When something important happens in your app (user books, creates, purchases, etc.), automatically create and schedule a notification. This provides seamless reminders without requiring extra user act
Before You Begin
Map out the User flow to ensure data is available
Set up a Collection to track scheduled notifications
The Three-Action Pattern
Most scheduled notifications follow the same basic pattern:
Create Notification Record β Store the notification in your Adalo Collectionn.
Schedule the Notification β Tell Adalo when to send it and at what frequency.
Update newly created Notification Record to store the Job ID β Save the notification's Job ID for future management.
Create the Notification Record
Add a Create action that creates a new record in your Notifications collection.
Field values:
Name: Reference the main record's name
Start Date: The trigger date minus how many days/hours before you want the notification.
Use negative numbers: -1 = 1 day before, -3 = 3 days before, -7 = 1 week before
Related Appointment: Link to the current record
User: Who should receive it
Or reference a related user if applicable
Notification Job ID: Leave blank (you'll fill this in Step 3)
Schedule the Notification
Immediately after creating the record, add a Schedule Notification action.
Notification set up:
Recipient: The user who should receive it (usually the same user from Step 1)
Title: What the notification is about
Body: The message the user sees
Include relevant details: what it's about, who it involves, timing context, etc.
Scheduling Date: Use the date from the New Record created in Step 1
Date Format: β οΈ CRITICAL You must change the date format:
Click the date format field (defaults to "relative")
Scroll to the bottom of the dropdown
Select "No Formatting"
This converts to the Unix timestamp Adalo requires.
Repeat Type: None if only sending 1 notification
Target Screen: Link to a relevant screen in your app.
Update Notification Record to Store the Job ID
Add an Update action immediately after scheduling.
Update the notification record you just created:
Why this matters: The Job ID is Adalo's unique identifier for this scheduled notification. You need it later to cancel or modify the notification. It's only available right after scheduling, so capture it now.
Complete Action Sequence
Your trigger button/action should execute in this order:
Original actions (create appointment, mark as booked, etc.)