--- sidebar_label: Recalculating Deadlines sidebar_position: 9 description: Why some transaction dates move automatically when you change the contract or closing date and others don't — and how to get every deadline right. --- # Recalculating Deadlines A common surprise: you update the **Contract Date** or **Closing Date**, but the other deadlines don't move. Whether a date recalculates depends entirely on **how it was created**. ## Two kinds of dates - **Computed dates** come from a [checklist / timeline template](../templates/timeline-templates.md). Each is defined as a rule — an *anchor* (like Effective Date or Closing Date) plus an offset, e.g. *Inspection Deadline = Effective Date + 10 days*. Because a computed date knows its anchor, it can recalculate. - **Manual dates** were typed in by hand or filled in from contract extraction. They're just a fixed date with no anchor, so nothing ties them to your contract or closing date. **Only computed dates recalculate.** Manual dates stay put until you change them yourself. ## What happens when you change an anchor date When you edit a key date — say you push Closing back a week — DocJacket automatically recalculates everything built to depend on it: - **Computed key dates** anchored to it shift by their rule - **Task due dates** that were anchored to it (from a checklist) move too - DocJacket may show a **cascade preview** first, so you can review the affected dates and tasks before saving Dates and tasks with a plain fixed date — and any date you've manually overridden — are left alone. ## Getting every deadline right If you changed the contract or closing date and the other deadlines didn't follow, those deadlines were **manual** (typed or extracted) with no anchor. To fix them: 1. **Apply a checklist / timeline template** to the transaction. The template stamps the anchor + offset rules, so those deadlines become computed dates that recalculate from your contract/closing date from then on. See [Checklists](../templates/timeline-templates.md). 2. Or **edit each deadline by hand** — manual dates won't move on their own. If a key date *is* computed but shows a stale value because it was manually overridden, open its drawer and use **Overridden — reset** to recompute it from its anchor. ## Why aren't my key dates in chronological order? The **timeline on a transaction is manually orderable** — you can drag rows into whatever sequence you want — so it sorts by that manual order first, *not* strictly by date. That's intentional (some teams like grouping by phase rather than pure date), but it means a row can look "out of order": when a key date's value changes, or a template seeds dates in a non-date order, the row keeps its existing position instead of re-sorting itself. To put them back in date order, **drag the handle on each row** to reorder the timeline the way you want it. (Date-driven views — like the upcoming-deadlines and calendar views — always list strictly by date, so if you just want to see what's next by date, use those.) ## A note on task due dates A task's **Due Date** in the task drawer is a single date you set directly (and can clear). Tasks that got their due date from a checklist template are anchored to a key date and recompute automatically when that key date moves. If a task keeps snapping back to a key date and you want a permanently fixed date, that anchor lives on the [task template](../templates/task-templates.md) — adjust it there. See also [Key Dates & Financials](./key-dates-and-financials.mdx).