> This is the Markdown of a Backed Help Centre page, https://admin.backed.giving/help/administrator/funding-rounds/stale-applications.md. Every page is listed at https://admin.backed.giving/help/llms.txt.

> This page uses Backed's default terms, such as Funding Round and Application Template. An organisation may rename them, so read each as your organisation's own term if you've renamed it.

A draft application nobody touches can sit in a round for months. `Stale drafts` reminds the
applicant after a number of days without an edit, can remind them again, and can withdraw the draft
if nobody comes back to it. The same reminders cover an Information Request the applicant has not
answered. Every setting is off until you turn it on, round by round. `Grant`, `Application` and
`Applicant` are your organisation's own terms if you've renamed them.

## Before you start

- You need permission to edit and publish the grant. Without it you can see the settings but not
  change them.
- The settings save on their own, so you can change them after the round is published.

## Turn on reminders

1. Open the grant. Before it is published, go to the `Details` step of its setup and open
   `Advanced Settings`. Once it is published, `Advanced Settings` is on the grant's `Details` tab.
2. Tick `Remind about stale drafts` under `Stale drafts`.
3. Enter `Remind after (days)`: the days since the draft was last edited before the first
   reminder goes.
4. To remind again, enter `Repeat every (days)` and `Up to (reminders)`, the most reminders to
   send. They go together: a repeat needs a maximum.
5. Select `Save stale drafts`. Backed says `Stale drafts saved.`

To turn the reminders off again, untick `Remind about stale drafts` and save. Every setting is
cleared.

## Withdraw a draft automatically

`Withdraw after a further (days)` withdraws a draft that is still not edited that many days after
its first reminder. It is available once `Remind after (days)` has a number, and it must be at least
seven days and no fewer than `Remind after`. Leave it blank never to withdraw.

Seven days before the withdrawal, the applicant is sent `Your application will be withdrawn` and
their draft shows the date and the reason. Saving a change to the draft stops the countdown.

## Withdraw when an Information Request is unanswered

An Information Request the applicant has not answered is reminded on the same days as a draft. Tick
`Withdraw when unanswered` and enter `Withdraw unanswered after (days)` to withdraw the application
if the request is still unanswered that many days after it was sent. The period counts from the
day the request was sent, not from its first reminder. Responding to the request stops the
countdown.

## If Backed refuses the settings

`These settings do not fit together.` shows on the field to correct. A withdrawal period must be at
least seven days and no shorter than the first reminder, a repeat needs a maximum, and nothing can
be set without `Remind after (days)`.

## What the history shows

An application withdrawn this way shows `Withdrawn automatically` in its history, with the reason:
the draft was not edited, or an Information Request went unanswered. No person is named, because
nobody withdrew it by hand.

## See also

- [Create a grant round](create-a-grant-round.md)
- [An application](../applications/an-application.md)