Rule — react when a deadline is overdue

This page shows you how to set up a rule that catches roadmap items whose due date has passed. You pick how many days late an item must be before the rule runs. You can also move the late item to a new status and email the admins. A common use is "if an item is more than 7 days overdue, move it to Blocked and tell the team".

Before you start

• You already added a blank rule on the board. See Add a workflow rule to a board.
• The roadmap items you care about have a due date set. Items without a due date are skipped by this rule.

Step by step

1. Open the board's Workflow Automations tab.
2. Find the rule card you want to use.
3. In the Trigger dropdown, pick When deadline is overdue, notify and/or set status.
4. The card now shows the Configure section with two fields:
   • Overdue by (days): the number of days an item must be past its due date before the rule runs. The default is 1. The minimum is 1. For example, 7 means the rule runs only once the item is a full week late.
   • Set status to: the status the item should be moved to when the rule runs. The default is Do not set status, which means the item keeps the status it already has. Pick a status from the dropdown if you want the rule to change the status.
5. (Optional) Tick Notify admins by email at the bottom of the card to send the workflow email each time this rule runs. This box is on by default. See Edit the emails sent by workflow rules to change the subject and body.
6. Click the Update button at the bottom of the page.

What changed

From now on, the board watches for late roadmap items. WordPress runs a check once an hour for overdue items on the board. When the check runs, every roadmap item with a due date is compared against your Overdue by (days) setting:

• If an item is late by at least that many days, the rule runs once on that item.
• If you picked a status, the item is moved to that status.
• If you ticked the notify box, an email is sent to the address in SimpleBoards > Settings > Notifications > Notification email address.

The rule only runs once per item. After an item has been processed, it will not be flagged again by this rule, even if it stays overdue.

Because the check runs once an hour, there can be a delay of up to one hour between an item becoming overdue and the rule running. This is normal and does not need any action from you.

See also

• Add a workflow rule to a board
• Edit the emails sent by workflow rules
• How workflow rules run

Last updated

2026-05-23 · SimpleBoards Pro 1.0.1