How to Automate Expiry Date Reminders in Airtable

Ever had a passport expire right before a big trip? Or forgotten to renew your driver’s license until it was too late? Keeping track of expiry dates can be a hassle, but with a simple email automation, you’ll never have to worry about last-minute surprises again.

And it’s not just for personal documents—businesses rely on this too. Whether it’s tracking employee certifications, contract renewals, software licenses, warranties, subscriptions, or even medical prescriptions, staying ahead of due dates can save time, money, and headaches.

But here’s the catch: a lot of people make a simple mistake when setting up this kind of automation. They choose the wrong trigger—“only trigger when a record is updated”—which means if no one manually updates the record, the automation won’t run. That defeats the whole purpose!

Let’s make sure you set it up the right way.

1. Set Up the Automation

Head over to Automations and create a new one. For the trigger, choose “At a scheduled time” and set it to run daily at a convenient time—like 9:00 AM. This ensures you get regular updates without having to manually check anything.

2. Find the Expiring Records

Create a new formula field called "Days Until Expiry" and use the following formula:

DATETIME_DIFF({Due Date}, TODAY(), 'days')

This calculates how many days are left until the expiry date. In your automation, set the condition to find records where "Days Until Expiry" is between 1 and 7. This ensures you only get reminders for upcoming expirations.

To avoid receiving emails for items you’ve already handled, add a checkbox field (e.g., "Renewed" or "Handled"). Then, update your automation to exclude records where this checkbox is checked.

With this setup, you'll only receive reminders for things that still need your attention—keeping your inbox clear of unnecessary notifications.

3. Send Yourself a Reminder

Finally, add a "Send an email" action. Enter your email as the recipient and in the body, insert the list of expiring records. This way, every morning, you’ll receive a neat summary of what’s due for renewal—before it’s too late.

Once this is set up, you won’t have to worry about checking spreadsheets or digging through notes. The reminders will come to you automatically, keeping everything on track.

No more expired documents. No more last-minute stress. Just one simple automation doing the work for you.