Guide
How to stop forgetting assignment deadlines without a planner app
Pally can build the list for you: it reads connected school portals such as Google Classroom, Moodle, and Brightspace along with your Gmail or Outlook, reminds you to start each assignment, and keeps nudging until you say it is done. Without it, use one plain deadline list for every class, even if each professor posts work somewhere different. Record the due date, the first action, and a personal start date, then check the list after your first class and before you stop studying for the day.
The list can be a pinned note, a paper card, or calendar events. What matters is that new assignments enter the same system within a day and large assignments get an earlier start reminder instead of one alert at the submission deadline.
A practical approach
What to do
Make one deadline list
Create one note with a section per class. For each assignment, write the course, exact due date and time, where to submit, and the next physical action, such as choosing a topic. Copy every syllabus deadline at the start of the term, then add new work from announcements and email.
Add a start date
Beside any assignment that takes more than one sitting, write a personal start date and the first small action, such as finding two sources on Tuesday. That first action should take under half an hour. A due date alone tells you about the work when there is no time left.
Review at two anchors
Read the list at two moments that already happen, such as after your first class and when you plug in your phone at night. In the morning, choose the assignment you will move today; at night, add anything new. If a check keeps slipping, set a repeating alarm.
Use reminders for exceptions
Set alerts only for unusual deadlines, long projects, and work due outside the course's normal pattern: one for the start date and one early enough to recover from a problem. Too many alerts become background noise, so let the list stay the complete record.
The Pally option
How Pally helps
Pally texts your reminders and keeps reminding you until you say the work is done. It reads connected school portals such as Google Classroom, Moodle, and Brightspace, plus Gmail or Outlook, and puts open work in your morning brief. If you go 7 days without a message or reaction, it pauses reminders until you write again. Course sites it doesn't connect to still need their own check.
The friendly nag
Hand Pally the thing you keep putting off. It won't forget, and it won't let you either.
See the recipeMorning brief
A short morning brief with what matters: your day, your inbox, and the things you said you'd do.
See the recipeInbox, triaged
Ask what needs you. Pally reads the pile, flags the few, and handles the replies.
See the recipeTodo catcher
Every "can you…" buried in a busy thread becomes a task Pally tracks. Nothing slips.
See the recipeOptions
Other tools people use
Fair alternatives, including ones that overlap with Pally.
DormWay
DormWay fits students who want a free planner that syncs Canvas, Blackboard, and Moodle and can turn uploaded syllabi into a timeline.
Deadlines outside its supported course systems and uploaded syllabi still need separate capture.
Apple Reminders
Apple Reminders fits students who want shared lists, dates, and alerts on Apple devices.
It still depends on you to copy every assignment out of each course system.
Todoist
Todoist fits students who want recurring reviews, priorities, and course labels in a dedicated task tool.
It adds another inbox to maintain, which is the exact failure point for some students.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What should I do when a professor changes a deadline?
Update the master list first, then move its start date and alerts. Delete the old date so search results and old notifications cannot send you in two directions.
Should I put every reading on the list?
List readings that have a deadline or feed a graded discussion, quiz, or assignment. Put routine reading in a recurring study block so the deadline list stays easy to scan.
How often should I check Canvas or another course site?
Check it once at a consistent time on class days and copy new work into your master list. More frequent checking rarely fixes a weak capture habit.
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