How to Automatically Email Upcoming Project Deadlines in Airtable
If you track projects in Airtable, you can send a reminder when a deadline is getting close. The setup below checks your projects once a day, emails the person assigned to each matching project, and marks the reminder as sent.
We will use one Projects table. Each record represents a project that needs to be completed by a certain date.
Set up the Projects table
Add these fields to the Projects table:
| Field | Type | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Project Name | Single line text | Names the project. |
| Deadline | Date | Stores the date the project is due. |
| Assigned To | Stores the person who should receive the reminder. | |
| Status | Single select | Shows whether the project is still active. |
| Reminder Sent | Checkbox | Stops the same project from sending another reminder. |
Set the Status option to Complete when a project is finished. Leave Reminder Sent unchecked until Airtable sends the reminder.
Find projects due soon
Create a new automation in the base and choose At a scheduled time as the trigger. Set it to run once a day, such as at 8:00 AM.
The scheduled trigger is useful here because it checks every project at the same time each day. You do not need to edit a record just to start the reminder.
Add a Find records action. Choose the Projects table and set these conditions:
- Deadline is within the next week
- Status is not Complete
- Reminder Sent is unchecked
Airtable treats “the next week” as the next seven days, not the next calendar week. The Deadline field also needs to contain a date for a project to match.
Test the action and check that it finds the projects you expect.
Email each person
Add a Repeating group after Find records. Use the records found in the previous step as the input list. This lets the automation handle each matching project separately.
Inside the repeating group, add a Send email action:
- To: the current project's Assigned To email
- Subject:
Reminder: [Project Name] is due soon - Message: include the project name, deadline, and a link to the project record
After the email action, add Update record. Choose the current project record and check Reminder Sent.
The checkbox matters because a project stays within the seven-day window for several days. Once the checkbox is checked, the project no longer matches the Find records conditions and will not send the same reminder again.
If the deadline changes and you want to send a new reminder, uncheck Reminder Sent after updating the project.
The native Airtable Send email action can send to non-collaborators from paid workspaces. On the Free plan, the recipient needs to be a verified collaborator in the base.
Test the automation
Before turning it on, create a test project with a deadline within the next seven days. Add your own email address in Assigned To, leave Status as an active option, and leave Reminder Sent unchecked.
Test each step in order:
- Confirm that Find records returns the test project.
- Test the Send email action and check the subject and deadline.
- Test Update record and confirm that Reminder Sent is checked.
- Run Find records again and confirm that the test project is no longer included.
Once the test works, turn on the automation.
If you would rather send one email containing a list of all upcoming projects, see how to send a list of Airtable records in one automated email.