When a visitor badge starts and stops working
The badge email can arrive days or weeks ahead, but the code on it only works on the day of the visit — what each entrance says to a visitor who is early or late, and what they can do in advance instead.
The badge email is sent ahead of the visit — seven days ahead at 17:00 until you change it, and as much as 365 days ahead if you want. The code inside it does not work that early. A badge admits its holder on the day of the visit and no other day.
One badge, one day
A badge covers the whole calendar day of the visit, in the building’s own time zone — midnight to midnight, not the hours of the meeting. A guest expected at 15:00 can arrive at 08:00 and check in; the same guest arriving the afternoon before cannot.
Visitor badge mechanism decides how many badges a visitor gets, not how long one lasts. Independent badge gives each invitation its own; Daily badge gives one badge a day, shared by everything the visitor is invited to that day. Either way the window is whole days — the day of the visit, or every day a visit spans.
What an early visitor meets
| Where they present it | What happens |
|---|---|
| The entrance scanner | Refuse, with This pass has not started yet |
| A panel or lobby board | Visitor record not found |
| The reception desk | The visit can be found by changing the date at the top of the day list, but Check in is only offered on the day itself |
The same three surfaces answer the same way once the day has passed, with This pass has already ended in place of the first. Where the visiting policy closes the day for you, the badge is recorded that evening as No show, or as Left if the visitor did check in — see Check visitors out automatically.
What the early email is for
Sending the badge ahead buys pre-registration time, not early entry. Where Enable pre-registration page for visitor is on, the email carries a link the visitor can open as soon as they get it: they fill in their own details, accept the terms and answer any survey before they travel, and the desk has nothing left to type when they arrive.
Open Visitor managementWhen one pass has to work on many days
That is what a long-term badge is: one code, valid every day inside a period you set, or with no limit at all. Contractors, cleaners and agency engineers get one instead of an invitation per visit — see Give a contractor a long-term badge.
What this does not control
- The date the email goes out. Send visitor badge time moves the email, and nothing else. See Visitor badge settings.
- Approval. A visit still waiting on an approver is refused on its own day too, with This visit is still waiting for approval. See Require approval before a visitor is invited.
- Doors. A badge identifies a visitor at the lobby; it opens nothing on its own.
- Guest WiFi. Those details are minted at check-in and die at check-out, so they never work in advance either. See How visitors get online.