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# Send Reminder Emails to Abandoned Form Respondents

Use Formester Workflows to automatically remind respondents who started a form but did not finish it. This is useful for applications, registrations, surveys, and other forms with a fixed deadline.

In this example, we will create an **Annual Scholarship Application** form and send two reminders to applicants who abandon their application:

* **10 days before the deadline**
* **2 days before the deadline**

The same setup can be repeated for each application period throughout the year.

## Example use case

A scholarship organization accepts applications three times a year:

| Application period | Deadline | 10-day reminder | 2-day reminder |
| ---- |
| Spring Scholarship | April 30, 2027 | April 20, 2027 | April 28, 2027 |
| Summer Scholarship | August 31, 2027 | August 21, 2027 | August 29, 2027 |
| Fall Scholarship | December 15, 2027 | December 5, 2027 | December 13, 2027 |

This results in **six reminder emails across the year**.

For the example below, we will configure the workflow for the **Spring Scholarship deadline of April 30, 2027**.

---

## Before you start

Make sure your form has an **Email** field. Formester uses this email address to send the reminder to the respondent.

You also need to enable **Partial submission** so that data from forms that were started but not submitted can be collected.

### 1. Add an Email field

Open your scholarship application form and add an **Email** field where respondents can enter their email address.

For example:

**Email Address**
applicant@example.com
![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/1/5/6/e/156e23ff3485c400/screenshot-2026-09-21-183429_8hf3x.png =977xauto)

This email address will be used by the workflow's **Send email** step.

---

### 2. Enable Partial Submission

Go to your form's:

**Settings → Save, resume and collaborate**

Enable **Partial submission**.

Partial submission allows Formester to collect data from forms that were started but not submitted.

![Enable Partial Submission](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/1/5/6/e/156e23ff3485c400/screenshot-2026-09-21-183522_1h20f1t.png =900x431)

---

# Create the reminder workflow

### 3. Open Workflows

From your form, go to:

**Automate → Workflows**

Click **Add Workflow**.

![Workflows](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/1/5/6/e/156e23ff3485c400/screenshot-2026-09-21-183259_m53apf.png =900x401)

---

### 4. Choose the Form Abandoned trigger

Select **Form abandoned** and click **Continue**.

The Form Abandoned trigger runs when someone starts the form but does not finish it.

You can also configure how long the respondent needs to be inactive before the form is considered abandoned.

For example, you could set:

**Wait for: 15 Minutes**

For testing, you can use a shorter duration such as 5 minutes.

![Form Abandoned trigger](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/1/5/6/e/156e23ff3485c400/screenshot-2026-09-21-183644_59k3ms.png =900x712)

---

## Configure the reminder dates

After adding the trigger, create two branches from the **Form abandoned** step.

Each branch will contain:

**Wait until a date → Send email**

One branch will handle the 10-day reminder, and the other will handle the 2-day reminder.


Your workflow will look like this:

```text
Form abandoned
      │
      ├── Wait until April 20, 2027 → Send email
      │
      └── Wait until April 28, 2027 → Send email
```

### 5. Add the first "Wait until a date" step

Click the **+** below the Form Abandoned trigger and select **Wait until a date**.

Set the date and time to when you want to send the first reminder.

For our example:

**Date:** April 20, 2027
**Time:** Choose the time you want the email to be sent

This is 10 days before the April 30 deadline.

![Wait until a date](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/1/5/6/e/156e23ff3485c400/image_1o6301j.png =900x468)

### 6. Add the second "Wait until a date" step

Create another branch from **Form abandoned** and add another **Wait until a date** step.

Set:

**Date:** April 28, 2027
**Time:** Choose the time you want the email to be sent

This is 2 days before the deadline.
![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/1/5/6/e/156e23ff3485c400/image_ommaj0.png =900x553)

---

# Configure the reminder email

### 7. Add a Send email step

Add a **Send email** step after each **Wait until a date** step.

The email should be sent to the email address collected in the form.

In the **To** field, select the form's **Email Address** field.

![Send email](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/1/5/6/e/156e23ff3485c400/screenshot-2026-09-21-183119_1oz1y3f.png)

---

### 8. Add the reminder email content

You can personalize the email using form fields and workflow variables.

For example, you can insert the respondent's first name using the **@** menu.

A reminder email could look like this:

**Subject:** Complete your scholarship application

**Body:**

> Hello @First Name,
>
> You started an application for the Scholarship but have not submitted it yet.
>
> The application deadline is **April 30, 2027**.
>
> You can return to your application and complete the remaining questions before the deadline:
>
> **@ → Submission → Continue draft link**
>
> Please complete and submit your application before the deadline.
>
> Best regards,
> Scholarship Team

### 9. Add the Continue draft link

In the email editor, type **@** and select:

**Submission → Continue draft link**

![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/1/5/6/e/156e23ff3485c400/image_1x2tr81.png)


This inserts a link that allows the respondent to reopen their unfinished submission and continue where they left off.
This is important for abandoned-form reminders because the recipient can continue their existing response instead of starting the form again.

---

### 10. Configure the email sender

Complete the remaining email settings, including:

* **To:** Select the form's Email Address field
* **Reply to:** Add a reply address if required
* **SMTP Integration:** Select your configured sending account
* **Subject:** Add the reminder subject
* **Body:** Add your reminder message and Continue draft link

Repeat the same setup for the second **Send email** step.

For the second reminder, you can make the subject more time-sensitive:

**Subject:** Reminder: Your scholarship application is due in 2 days

---

# Publish the workflow

### 11. Publish the workflow

Once both reminder branches are configured, click **Publish**.

Your workflow will now be active for new abandoned submissions.

The workflow list will show the workflow and its published status.

---

# Test the workflow

Before using the workflow in production, test it with a sample submission.

### 1. Start the form

Open the form and fill out several fields.

Make sure you also enter an email address that you can access.

### 2. Abandon the form

Close the form without submitting it.

The workflow will treat the submission as abandoned after the inactivity period configured in the **Form abandoned** trigger.

For testing, you can use a shorter period such as **5 or 15 minutes** instead of waiting for the production value.

### 3. Check Workflow Runs

Go to:

**Automate → Workflows → Open your workflow → Runs**

You should see a new workflow run for the abandoned submission.

The run will show the workflow steps and their status.

![Workflow Runs](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/1/5/6/e/156e23ff3485c400/screenshot-2026-09-21-183334_157d5c6.png =1067xauto)

### 4. Verify the scheduled steps

Open the workflow run to see the path taken and the status of each step.

The **Wait until a date** steps will pause the workflow until their configured date and time, after which the corresponding **Send email** step will run.

![Workflow run details](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/1/5/6/e/156e23ff3485c400/screenshot-2026-09-21-183353_1rsdayz.png =1158xauto)

Verify that:

* The abandoned submission triggered the workflow.
* The respondent's email address was selected correctly.
* The workflow reached the **Wait until a date** step.
* The reminder email was sent at the configured time.
* The **Continue draft link** is included in the email.

### 5. Verify the reminder email
After configuring the **Send email** step, test the workflow to verify that the respondent receives the reminder email as expected.
![](https://storage.crisp.chat/users/helpdesk/website/-/1/5/6/e/156e23ff3485c400/image_1mpdepl.png)

---