How to Automate Expiry Date Reminders in Airtable
Need to remind someone before a contract, license, or subscription expires? Store the expiry date in Airtable, find records that are due soon, and send the reminder from a scheduled automation.
I’ll use a Contracts table as the example. Each record has an expiry date, an email address, and a checkbox that stops Airtable from sending the same reminder again.
Add the fields
Add these fields to the Contracts table:
| Field | Type | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Contract | Single line text | Names the contract. |
| Expiry Date | Date | Stores when the contract expires. |
| Contact Email | Receives the reminder. | |
| Days Until Expiry | Formula | Counts the days left. |
| Reminder Sent | Checkbox | Prevents the same reminder from being sent again. |
Set Days Until Expiry to:
DATETIME_DIFF({Expiry Date}, TODAY(), 'days')
An upcoming expiry returns a positive number. A contract that expires today returns 0, and a past expiry returns a negative number.
Find contracts that need a reminder
Create an automation with At a scheduled time as the trigger. Set it to run once a day.
Add Find records and choose the Contracts table. Find records where:
- Days Until Expiry is greater than or equal to 0
- Days Until Expiry is less than or equal to 30
- Reminder Sent is unchecked
This finds contracts that expire within the next 30 days and leaves out reminders that have already been sent.
Add a Repeating group using the records from Find records. Inside it, add Send email and use the current record’s Contact Email, Contract, Expiry Date, and Days Until Expiry fields.
After the email, add Update record and check Reminder Sent for the current contract. The next daily check will then skip that record.
Send reminders more than once
If one reminder is not enough, use a separate checkbox for each message, such as 30-Day Reminder Sent, 7-Day Reminder Sent, and 1-Day Reminder Sent.
Each automation can use a different range in Find records. For example, the 7-day automation can find contracts where Days Until Expiry is between 0 and 7 and 7-Day Reminder Sent is unchecked.
This lets you send one message at each stage without sending the same message every day.
Test the automation
Create a test contract with an expiry date within the next 30 days. Add your own email address and leave Reminder Sent unchecked.
Test Find records, then test Send email and Update record. After the update, run Find records again. The test contract should no longer appear.
For a follow-up sequence based on the date of an initial email, see how to send automated follow-up emails in Airtable. For a general reminder setup, see how to send reminders in Airtable.