Automatic task dates (Beta)
Last updated: October 14, 2026
With automatic dates, a task's date follows the work it depends on instead of sitting on a fixed day. A task can be due 3 business days after Kickoff call is done, start the day another task starts, or follow a date your CRM fills in. When that work finishes early or late, the dates that follow it move on their own, and every date says in plain words why it is where it is.
How automatic dates work
Each date is one short sentence: a number of days, before or after something.
Due 3 business days after Kickoff call is done.
Dates are worked out from their sentence every time something changes. Nothing is added to or subtracted from a saved date, so dates never drift.
A date someone types in stays where they put it. It reads set by hand, and you can send it back to its rule at any time.
A date waiting on unfinished work is an estimate. It is never shown as overdue, and it says which task it is waiting on.
Only open tasks move. Completed tasks, and tasks without a rule, keep their dates.
Turn on automatic dates for a playbook
Open the playbook and go to Settings.
Turn on Automatic dates.
Nothing moves when you turn it on. Every task keeps the day it has now, written as a set number of days after the project start or before the project end. From then on you can give any task a date that follows other work.
Two more settings sit beside it:
Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
Move dates earlier when work finishes early | When a task finishes ahead of time, the dates that follow it move earlier too. On by default. Turn it off if dates should only ever move later. |
Exclude Weekends | Applies to tasks with a set date. A task that follows a rule counts business days or calendar days as its rule says. |
Give a task a date that follows other work
In the playbook, click a task's start or due date, in the task list or the task panel.
Choose Follows other work.
Build the sentence: the number, business days or days, after or before, then what the date follows and which date about it.
Check the result line under the sentence, then click Save.
A date can follow any of these:
Choose | Then pick |
|---|---|
The project | Its start or its end. |
This task | Its own start date or due date, so a due date can sit a set number of days after the task starts. A due date can also follow when the task actually starts, or an answer to a date question in its own form. |
Another task | When it is done, when it starts, its start date, its due date, or the answer to a date question in its form. |
A date field | The value of a date data field on the project, including fields your CRM keeps up to date. |
Choose Set a date instead for a task that should stay put: in a playbook that is a number of days after the project start or before the project end. A set date changes only when someone edits it.
One rule schedules the whole task
You only need a rule on one of a task's two dates. The other date moves with it and keeps the task's length. A due date that waits for something to happen, like another task being done, also starts the task when that happens.
Chain a module
To make a module run one task after another, open the module and click Chain this module, then Chain tasks. Each task after the first becomes due when the task before it is completed. This replaces the due date rules those tasks had.
Choose when a module starts
A module's panel has a Starts setting. Leave it on On its start offset, or have the module start a number of business days before or after something else happens, such as another module being completed. Workflows and automations that add a module offer the same choice. A module added by hand starts the day it is added.
The playbook's Target and Projected length
The playbook header shows two lengths:
Header item | What it shows |
|---|---|
Target | How many days a new project from this playbook runs. Until you set one, it reads last task due: a new project ends the day its last task is due. |
Projected | How long a project started today runs, from when its last task is due. If that is longer than a target you set, it turns amber and says how many business days past the target it runs. |
Click Target to set a number of days. To go back, click it again and choose Use the last task's due date.
Read a date on a project
Projects created from a playbook with automatic dates carry its rules. Every task date shows what decides it, in a few words beside the date:
Beside the date | What it means |
|---|---|
after Kickoff call | The date follows a rule and moves on its own. |
estimate · waiting on Data import | The task it follows isn't finished yet, so this is an estimate. It is never shown as overdue. If the task it waits on is late, it says how late and turns amber. |
waiting · after … | It follows a form answer or a date field that hasn't been filled in yet. It stays put until that date is known. |
set by hand | Someone chose this date. Its rule is paused. |
moved by Aero | Aero moved this to when the task should finish, based on past projects. |
Aero move undone | Someone undid Aero's move. Aero won't move this date again until a person changes it. |
set date | The date changes only when someone edits it. |
Click a date to see its full sentence and, if it has moved, the date it was originally.
When work finishes early or late
Late: when a task finishes late, the dates that follow it move later.
Early: they move earlier only when Move dates earlier when work finishes early is on.
An estimate never lands before today, so a task waiting on overdue work shows a realistic date instead of one already in the past.
A date that would land before the project starts is held at the project start.
Change a date by hand
Click the date, choose Set a date and pick a day. The date now reads set by hand, and the dates that follow it move to match. To send it back to its rule, click Follow the rule again under the date, or Follow again in the date editor.
Reset a finished task
If other dates follow a task you reset, the reset dialog lists them and lets you choose:
Reset the task and move those dates back: they go back to estimates that wait on the task again.
Reset the task, keep those dates where they are: they stay put and read set by hand.
The project end date
A project using automatic dates has two ways to set its end date. The project header shows which one it uses:
Header shows | What it means |
|---|---|
Ends Jul 11 · last task due | The end date is the last task's due date. It changes when task dates change. |
Target Nov 6 · Projected Nov 11 | Someone picked an end date (the target). The projected end is when the last task is due. It turns amber when the work runs past the target. |
Change the end date
Click the end date in the project header to open the Dates panel. The project's start date is there too.
Under End Date, choose The last task's due date or A date you pick.
For a date you pick, choose the day. The panel shows the Target beside the Projected end, and a line such as The work ends 3 business days after the target.
When the work runs past a target you picked, the panel offers to move the target to the projected end.
The same choices are on the project's Settings tab (the End Date field) and in the End column of the projects list. Click the date, choose, then click Save.
Pushing task dates with the end date
Picking a new end date on the project page or in Settings still asks whether to Push dates forward (or back) through all open tasks, or Maintain Current task dates. Changing the end date from the projects list never moves task dates.
Turn automatic dates on or off for one project
On the project's Settings tab, use Automatic dates. Turning it on keeps every date where it is and lets dates follow other work from then on. Turning it off makes every date a set date again and keeps the rules for the next time you turn it on.
Aero and task dates
Aero moves overdue dates
Aero's Move dates action moves an overdue task to the date Aero forecasts it will really finish, from how long similar tasks took. You choose how much freedom it has in Aero's autonomy settings: Ask before each move, Conditional, or Autonomous.
In Conditional mode, Aero asks first whenever one of these rules applies:
The date moves by more than 10 days.
The move, or the dates that follow it, would push the projected end past the target date.
Aero already moved this task's date in the last 7 days.
Someone set this task's date by hand. This rule is available but not on by default.
Aero leaves these tasks alone:
Completed tasks.
Tasks waiting on another task. Aero moves that task, and this one follows.
Dates where someone undid Aero's last move.
Dates someone set by hand that haven't passed yet.
A date Aero moves reads moved by Aero, and you can undo it. Aero's suggestions also appear under Recommended actions on the project overview as Move date.
Aero builds rules for you
In the playbook editor, describe the timing you want and Aero sets it up. For example: "Make Data import due 3 business days after Kickoff call is done." Aero's playbook suggestions and its project edits can also add or change date rules. You review every change before it is saved.
Emails about moved dates
When it is sent | |
|---|---|
Dates Summary | At 8am in each person's time zone. It lists the task dates that moved automatically since their last summary, across all of their projects. The person whose change moved the dates is left out, unless Aero moved them. |
Project Dates Updated | Right away, when a change pushes a project's projected end past a target someone picked. It goes to the project's team members, except the person who made the change. |
Both go to your own team only, never to customers. You can turn them off or edit their wording in Settings → Emails. The list of moved dates in each email can't be edited.
What customers see
Customers in the portal see each task's current date, never its rule. When a date is an estimate, they see what it depends on:
When it waits on one of their own tasks: if Sign the order form is done by Oct 9.
Otherwise: depends on Acme's progress, with your organization's name.
Common questions
Will turning on automatic dates move my existing dates?
No. Every task keeps the day it has now as a set date. Dates only start moving once you give a task a rule.
Can I still type in a date?
Yes. Click the date and choose Set a date. It stays where you put it until you click Follow the rule again.
Why isn't a late task showing as overdue?
Its date is an estimate: it follows a task that isn't finished. The note beside it names that task, and that task is the one that's late.
A task finished early. Why didn't the dates after it move earlier?
Move dates earlier when work finishes early is off for that playbook or project. Turn it on in the playbook's Settings.
Do business days skip holidays?
Business days skip Saturdays and Sundays. To work around a holiday, set that task's date by hand.
Can a task's date follow a task that follows it back?
No. Rules that follow each other in a loop can't decide a date, so those tasks keep the dates they have.
Why didn't changing the end date in the projects list move my tasks?
The projects list changes the end date only. To push task dates too, change the end date from the project's Dates panel or its Settings tab and choose Push dates forward.