Automate deadline shifts on tasks

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Deadline actions

Section titled “Deadline actions”

Deadline actions adjust task due dates automatically when an automation’s conditions are met. You can:

• Shift a deadline forward or backward by a set amount (e.g. +3 days)
• Base a deadline on another step’s due date
• Set a deadline from a date entered in a form field

Use the Apply to dropdown in your automation to pick which step’s deadline changes.

Deadline is one of five action types you can add to an automation. The others toggle visibility, reopen steps, and update assignments.

Types of automations

Visibility

IF this THEN show/hide that step

Assignment

IF this THEN assign someone

Deadline

IF this THEN shift the deadline

Status

IF this THEN re-open a task

Examples of deadline actions

Section titled “Examples of deadline actions”

Here’s how deadline actions work in practice.

Example 1: Make deadline earlier for premium service

Make deadline earlier for premium service

If

• Package Purchased is Premium

Then

• Shift deadline

  Apply to

  Send First Draft

  Shift by

  3 days before its own deadline

Example 2: Set deadline from a form field date

Set deadline from a form field date

If

• Project Scope is Complex

Then

• Shift deadline

  Apply to

  Review Meeting

  Shift by

  5 days after Client Kick-off Date

The review meeting deadline lands 5 days¹ after whatever date the user entered in the “Client Kick-off Date” field.

Example 3: Link deadlines between tasks

Link deadlines between tasks

If

• Initial Review is completed

Then

• Shift deadline

  Apply to

  Final Approval

  Shift by

  2 days after Client Feedback

Final approval falls 2 days after the client feedback step was due.

Step 13’s deadline gets pushed 1 day later when the condition is met.

Setting the starting point for the new deadline

When creating a deadline action, pick where to start counting from:

• Current deadline - add or subtract from the step’s existing due date
• Another step’s deadline - build off a different step’s deadline
• Date field value - use a date someone entered in a form field

Want Step B due 2 days after Step A? Set it as “+2 days from Step A’s deadline.”

How deadlines handle non-working days

Tallyfy checks your company’s working days and hours (set in Settings > Organization). If a calculated deadline falls on a non-working day or outside work hours, Tallyfy always pushes it forward to the next working time. Never backward.

A deadline that lands on Saturday moves to Monday morning (if Monday’s a workday for you).

Tallyfy uses calendar days for its calculations, then adjusts the result to fit your configured work week. It doesn’t account for public holidays or individual time off - just the work week you’ve defined. See Customize work week to change these settings.

Coming soon: Public holiday data for 200+ countries at tallyfy.com/national-holidays ↗. A future release will skip national holidays automatically.

Calendar-based vs relative deadlines

Tallyfy deadlines are relative to when the process starts², not calendar-based. If you need deadlines on specific days (like every Monday):

1. Weekly patterns - schedule process launches on those days, then use relative deadlines
2. Monthly patterns - use scheduled launches on specific dates
3. Accounting cycles - consider separate templates for different deadline patterns
4. Variable deadlines - use date form fields to capture dates, then set deadlines relative to them

Related articles

Section titled “Related articles”

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Footnotes

Section titled “Footnotes”

1. Tallyfy calculates in calendar days, then adjusts to your configured working days if the result falls on a non-working day ↩

2. Deadlines calculate from run creation time, not from a fixed calendar date ↩

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