Power Automate: Set Up an Automatic Task Reminder

Short answer

With Power Automate, you set up an automatic task reminder using a scheduled flow with the Recurrence trigger. The flow retrieves tasks daily from SharePoint, Planner, or Excel, filters tasks expiring within a set number of days, and sends an email reminder for each task. This way, you no longer need to manually track deadlines and you will never miss an important due date.

In many projects and processes, completing tasks on time is crucial. With an automatic task reminder in Power Automate, you can prevent important deadlines from being missed. In this article, you will learn how to easily create a flow that automatically sends you a reminder when a task is about to expire.

What you need

A task or project list with a date field for the due date (for example in SharePoint, Planner, or Excel)
A Power Automate connector for the task source used (e.g. SharePoint, Planner)
An email account to receive reminders

Step 1: Set up a trigger based on due date

The first step is to choose a trigger that starts the flow at a suitable time, for example daily or at a specific time. This ensures that the flow regularly checks which tasks are about to expire.

Use the “Recurrence” trigger in Power Automate and set it to daily or another desired frequency.

How to configure this:

Trigger: Recurrence
- Interval: 1
- Frequency: Day

Step 2: Retrieve and filter tasks by due date

Next, retrieve the tasks from your task source. Use the appropriate connector, for example SharePoint - Get items or Planner - List tasks. Filter the tasks so that only those whose due date falls within, for example, 2 days are retrieved.

For SharePoint, you can use an OData filter such as:

DueDate formatted as yyyy-MM-dd
Filter query: DueDate le '@{addDays(utcNow(), 2, 'yyyy-MM-dd')}' and DueDate ge gt utcNow()

This selects tasks that expire within 2 days.

Step 3: Send a reminder by email

For each filtered task, send an email reminder. Use the Send an email (V2) action and fill in the fields with dynamic content from the task, such as the task name and due date.

Example email content:

Subject: Reminder: task '@{items('Apply_to_each')?['Title']}' is expiring soon
Body: The task '@{items('Apply_to_each')?['Title']}' expires on @{items('Apply_to_each')?['DueDate']}. Make sure to complete it on time.

This step ensures that you receive a timely notification so you can take action.

Tips and common mistakes

Check the date formats in your task source and Power Automate to avoid errors.
Use an appropriate filter period (for example 1-3 days) to avoid sending too many or too few reminders.
Test the flow first with a small dataset to make sure the emails are sent correctly.
Ensure email addresses are configured correctly to prevent reminders from not being delivered.

Example / mini use case

A BI consultant uses a SharePoint list to manage tasks. With this flow, he automatically receives an email every morning with tasks that expire within 2 days. This way, he never misses a deadline and can plan his work efficiently.

Conclusion

With this automatic task reminder in Power Automate, you can easily stay on top of deadlines and increase your team’s productivity. Want to learn more about automating processes? Set this up via the Power Automate portal and experience the convenience of automated reminders firsthand.

Our tip: Always test your flow first with a manual trigger before enabling it on a production dataset. This prevents mistakes from repeating across large amounts of data.

Frequently asked questions

How do I set up an automatic task reminder with Power Automate?

In the Power Automate portal, create a new scheduled flow with the Recurrence trigger set to daily. Add the action 'SharePoint - Get items' or 'Planner - List tasks' and use an OData filter query to retrieve only tasks whose due date falls within a certain number of days. Add an 'Apply to each' loop and send an email for each task using the 'Send an email (V2)' action with the task name and due date as dynamic content.

How do I filter tasks by due date in Power Automate?

For SharePoint, use an OData filter query in the 'Get items' action. A common query for tasks expiring within two days is: DueDate le '@{addDays(utcNow(), 2, 'yyyy-MM-dd')}' and DueDate ge '@{utcNow('yyyy-MM-dd')}'. Note: the column name in the query must exactly match the name in the SharePoint list. Also verify that the date column in SharePoint is created as a date field and not a text field, otherwise the comparison will not work correctly.

What common mistakes should I avoid in a task reminder flow?

The most common mistakes are: incorrect date formats in the filter query (always use yyyy-MM-dd), a filter period that is too broad causing too many reminders to be sent, missing error handling so you don't know when the flow fails, and incorrectly configured email addresses. Always test the flow first with a manual trigger on a small dataset. Also add a condition that checks whether the task list is not empty before the email action is executed.