When registration is closed

Registration closes automatically when the event's end date and time have passed. Nothing has to be unpublished or switched off.

What happens

Once the end datetime is in the past:

• the button shows the Finished event button label, which defaults to Event finished;
• the button is disabled, so the form cannot be opened;
• the event drops out of upcoming lists, because those show events whose end date is today or later;
• the event page stays reachable at its own URL, and the event stays in the calendar.

Set the end date properly

This behavior depends entirely on the end date, which is a good reason to always set it:

• an event with no end date never reaches the finished state;
• an end date later than the real one keeps registration open after the event;
• an end date earlier than the real one closes registration while the event is still running.

For a single-day event, put the same date in both fields and give the end field the closing time if you use times.

Closing registration before the event

Registration closes at the end date, not before. To close it earlier — a catering deadline, a printed list, a room decision — use Disable signup button on the Attendants tab.

That hides the button while the event stays fully visible. Add a line to the introduction explaining it:

Registration closed on 12 March. Contact us if you still want to attend.

Without that line, a visitor sees an event with no way to register and no explanation.

Word the finished label usefully

The default is Event finished, which is accurate but final. Alternatives that read better depending on the event:

The label is per event, so agree one wording and apply it consistently.

Keep finished events published

Leaving a past event published is usually right:

• links from social posts, newsletters and printed material keep working;
• the event becomes a record of what the organization does;
• related content links stay valid;
• search engines keep an indexed page rather than a not-found error.

If a past event should stop being findable, unpublishing is a content decision — but expect the links to break.

Point people at what is next

A finished event page is a dead end unless you give it an exit. Two supported ways:

• enable the Go back button in Settings → POM Events → Single event, with a label and a URL pointing at the events page;
• add an additional link — See upcoming events.

The go-back button is site-wide and therefore the lower-effort option.

Verify

1. Set an event's end date to yesterday.
2. Open it signed out.
3. Confirm the finished label and that the button cannot be used.
4. Confirm the event is no longer in the upcoming list.
5. Confirm the page still loads at its URL.
6. Restore the real dates.