How to set up automated document reminders

Every unsigned document sitting in someone’s inbox is a stalled deal. Set up automated reminders in PandaDoc so follow-ups happen on their own — and your team finds out the moment something moves.

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Say a proposal goes out Monday, and by Thursday, you hear nothing. You check the tracker, and see it was opened on Tuesday, but then silence. You write a follow-up, the prospect says they’ll get to it, and two weeks later, the deal has slid into the next quarter.

Most people intend to sign, but documents get buried, deprioritized, or forgotten. When this happens, you’re expected to remember it. If you chase the deal too early, you’ll come across as pushy. If you chase too late, the moment’s gone. Either way, you’re spending energy tracking down who hasn’t signed instead of continuing to sell deals.

The fix is a system that follows up on its own and tells you the moment something changes.

This page will tell you how to build that system in PandaDoc.

Why manual document follow-up doesn't scale

At just a few documents a month, manual follow-up is more manageable. At 30+, keeping track of what’s been sent, opened, and stalled can become a job in itself.

Timing is where things get tricky. If you’re following up too early, you’ll come across as impatient. Too late and the recipient has moved on. A well-timed reminder will hit the narrow window in between, and a human juggling a dozen deals will rarely hit it consistently.

That’s the real cost: manual follow-up is inconsistent because diligent reps will follow up and busy ones won’t. Then, outcomes start to rely on rep behavior instead of deal quality.

Another problem is that without document status notifications, there’s not an easy way to know when something has been signed, declined, or gone cold unless you log in and check.

Is automated document follow-up right for your workflow?

You're a strong fit if:

You send enough documents that tracking them by hand eats up real time
You've lost or stalled a deal because a follow-up didn't happen at the right moment
Your team learns that something was signed only by logging in to look.
Payment collection is part of your document flow

Consider alternatives if:

You send very few documents
The documents you send aren’t urgent enough that recipients sign on the spot without prompting

Two sides of the same problem: reminders for recipients, notifications for your team

To follow up automatically, you need to solve for two distinct problems:

Recipient reminders are the automated nudges sent to whoever needs to sign or pay, which keeps the document top of mind without you having to do anything.
Sender notifications are the alerts that tell you and your team when something happens, like when a document is viewed, signed, declined, or paid. This way, you can act at the right moment instead of finding out too late.

Want to try it before reading further? Start a free PandaDoc trial and set up your first automated reminder in minutes — no integration needed.

How to set up automated document reminders in PandaDoc: step-by-step

Step 1: Set up auto reminders on your template

Reminders are configured at the template level. This means every document built from that template will inherit the same follow-up schedule automatically, no per-document setup needed.

Open the template, go to Settings, and select Reminders.
Toggle auto reminders on, then set when the first one sends. This could be three days after sending if the recipient hasn't signed, for example.
Set up a repeat cadence from there. For example, every three days, until the document is completed, voided, or the limit is reached.
Choose email or SMS for delivery (SMS needs a phone number in international format).

Reminders can also be set on individual documents if you need a one-off cadence. This uses the same settings, just applied at the document level instead.

PandaDoc caps reminders at ten per recipient per document. This isn’t a limit you’re likely to hit, making it a sensible ceiling.

Step 2: Set a document expiration with a built-in warning

Expiration sets a hard deadline, so if the document isn’t completed by a specified date, it voids automatically and all recipients will lose access.

You can enable the one-day expiration warning so that recipients will get a heads-up first, which will usually drive a spike in last-minute completions.

Expiration and reminders work together: say a document expires in 20 days, with reminders every five days and a warning the day before the deadline. If a deal needs more time, you can extend the expiration at any point before the document voids. This is helpful if a deal is still active but taking longer than expected.

The default expiration period is 60 days on Starter plans and can’t be changed, but Business and Enterprise plans can customize this.

Step 3: Get notified in Slack the moment something happens

The PandaDoc Slack integration is native: simply install PandaDoc in Slack, authorize the connection, and notifications will arrive directly in Slack without any third-party tool.

Each person can customize which notifications they get based on the events they care about. So a rep might watch only “signed” and “declined” notifications, whereas a CS manager might treat “viewed” as a cue to reach out proactively. A finance lead might only want to get a “paid” notification. Each will land in the PandaDoc Slack app with a link straight to the document.

One thing to know: these notifications currently go to the individual user, not to a shared channel, so each team member installs the app for themselves.

Step 4: Set renewal notifications so contracts don't quietly lapse

Renewal notifications are a separate setting from auto reminders. They’re for documents that are already signed and complete, not those that are waiting for a signature.

You can set a renewal date (like a number of months after completion, or a specific date) and have a notification go to the document owner a certain number of days ahead.

This makes for a lightweight guard against signed contracts lapsing without anyone noticing. You can set this at the template level so that every document inherits this setting.

Ready to go further? See how to automate the full contract renewal process, or automatically schedule renewal meetings when a contract enters its renewal window.

Step 5: Add payment reminders for documents with payment collection

This step is optional and only relevant if you collect payment in PandaDoc.

For any document with a payment block, PandaDoc can automatically send payment reminders before, on, and after the payment due date.

The default cadence is a reminder three days before the due date, one on the due date, and up to four follow-up reminders after the due date. These will be spaced at increasing intervals.

For installment plans, the pattern repeats around each due date, and you can switch reminders off at the workspace or document level.

You can think of these as the bookend to auto reminders. Auto reminders will get the document signed, whereas payment reminders will make sure the money lands. This closes the loop from document to cash.

What changes when follow-up runs itself

There are concrete changes you’ll see when you don’t have to run your own follow-ups. Reps will stop carrying the running mental list of open documents. The schedule will be more consistent and predictable, and reminders will go out at the right interval no matter how many deals you’re balancing at once.

You also find out the moment a document is signed, so no more logging in to check every so often and no more end-of-day email sweeps to see if anything is closed. Plus, your renewal risk drops since contracts that used to lapse in silence will now surface before their date arrives. This gives you time to act instead of scramble.

At the end of the day, the rep’s job will change from chasing paperwork to acting on signals. So a Slack notification that a proposal was just viewed will tell you that it’s the perfect time to reach out. Without having that automation, the moment would have passed unnoticed.

See it in action. Start a free PandaDoc trial and set up your first automated reminder workflow today.

Implementation timeline and requirements

Auto reminders, expiration, and renewal notifications

Typical scope: 15–30 minutes to configure on an existing template
Who’s involved: any document owner or admin with no developer or IT involvement
Best practice: set them at the template level once and every future document will inherit them automatically

Slack integration:

Takes about two minutes per person: each user installs the app, authorizes the connection, and customizes their notification types in Slack settings
No admin setup needed beyond a Slack workspace