> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.surnex.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Automate delivery

> Email a report to recipients on a recurring schedule.

Open a report and go to **Automation** — *"Schedule automated delivery for 'Report name'"*. Turn on the toggle, set a schedule and recipients, and the report is emailed automatically.

## Schedule

| Field         | Options                                          | Default |
| ------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | ------- |
| **Enabled**   | On / off                                         | Off     |
| **Frequency** | Daily, Weekly (Monday), Bi-weekly, Monthly (1st) | Weekly  |
| **Hour**      | Any hour, 00:00–23:00                            | 09:00   |
| **Timezone**  | Any IANA timezone                                | UTC     |

A report's schedule works the same way as a project's [collection schedules](/projects/data-collection): the cadence is a real interval measured from the last send, and the **timezone is applied**.

| Label               | Interval |
| ------------------- | -------- |
| **Daily**           | 1 day    |
| **Weekly (Monday)** | 7 days   |
| **Bi-weekly**       | 14 days  |
| **Monthly (1st)**   | 1 month  |

<Note>
  The labels still name a weekday and a date — "Weekly (Monday)", "Monthly (1st)" — but the schedule is an interval from the last run, not a fixed calendar slot. A weekly report enabled on a Thursday sends on Thursdays.
</Note>

Set the hour in your own timezone; it's honoured, including across daylight saving.

## Delivery

Add recipient email addresses one at a time. Validation rejects a malformed address (*"Please enter a valid email address"*) and a duplicate (*"Email already added"*).

Recipients don't need Surnex accounts.

## Preview

A summary line describes what will happen in plain language — the frequency, the hour, the timezone, and how many recipients. It appears only when the automation is **enabled**.

Read it before saving. Because the timezone is displayed but not applied, the preview is also the clearest reminder to double-check the hour.

## What recipients get

The report is delivered by email on the schedule. Its widgets read live project data for the report's [date range](/reports/editor#date-range), so what's sent reflects the data at send time.

This is the detail that decides whether recurring delivery works: if the range is fixed to a specific month, every send after that month closes contains identical figures. For a monthly report that should move with time, set a rolling range so each send covers the period just finished.

## Turning it off

Switch **Enabled** off and save. The schedule and recipients are kept, so you can resume later without re-entering them.

Deleting the report also stops delivery — but silently, with no notice to recipients. Disable rather than delete if you might resume.

## Automation vs. share links

|                | Automation                               | [Share link](/reports/share)      |
| -------------- | ---------------------------------------- | --------------------------------- |
| Delivery       | Pushed by email on a schedule            | Pulled by the recipient, any time |
| Access control | Recipient list                           | Optional password and expiry      |
| Best for       | Clients who expect a regular deliverable | Stakeholders who check in ad hoc  |

They work together. A monthly automated email for the formal deliverable, plus a password-protected link for anyone who wants to look between sends.

## Related

* [Report editor](/reports/editor) — the date range that determines what gets sent
* [Share a report](/reports/share) — links and manual exports
* [Notification preferences](/notifications/preferences) — unrelated; those govern your own alerts, not report delivery