---
title: Reminder timing and editing message templates
slug: reminder-timing-and-templates
category: Messages & Notifications
url: https://alaga.io/help/article/reminder-timing-and-templates
audiences: business_owner, manager
updated: 2026-08-18
source: Alaga Help Center
---

# Reminder timing and editing message templates
Sidebar: **Business Settings → Notifications**.

## Reminder timing is fixed

Appointment reminders go out at **about 24 hours** and **about 2 hours** before the appointment. **You cannot change these to other intervals.** There is no setting for a 48-hour reminder or a three-day reminder, and looking for one is a waste of an afternoon.

What you *can* do is switch each one on or off, per channel. If 2-hour reminders do not suit how you work, turn them off; you cannot move them to 4 hours.

A consequence worth planning around: **an appointment booked less than 24 hours ahead never gets the 24-hour reminder**, because the window has already passed. Same-day bookings get the 2-hour one only.

## What you can turn on and off

Under **Notifications**:

- The **Email** tab controls the emails Alaga sends your clients, individually.
- The **Text Messages** tab controls texts, separately. These are off by default.
- The **Delivery Log** shows what actually went out.

Email and text are independent for the same event. Reminder emails can be on while reminder texts are off.

**New accounts start with client messaging switched off.** This is deliberate — importing three years of history should not mail everyone on day one. Turn things on once your data looks right.

## Balance reminders

Unlike appointment reminders, balance reminders — chasing an unpaid balance — do have a configurable interval. Set how many days after the balance is due the reminder goes, and whether it runs at all.

## Editing the wording

Each email template can be edited: its **subject** and its **body**, built from content blocks.

Anything you do not change keeps the default, and you can reset back to the default at any time. So it is safe to experiment — you cannot permanently lose the original wording.

Worth editing:

- **Your tone.** The defaults are neutral. If your business is warmer than that, say so.
- **Practical details.** Where to park, which door, what to bring, how early to arrive. This is the highest-value edit and the one most businesses skip.
- **What happens if they need to cancel**, with your policy stated plainly.

Templates can also be switched off entirely, which stops that email regardless of other settings — a common cause of "reminders stopped working" after somebody tidied up the template list.

## Checking your changes

Send yourself a test rather than waiting for a real client. Then look at the **Delivery Log** to confirm it went, and read it on a phone — most clients will.

## What is not customisable

- Appointment reminder intervals, as above.
- The precise minute a reminder is sent. Reminders are processed hourly, so a 9:00 am appointment's 24-hour reminder goes out at some point the previous morning, not at exactly 9:00 am.
- Times shown inside messages always use **your business timezone**, set under Business Profile.