Due Date Alerts Documentation

Complete guide to installing, configuring, and using Due Date Alerts for Jira Cloud. Get proactive reminders before your tasks are due.

Overview

Due Date Alerts is a Jira Cloud app that sends proactive notifications when issue due dates are approaching. Unlike Jira's built-in notifications which only tell you after a deadline has passed, Due Date Alerts warns you in advance so you have time to act.

The app is entirely user-driven. There are no admin-imposed rules or company-wide configurations. Each user decides whether they want reminders and how they want to receive them. No alerts are sent until you opt in.

Key Features

• User-driven — You opt in and configure your own alerts. Nothing is sent until you choose to enable them.
• Four alert timings — Get alerted 7 days, 3 days, or 1 day before a due date, plus overdue notifications
• Two notification channels — Email and Jira comment notifications (which trigger the Jira bell)
• Quiet hours — Pause alerts between 10pm and 8am so you're not disturbed outside work hours
• Dashboard gadget — Add the Upcoming Deadlines widget to any Jira dashboard for a visual overview of approaching due dates
• No automation quota impact — Runs independently of Jira Automation rules
• Hosted on Atlassian — Built on Forge, 100% hosted on Atlassian infrastructure. Your data never leaves Atlassian's servers.

Installation

Due Date Alerts can be installed from the Atlassian Marketplace by a Jira administrator.

Requirements

• Jira Cloud (Software, Service Management, or Work Management)
• Jira administrator permissions to install the app

Installation Steps

1. Go to Jira Settings → Apps → Find new apps
2. Search for "Due Date Alerts"
3. Click Get app and follow the prompts
4. Once installed, all users can access their settings via Apps → Due Date Alerts in the top navigation

Quick Start

Get up and running in under a minute:

1. Navigate to Apps → Due Date Alerts in the top navigation
2. Switch on the master toggle to enable alerts
3. Choose your alert timings — select which reminders you want (7 days, 3 days, 1 day, overdue)
4. Choose your notification channels — email, Jira comments, or both
5. Optionally enable quiet hours to pause alerts overnight

Your Settings

Each user has their own settings page where they control exactly how they want to be notified. There are no admin-imposed defaults — you are in complete control.

Accessing Your Settings

Navigate to Apps → Due Date Alerts in the top navigation bar. This page is available to every user on the Jira instance once the app has been installed.

Settings Overview

Your settings page is divided into four sections:

• Master toggle — A single switch to enable or disable all your alerts
• Alert schedule — Choose which timing reminders you want
• Notification channels — Select how you want to be notified
• Quiet hours — Optionally pause alerts during off-hours

At the top of the page, quick stats show how many alert rules and channels you have active, along with your current status.

Master Toggle

The master toggle is the main on/off switch for all your alerts. When you first access the app, alerts are off by default. No alerts will be sent until you explicitly enable them.

• Enabled (green) — You'll receive alerts based on your configured schedule and channels
• Disabled (grey) — All alerts are paused. Your settings are preserved so you can re-enable at any time without reconfiguring.

Alert Schedule

The alert schedule controls when you receive reminders relative to an issue's due date. There are four available timings and you can enable any combination:

Each timing is independent — enable or disable any combination that works for you. For example, you might only want the "1 day before" and "overdue" alerts if you prefer fewer reminders.

Notification Channels

Due Date Alerts supports two notification channels. You can enable one or both.

Email

Email alerts are sent directly to your Atlassian account email address. Each email includes the issue key and summary, due date, time remaining, current assignee, priority, an urgency indicator, and a direct link to open the issue in Jira.

Jira Comments

When enabled, the app posts a formatted comment on the issue. The comment includes an @mention for you, which triggers Jira's native notification bell and Jira's own email notification.

A preview of the comment format is shown in your settings when this channel is enabled.

Quiet Hours

Quiet hours pauses all notifications between 10pm and 8am. Any alerts that would normally be sent during this window are held and delivered after 8am the following morning.

Enable or disable quiet hours with a single toggle in your settings. This is useful if you don't want to be disturbed outside working hours.

Email Notifications

Email alerts are sent as individual notifications — one email per issue per timing. Here's what a typical alert email contains:

Jira Comment Notifications

When the Jira Comments channel is enabled, the app adds a formatted comment to the issue. This triggers Jira's native notification bell for anyone @mentioned in the comment.

Each comment includes an urgency indicator, the due date and time remaining, an @mention for you, and a note identifying it as an automated reminder from Smart Due Date Alerts.

The comment is posted by the app (not by you).

Testing Your Alerts

The Test Alerts button at the top of your settings page triggers an immediate alert check. This is useful for verifying your settings work correctly without waiting for the next scheduled check.

When you run a test:

• The app checks all four timings against issues you're connected to
• Alerts are sent via your enabled channels
• The deduplication check is bypassed, so you'll receive alerts even if they were already sent today
• A summary is displayed showing how many timings were checked, issues found, and alerts sent

Dashboard Gadget

Due Date Alerts includes an Upcoming Deadlines dashboard gadget that gives you a visual overview of all approaching due dates across your projects.

Adding the Gadget

1. Navigate to any Jira dashboard (or create a new one — see below)
2. Click Add gadget in the top-right corner
3. Search for "due" in the search box
4. Find Due Date Alerts - Upcoming Deadlines and click Add
5. The gadget will appear on your dashboard immediately

What the Gadget Shows

The gadget displays all issues with due dates that you are connected to (as assignee, reporter, or watcher), grouped by urgency:

• 🔴 Overdue — Issues past their due date
• 🟠 Due today or tomorrow — Issues needing immediate attention
• 🟡 Due within a week — Issues approaching soon
• 🟢 Due later — Issues with time remaining

Each issue shows its key, summary, due date, and a colour-coded urgency indicator. A health score at the top gives you a quick snapshot of your overall deadline status.

Creating a Dedicated Deadline Dashboard

For a focused view of all your deadlines, you can create a dedicated dashboard:

1. Click Dashboards in the top navigation bar
2. Click Create dashboard
3. Give it a name (e.g. "My Deadlines" or "Team Deadlines")
4. Optionally add a description and set sharing permissions
5. Click Save
6. On your new dashboard, click Add gadget
7. Search for "due" and add the Upcoming Deadlines gadget

Gadget Refresh

The gadget loads fresh data each time you visit the dashboard. To refresh it manually, reload the dashboard page. The data reflects the current state of your issues at the time of loading.

How It Works

Understanding how Due Date Alerts works behind the scenes can help you get the most out of it.

Who Gets Alerts?

You receive alerts for any issue with a due date where you are one of the following:

• Assignee — the issue is assigned to you
• Reporter — you created the issue
• Watcher — you are watching the issue

You must also have alerts enabled with at least one timing and one channel configured in your settings.

Scheduling

The app checks for approaching deadlines every hour using Atlassian Forge's scheduled triggers. During each check, the app:

1. Searches for issues matching each enabled timing window (7 days, 3 days, 1 day, overdue)
2. For each issue found, identifies the connected users (assignee, reporter, watchers)
3. Checks each user's preferences to see if they've opted in for that timing and channel
4. Sends notifications only to users whose settings match

Closed Issues

Issues with a status category of "Done" are automatically excluded from all checks. If you close or resolve an issue, you will not receive any further alerts for it — even if it is overdue.

Deduplication

Each alert is only sent once per day per issue per timing per user. For example, if you receive a "3 days before" alert for PROJ-123 at 10am, you won't receive another one at 11am when the next hourly check runs.

When an issue moves into a new timing window (e.g., from "3 days before" to "1 day before"), you will receive the new timing's alert as normal since it's a different timing.

Quiet Hours

When quiet hours are enabled, alerts due between 10pm and 8am are held and delivered after 8am. The app checks your quiet hours setting before sending any notification.

Permissions

Due Date Alerts requires the following Jira permissions to function:

Troubleshooting

I'm not receiving any alerts

1. Check that your master toggle is enabled (green) in Apps → Due Date Alerts
2. Verify you have at least one timing and one channel enabled
3. Ensure your issues have due dates set in Jira
4. Confirm you are the assignee, reporter, or a watcher on the issue
5. Check the issue is not in a "Done" status category — closed issues are excluded
6. Make sure the due date falls into one of your enabled timing windows (exactly 7, 3, or 1 day away, or already overdue)
7. Check your email spam or junk folder for email alerts
8. If quiet hours is enabled, check you're not testing during the 10pm–8am window
9. Try the Test Alerts button to force an immediate check

I'm receiving too many alerts

1. Reduce your active timings — for example, keep only "1 day before" and "overdue"
2. If you have both Email and Jira Comments enabled, you'll get two emails per alert. Disable one channel to halve the notifications.
3. Enable quiet hours to avoid alerts outside work hours
4. Remove yourself as a watcher on issues you don't need to track in Jira

Jira comments are not appearing

1. Verify the Jira Comments channel is enabled in your settings
2. Check the issue's comment section — the comment is posted by the app, not by you
3. Ensure the app has the necessary permissions (write:jira-work)

Frequently Asked Questions