Project date triggers let you time flow actions around a project's start and end dates — send a questionnaire two weeks before an event, follow up the day after delivery, or change a project's status as a milestone approaches. This article covers how to set a project date, the four project date triggers, and how to handle the expired-trigger error.
Overview of project date triggers
Project date triggers fire relative to the start or end date stored on a project. They are one of several trigger categories available when you configure a flow action. Because timing everything by hand across dozens of projects isn't realistic, these triggers let you set the schedule once in your flow and let Dubsado handle the timing.
Good uses include sending intake forms or questionnaires leading up to a start date, sending follow-up messages after an event wraps, or automatically updating the project status as a date approaches.
Setting a project date
A project date trigger has nothing to fire against until the project actually has a date. You can set the date two ways: manually from the project, or automatically through a form your client fills out.
Setting the date manually
Open the project and find the Project info card. Locate the Dates row and click Select date range to choose a date or date range.
This method gives you full control — you decide exactly which projects land on which dates. It's the right choice when you want to review and approve dates yourself before anything in the flow fires.
Letting the client set the date via a form
Add a date-select field to a questionnaire or lead capture form and map that field to the project date. Use one date-select field for a single date, or two fields for a start and end.
This approach works well when you want the entire process automated: the client fills out the form, the project date is set, and the flow picks up from there.
If you want clients to submit a preferred date but you'd rather approve it before it becomes the official project date, map the date-select field to a custom field instead. Then add a task action in your flow to remind yourself to review the requested date and set the project date manually once you've confirmed it.
The four project date triggers
Dubsado provides four project date triggers, all grouped under the Project Dates category in the trigger dropdown when you configure a flow action. The exact labels, as they appear in the app, are:
before the project start date
after the project start date
before the project end date
after the project end date
For each trigger, you set how far before or after the date the action should fire. That timing configuration — relative versus fixed date offsets — is covered in depth in the sibling article on relative vs. fixed dates.
A project date trigger has nothing to fire against until the project has a date. If no date is set, the action simply waits — it will not run until a date is added to the project.
Single date vs. date range
If you only set one date on a project (not a full range), Dubsado treats that single date as both the start and the end. All four triggers fire relative to it. You don't need a full range for project date triggers to work.
Handling the expired-trigger error
When you apply a flow to a project, Dubsado checks whether any project-date-triggered actions are already in the past. If a trigger moment has already passed by the time the flow is applied, the action pauses and shows this message:
"The trigger for this action has expired. Please select a new trigger or force now."
Two buttons appear alongside the error so you can resolve the error immediately:
Edit condition — Opens the trigger so you can adjust it to a future point in time.
Force now — Runs the action immediately, regardless of the original trigger timing.
Heres's an example: Suppose you normally book weddings 12 months in advance and set the wedding date as the project date. You have an action in your flow set to fire "40 weeks before the project start date." A client books an exception wedding only 6 months out. When you apply the flow, the "40 weeks before" moment is already in the past — so that action pauses with the expired-trigger error. You'd use Edit condition to move the trigger to a closer date, or Force now to send it immediately.
There's no foolproof way to prevent this entirely. The best approach is knowing your standard booking timeline well enough to recognize when a project deviates from it — then adjusting the affected actions before moving on.
When you apply a flow whose project date triggers have already passed, those actions pause with the expired error rather than firing retroactively. Review each paused action and choose Edit condition or Force now to get it back on track.
FAQ
My client booked an appointment through a scheduler, but my project date triggers aren't running. Why?
Booking an appointment through a scheduler does not set the project date — appointment dates and project dates are completely separate concepts. To use project date triggers, you need to set the project date manually or through a form field mapped to the project date. If you sent a scheduler through a flow and want to trigger actions based on that appointment, use appointment triggers instead.
What happens if I never set a project date?
If an action uses one of the four project date triggers and no project date is ever set, the action waits indefinitely and nothing fires until a date is added to the project. Once a date is set, Dubsado evaluates the trigger and runs the action at the appropriate time.
I only set one date, not a range. Will the start and end triggers still work?
Yes. A single project date is treated as both the start and the end. All four triggers — before start, after start, before end, after end — fire relative to that one date.