The email is a poke

The email reminder in Deadlinewatch is a poke. A nudge that reaches you when you’re away from the app, so a date doesn’t slip by while your attention is elsewhere. For a while that was literally its name, the Poke, and the name fit.

You set it on the deadline itself. By default it’s a single quiet poke a few days out. A deadline that needs more warning can get a firmer cadence. A routine one can get less, or nothing at all. The amount of reminding that’s right for a tax filing isn’t right for a standing weekly check-in, so the control lives on each deadline, not in one switch for all of them.

It’s on by default, and quiet. The control is right there on the deadline, so visibility was never the issue. It defaults to on because a reminder you have to switch on yourself is one you can forget about entirely, and for a tool whose job is to remember, silence is the worst answer it can give. So it ships present and easy to dial down.

The poke points one way, back to the app. Deadlinewatch is built to be opened. The overview, the shape of the weeks ahead, the place you actually work your deadlines, all of it is in the app. The email is the tap on the shoulder that says there’s something there worth a look. That’s the job. A poke when you’re away, set to the weight each deadline deserves, pointing you home.

Common questions

Will the reminders spam me? No. The email is a poke, not a stream. One quiet nudge a few days before a deadline by default, set per deadline so you can make it firmer, softer, or off, whichever a date deserves. It points you back to the app rather than filling your inbox.

Are reminders on or off by default? On, and kept quiet, with an easy off switch right on each deadline. A reminder you have to switch on yourself is one you can forget to set, and a missed deadline costs far more than an email you can delete in a second. On means present, a single poke, not a drumbeat.