How to send signing reminders and set an expiry date

Set them when you send

Both settings are on the New agreement form, below the Verification choice. Send a document for signature shows where they are; the video above shows reminders and expiry at work.

1. Open Documents in the menu (it reads Agreements on accounts that use every Attest tool) and click New agreement.
2. Add the title, the PDF and your signers.
3. Under Expires (optional), pick a date from tomorrow to a year from today. If anyone still hasn't signed by the end of that day, in your time zone, the document closes. Leave it empty for no expiry.
4. Under Reminders, choose Off, Every day, Every 2 days, Every 3 days (the default) or Every week.
5. Click Next: place the fields, place them, and click Create and send.

Choose both before you click Create and send. Through the API, the same settings take a reminder interval of 1 to 30 days and an expiry date up to a year ahead.

How automatic reminders work

• Who gets them: the signers whose turn it is. When people can sign in any order, that's everyone who hasn't signed yet; in order mode, only the current signer. Signers who have signed get none, and neither do you: you sign in the dashboard. A signer who has set up their key and is waiting for you to release the document isn't reminded either, since they can't act yet: Attest reminds you instead (below).
• When: Attest checks every hour. A signer is reminded once your interval has passed since their turn began, then each time it passes again after their last reminder. Their turn begins when you send the document (not when you saved it as a draft) or, in a set signing order, when the signer before them signs.
• How many: at most 5 automatic reminders per signer. Then they stop.
• What the email says: its subject starts with "Reminder:" and names you and the document's title. It says you are still waiting for their signature, states when the document expires, as a date and time in UTC, if there is an expiry date, and has a Review and sign button with their own private link.
• When they stop early: as soon as the signer signs, or the document is completed, voided, declined or expired.
• Where you see them: each one is listed in the document's Activity as "Automatic reminder to" followed by the signer.

Because each signer gets at most 5, the schedule also sets how long reminders last, counted from the start of each signer's turn:

Reminders	Reminders go out around	The last one
Every day	Days 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5	About 5 days after their turn began
Every 2 days	Days 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10	About 10 days after
Every 3 days (default)	Days 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15	About 15 days after
Every week	Weeks 1 to 5	About 5 weeks after

To have every reminder go out before the document closes, set the expiry date after the last one; in a set order, allow for each signer's turn, since later signers' reminders start when their turn begins.

Choosing a schedule

Document	Reminders	Expiry
An NDA you need before a meeting on Friday	Every day	Thursday
A client contract or statement of work	Every 3 days	Three weeks out
A lease renewal	Every 2 days	A week before the current lease ends
A policy acknowledgment for your team	Every week	The end of the month

Remind by hand

1. Find the document under Waiting on others, or under All.
2. Click Remind on it.

Remind emails the signing link again, as the original invitation with your note, to the signers whose turn it is (in order mode, only the current signer). A signer who has set up their key and is waiting for you to release the document isn't reminded, since there's nothing they can do yet: the agreement tells you it's waiting on you instead. A reminder you send by hand doesn't count toward the 5 automatic ones, and it restarts those signers' clock: their next automatic reminder comes one full interval later. The Activity lists it as "Reminder sent by the sender".

When it's your own turn to sign, the document moves to Action needed and shows a Sign button instead of Remind. Attest doesn't email you when your turn comes: you sign in the dashboard.

A reminder for you: releasing the document

Every document is end-to-end encrypted in your browser, so a signer who is new to Attest can't open it until your browser releases it to their new key. Attest emails you when they are ready ("[signer] is waiting for you to unlock “[title]”"), and if you haven't released it, it reminds you after 1 hour and again after 6 hours ("Reminder: [signer] is still waiting for you to unlock “[title]”"). Click Unlock it for … in any of these emails (or open the agreement in Attest), confirm, and approve with your passkey. How to send a document for signature explains the release.

What happens when the expiry date passes

1. From the end of the chosen day, no one can sign: a signer who opens their link sees "This document expired" and that it can no longer be signed.
2. Within the hour, the document closes as expired, and every party is emailed, whether they had signed or not. The email's subject starts with "Expired:" and the title.
3. On your documents page it moves to the All tab, marked expired, and its Activity ends with "Expired before everyone signed".

An expired document counts toward your documents, as a declined one does. To try again, create it again with a later date.

When plans change

Reminders and the expiry date are fixed when the document is created. To change course:

• Nudge someone now: click Remind, at any time.
• Start over with new dates: click Void, then Void agreement to confirm. The document closes for every party, and signers who haven't signed are emailed that it was withdrawn. If no one had signed, the document is given back to your allowance.

Reminders keep the document private

Like the invitation, a reminder carries the document's title and your email address, never the document. The document is end-to-end encrypted: it is decrypted only in each party's browser, unlocked with their passkey, and Attest stores it only as ciphertext it can't read. Give the document a title you are comfortable seeing in an email.