Sending a response reminder to people who have not answered
The automatic response reminder for people who have not answered is off by default, and with no response deadline set, not one is sent.
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There are two kinds of response reminder for people who have not answered: automatic and manual. The automatic one is off when a schedule is created, and switching it on is not enough on its own. With no "Response deadline" on the schedule, not a single one is sent.
The automatic response reminder is off to begin with
The switch is "Automatically remind pending respondents", under "Options" on the creation screen. "Send confirmation notification" and "Set a reminder" sit in the same group and are on from the start. The response reminder is the one exception.
Its initial state is inherited from "Defaults for post-confirmation actions" in "Integrations", so if you find yourself switching it on for every schedule, change it there instead. Once a time has been confirmed the switch can no longer be moved.
Without a response deadline, nothing is scheduled
Send times for the automatic response reminder are counted back from the response deadline and nothing else, so with no deadline there is no send time to book. It runs only when all four of the following hold.
- "Automatically remind pending respondents" is switched on
- The scheduling method is "Poll"
- The status is "in progress" or "Awaiting confirmation"
- The schedule has a "Response deadline"
The response deadline is set on the creation screen. It can also be changed later from "Edit" on the event page, and the timings that are still in the future at the moment you save are booked then.
The defaults are 24 hours and 3 hours before the deadline, twice per person
Out of the box, response reminders go out 1440 minutes (24 hours) and 180 minutes (3 hours) before the response deadline. To change that, edit "Minutes before response deadline (comma-separated)" under "Pending response reminder rule" in "Integrations". Values outside the range are refused with "Reminder timings must be 1 to 10 integers from 5 to 43200 minutes."
Timings that have already passed are not sent. On a schedule whose deadline is only three hours away, the 24-hour one is never booked in the first place. The number of times per person is set by "Maximum attempts per member", and the default is 2.
| Item | Automatic response reminder | Manual response reminder |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduling method | "Poll" only | Only "Poll" has anyone to remind |
| Conditions for sending | Rule enabled, deadline set, status "in progress" or "Awaiting confirmation" | The host runs it on a schedule that is "in progress" |
| When it is sent | A time counted back from the response deadline | The moment the button is pressed |
| Times per person | 2 by default (1 to 10) | No limit |
| Recipients | Pending respondents not caught by the exclusion settings | Everyone still pending, or one named person |
Manual response reminders are sent by the host from the responses screen
"Remind pending respondents", in the responses part of the event page, sends one there and then. In the list of participants, "Remind" picks out a single person. The response reminder email carries the subject "[Tokiawase] 回答のお願い: (event name)" — the mail itself is written in Japanese.
Only the host can do this, and only while the status is "in progress". Anything else comes back as "Only the organizer can send reminders." or "Reminders can only be sent while an event is still collecting responses." If you name recipients and none of them are actually pending, the request fails with "None of the requested members are pending a response for this event".
The delivery history records why someone was not reached
"Reminder delivery history" on the event page lists each delivery as Sent, Queued, Failed or Skipped, together with the timing that triggered it. Failed ones can be picked out with "Select failures" and sent again. "Skipped" ones cannot be selected.
- "No email address is registered" — participants who were added by name alone, and guests who answered through a shared URL (Creating a poll).
- "The automatic reminder attempt limit has been reached" — a manual response reminder still goes out regardless of the limit.
- "This participant is not linked to an account" — shown when Slack DM or Teams DM is the channel and that participant has no account in the organisation.
The tone and the quiet hours can be adjusted
The tone presets "Polite", "Friendly", "Concise" and "Warm" have an effect only when AI writes the wording; the field is called "AI tone preset" in "Pending response reminder rule". Without AI the wording is identical whichever tone is selected, and you can read it with "Preview fixed template" before going on to "Send this reminder". Even with "Use AI-generated reminder wording" enabled, a schedule where AI is unavailable does not fail: the fixed wording is sent instead.
"Pending response reminder rule" can also push a scheduled send time out of the quiet hours. The window is 22:00 to 08:00 by default, but "Enable quiet hours" starts off. The same screen carries "When timing falls on a non-business day", "Exclude organizer from reminders" and "Exclude optional participants from reminders".
Response reminders only mean anything for "Poll"
A booking link is confirmed the moment the other person takes a slot, so there is no stage at which an answer is awaited. With "Team availability", participants are only recorded once the time is confirmed, so nobody is pending to remind in the first place. Opening one of those events shows no response reminder button at all.
Once a time is confirmed, automatic response reminders that were still booked are cancelled. For what happens from that point on, see What happens automatically once a time is confirmed.