How do I set a signing deadline so a document expires if nobody signs it?

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An expiry date is exactly what it sounds like: after a set date, or a set number of days from when you sent it, the signing link stops working and the document can no longer be signed in its current form. This isn't a punitive feature, it's a practical one, and it often improves signature speed more than any amount of polite follow-up does, simply because "sign it whenever" naturally drifts, and "sign it by Friday" doesn't.

Why expiry matters (quotes with prices)

The clearest case for an expiry date: a quote with pricing attached. Material costs, your own availability, a seasonal rate, all change over time, so a quote that stays valid indefinitely either locks you into an old price long after conditions changed, or forces you to manually track which quotes are "still good" and which quietly aren't anymore. An expiry date handles this automatically: past that date, the quote is no longer actionable as-is, and anyone who wants it needs a fresh one reflecting current terms.

Beyond quotes, expiry genuinely helps with anything tied to a real constraint: a limited appointment slot that needs to be confirmed by a specific date, a seasonal offer, a document that needs to be in place before a specific event or start date. In all of these, the deadline isn't artificial pressure, it's an honest reflection of a real constraint the signer should know about regardless.

Where expiry doesn't help, and can actually backfire: applying it to a document with no real time pressure attached, just to try to manufacture urgency. People increasingly recognize artificial scarcity, and a deadline that doesn't survive a direct question ("why does this specifically need to be today?") costs you more trust than the small speed gain is worth. Real causes of delay are listed in why customers do not sign.

Settings

The general pattern across mainstream e-signature tools, including QuickSigner, a web-based e-signature tool, is setting an expiry either as a specific calendar date or as a number of days from when the request is sent, configured when you create the signing request alongside the signer details and fields. The exact menu location and available options vary by tool and can change over time, so I'd confirm the current setting inside your specific account rather than relying on a general description, especially since getting this wrong (setting too short a window by mistake, for example) can cause a document to expire before a legitimate signer has had a reasonable chance to review it.

A sensible default window for most routine business documents: 5 to 7 business days from when you send it, enough time for a normal review-and-sign cycle without leaving it open indefinitely. Shorten this for genuinely time-pressured documents (a same-day quote, a limited slot), and lengthen it for anything requiring multiple internal reviews on the signer's side before they can act, a larger contract that needs their legal or finance team to weigh in, for example. If speed matters most, see a 24 hour plan for getting a contract signed.

Resend flow

When a document expires unsigned, most tools won't automatically revive it, you'll need to resend a fresh request. A few practical steps for handling this well rather than letting it become an awkward dead end: Changes after signing are handled in how to amend or void a signed document.

• Check in before it expires, not after. A reminder a day or two before expiry, explicitly mentioning the deadline, gives the signer a real chance to act in time rather than discovering afterward that they missed it. Timing and wording are in how to send a reminder to a customer who has not signed.
• If it expires anyway, resend with a short, non-accusatory note. "Looks like the link expired before you got to it, here's a fresh one" keeps the tone neutral rather than implying the signer did something wrong.
• Reconsider the original terms if circumstances have genuinely changed. If a quote expired because pricing has since moved, the resend should reflect the current, honest terms, not the old number dressed up with a new deadline.
• If something expires repeatedly with the same signer, that's a signal worth addressing directly rather than just resending again and again, something else is likely the real blocker, worth a direct conversation rather than another automated cycle.

Common mistakes with expiry dates

• Setting the window too short by default. A 24-hour expiry on a document that genuinely needs a few days of consideration, a larger contract, something involving another person's input, sets the signer up to miss it through no fault of their own.
• Not mentioning the deadline in your actual message. A technical expiry setting that's never mentioned in the cover note means the signer has no idea there's a clock running until the link has already stopped working. Always state it plainly.
• Treating expiry as a substitute for a reminder. An expiry date without any reminder before it simply means the document silently stops being signable, which feels abrupt compared to a well-timed heads-up beforehand. Pair the two rather than relying on expiry alone.
• Reusing an expired quote's exact numbers without checking them. If pricing or availability was the actual reason for the deadline, resending the identical figures after they've expired defeats the entire purpose of having set the deadline in the first place.

A quick worked example

Say you run a small renovation business and send a quote with material and labor pricing that's only accurate for about two weeks given how material costs have been moving. Set the expiry at 14 days from sending, and mention it plainly in your cover message: "this quote reflects current material pricing and is valid for two weeks." If it's unsigned at day 12, send a reminder mentioning the approaching deadline specifically, not just a generic nudge. If it expires anyway, check current material costs before resending, since a straight resend of the exact same numbers past that window risks quoting a price that's no longer actually accurate on your end either. Walking a customer through that honestly, "material costs shifted slightly since the quote expired, here's the updated version," tends to land far better than quietly resending unchanged numbers and hoping nobody notices the gap later.

How I'd approach this

The honest test I'd apply before setting any expiry date: could I explain the specific reason for this deadline to the signer's face without it sounding made up? If yes, set it, and say the reason plainly in your message rather than leaving it unexplained, since a stated reason builds trust where an unexplained deadline can read as pressure tactics. If the honest answer is "not really, I just want it signed faster," skip the expiry and address the actual slowdown directly instead, through a clearer document or a well-timed reminder rather than an invented deadline. For businesses where pricing or availability genuinely changes often enough that this matters constantly, I build the expiry logic directly into the quoting and contract system so it reflects real, current constraints automatically rather than being manually set and tracked each time. Get in touch if that's worth setting up properly.