Appointment automations in Lawmatics are a powerful tool that let you trigger actions relative to the start or end time of a scheduled appointment. These automations are ideal for:
Sending reminders like "1 day before" or "30 minutes before"
Sending follow-ups like "2 hours after" the appointment ends
Using custom HTML emails for confirmations or reminders
Triggering other non-email actions tied to the appointment
🔁 Alternative to Automations: Appointment Confirmations & Reminders
Before creating appointment automations, consider whether your needs can be met by built-in automatic confirmations and reminders:
Navigate to Settings > Appointments/Events
Configure confirmation and reminder rules for each appointment type
These do not require automations and will send automatically based on your configured schedule.
📌 Use this method if you only need basic reminders.
⚙️ When to Use Appointment Automations
Use appointment-based automations if:
You want to send a custom HTML email as a confirmation or reminder
You need to trigger other actions (e.g., tasks, forms, documents) around the appointment time
🛠️ How to Set Up an Appointment-Based Automation
Step 1: Create the Main Automation
Go to the Automations tab.
Click + New Automation.
Set the entry condition to Appointment Created.
When you choose Appointment Created, the automation type switches automatically to appointment-based.
The main page of the automation will run at the time the appointment is scheduled, not relative to the appointment date/time.
Common use: Send a confirmation email immediately when the appointment is booked.
Step 2: Create Time-Relative Appointment Automations
Inside your main appointment automation, click the orange Appointment Automations button.
On the next screen, click + New Appointment Automation.
Name your automation (internal use only).
Choose the timeframe relative to the appointment:
Examples: “1 day before,” “30 minutes before,” “2 hours after”
Click Create.
You will now see your new appointment automation listed.
Step 3: Add Actions to Each Appointment Automation
Click the pencil icon or the automation name to open it.
Add your action(s), just like in a standard automation:
Send Email
Assign Task
Send Form
etc.
You do not need to set an entry condition for these. The time-based trigger is already built-in.
Repeat this process to add multiple time-relative automations for the same appointment (e.g., 1 day before, 1 hour before, 1 day after).
✅ Activating Your Automation
After you've set up all time-based automations and actions:
1. Activate the main automation
Go to Automations and toggle it ON.
If there are current matches, choose:
Future Matches Only (recommended for appointment-based automations)
2. Activate each appointment automation
Click the orange Appointment Automations button
Toggle each time-relative automation to Active
No current match warning will display, as these only trigger when the timeframe condition is met.
🔁 Rescheduling & Cancellations
🔄 If an appointment is rescheduled:
All appointment automation triggers will adjust automatically to the new date and time.
Example:
Appointment originally on March 18th, "1 day before" reminder triggers on March 17th.
If rescheduled to March 20th, the reminder will adjust to trigger on March 19th.
❌ If an appointment is cancelled:
All appointment automations linked to that appointment will be canceled and will not run.
🧠 Related Tip
Need to trigger actions relative to a date that isn’t an appointment (e.g., a custom date field)? Use our
👉 Date Field-Based Automations instead.