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I know other people already asked this questions, but I could not figure out how to do it. It would be a big help for me if it is step by step...

In my task list, I have a "Project log-in" and a "Due Date" columns. I would like to create a WF that could send a reminder email to the Assignees 7 day prior to the due date. How would I do this?

Thank you, Dennis

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  • Followed the instruction from other thread, here is what i did, but still doesn't work! May be something is not correct. I created a calcalated new column called "Reminder Due Date" with a formular: [Due Date]-7, then created a WF with the following: If Current Item: "Due Date" equals "Today", then pause unit Current Item: "Reminder Due Date", then email to.... Is there something wrong in this WF?
    – Dennis
    Feb 6, 2018 at 19:11

3 Answers 3

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To do this you'll need to create another field for Due Date Reminder. I believe you can make that a calculated field that is equal to Due Date - 7 days. You'll also need to create a workflow that kicks off the email to the desired recipients.

For your Task list, go to List Settings

  • Information management policy settings
  • Click on Task under Content Type
  • Select Enable Retention. Some new text will show up
  • Click on Add a retention stage..., which will open up a modal window
  • There should be a drop down for Time Period. Select your DueDateReminder field.
  • Under the When this stage is triggered, perform the following action: ** dropdown, select Start a workflow then select your email workflow

This should get you what you're looking for.

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  • Our IT doesn't let us access to Imformation management policy settings. I will request an access and try your method.
    – Dennis
    Feb 7, 2018 at 15:20
  • If they're balking on giving you higher permissions just have them create a custom permission that just has 'Browse Directories' at the Site Collection root, and have them give you that permission.
    – GVIrish
    Feb 7, 2018 at 20:31
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These reminder emails x days prior to due date sounds like such a simple thing, but often it is not. The first issue is to get the actual requirements right, especially the edge cases: I have a task that is due in 9 days, then I change the due date so that it is due in 4 days..does the workflow catch this? I now change the same due date and now the same task is due is 10 days. Should the notification be sent again in 3 days time? The only solution that I have made that actually covers all the cases is a daily timer job

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  • Creating a daily timer job is the right fix and gets the job done perfectly. Do you have any other suggestions for SharePoint online , where do not have any deployment or server side code involved?
    – Murtuza Husain
    Mar 25, 2019 at 9:02
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    Depends on what you mean by deployment and server side code. You could create a powershell script and have it running as a Windows time job on a server of your choice
    – Kasper Bo Larsen
    Mar 26, 2019 at 19:23
  • By server side code I mean, that does not involve C# code or any deployment inside a server, OR simply when you are dealing with SharePoint online and have only site collection permissions.
    – Murtuza Husain
    Mar 27, 2019 at 10:15
  • So is a powershell script in a Windows timer job ok?
    – Kasper Bo Larsen
    Mar 27, 2019 at 20:51
  • I think Azure WebJob might be what should work, docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/solution-guidance/…
    – Murtuza Husain
    Mar 28, 2019 at 8:17
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You can use “Add Time to Date” and “Pause until Date” actions in the workflow and set the workflow steps as below: enter image description here enter image description here

Then, in the workflow settings, you can tick “start workflow automatically when an item is created” under Start Options.

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  • 2nd Action: then Pause until.....There is no Variable: Date for me to choose. (Only two options; Date Value, or Lookup Date & Time from Current Item)? Can you please explain more about the second action?
    – Dennis
    Feb 7, 2018 at 15:13
  • In the first action, I output the due date minus 7 day to variable:date. then I can select the variable: date from workflow variable and parameter in data source section. I update the screenshot.
    – Hellofiona_MSFT
    Feb 8, 2018 at 10:18
  • It works!!! Thank you very much! It works for the new item created. For the existing items, i also check "Start workflow automatically when an item is changed" Is this correct? and what it does if I check "Allow this workflow to be manually started"?
    – Dennis
    Feb 8, 2018 at 15:02
  • Yes, for the existing items, you can check "start...when an item changed". If we check the "allow..manually started", users can start the workflow manually though selecting an item->ITEMS/FILES tab in the ribbon->workflows->select the relevant workflow to start.
    – Hellofiona_MSFT
    Feb 9, 2018 at 5:28
  • This approach might create problems, when the task is being edited during this time, until the workflow is in paused state. Cannot update the item, it is already being edited by WORKFLOW.... An alternative might be to run a regular site workflow and check if any of the tasks are reaching their due date?
    – Murtuza Husain
    Mar 25, 2019 at 9:04

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