permission on the form template to set deadlines and reminders; sending a manual reminder only needs assignment-management permission.
Decide your reminder days up front (for example 14, 7, and 3 days before due) — you'll enter them as a set on the card.
For a manual reminder, know which assignments you want to nudge; you pick them from the assignments list first.
Do this
Open the template's builder and go to the assignment step (
/forms/templates/:id/step/3) → you should see the Deadlines card.On that same card, turn on reminders and enter the days before the due date you want (for example 14, 7, 3) → duplicate days are ignored automatically.
Set the Due Days field on the card and, if you want one, an expiration; turn on the overdue notice if you want responders alerted after the due date passes → select Save & Continue.
To send a reminder right now instead, open Forms → Assignments (
/forms/assignments) and select the incomplete assignments you want to nudge.Select Remind in the bulk actions bar → the resend panel opens with the recipient list and an editable subject and body.
Review the recipients and message, then select Send → you should see a delivery report of queued, skipped, and failed messages.
You're done when
The template's Deadlines card shows your reminder days and due/expiration settings.
A manual reminder's delivery report accounts for every selected assignment as queued, skipped, or failed.
Responders see reminder notifications land on the days you configured.
Boundaries and limits
Reminder schedules only accept positive whole numbers of days, and duplicate days are ignored.
Automated and manual reminders are separate paths; sending a manual reminder does not change the automated schedule.
The reminder recipient list is unique by email address. Selecting two incomplete assignments for the same person still shows one recipient.
Manual reminders are only delivered for assignments that are still incomplete; already-completed ones are skipped and reported as such.
Overdue notification is optional and only fires when enabled with a days threshold.
Once an assignment expires or is auto-cancelled, responders can no longer complete it; it must be reissued if still needed.
Reminder delivery results are reported per send (queued, skipped, failed); the platform does not silently drop failures.
Common questions
Q: How do I set up "remind at 2 weeks, 1 week, and 3 days before due"? A: On the template, add 14, 7, and 3 to the reminder schedule. Each responder with an incomplete form gets a reminder on those days before their deadline.
Q: Can I customize the reminder email? A: For manual reminders, yes — you can override the subject and body for that send. Scheduled reminders use the standard notification template.
Q: What's the difference between overdue and expired? A: Overdue means the due date passed but the form can still be completed (and an overdue notice may be sent). Expired means the expiration date passed and the form is closed.
Q: Can I give one group extra time? A: Yes. Select their assignments in the assignments list and use the extend-deadline bulk action.
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