Site Builder Section: Countdown Timer

Display a countdown to an upcoming course release or community access, or build buzz around an exciting live webinar with this formatted section!

About This Section

Customize a live timer that counts down to a configurable date and time. You can use this eye-catching section to draw attention to important events on your site, like the launch of a new course or community, an upcoming live webinar, or the release of exciting new membership content!

Where to Use This Section

You should place your Countdown timer section somewhere where people will see it, but the exact placement will depend on what you're counting down to: if you are just getting started, a coming soon page makes a lot of sense, but a live webinar or new student content works well on your community landing page or course landing page.

In the case of big promotions or important events, you'll often want to put the same countdown timer in more than one place, in which case you should check out our article on how to Copy a Theme Section.

Adding a Countdown Timer Section

From your Admin Dashboard, go to Channels
Click Website
Select the page you want to edit by clicking on its card. This will open your Site Builder.
Click Add section and select Countdown Timer from the list:
Optional: Rearrange the position of the new section if necessary
Click on Countdown Timer to open the section settings
Set the Expiry date and time (UTC). Note that all times are in UTC.
Optional: Customize the section as required (see options below)
Click Save to apply your changes

Section Customization

Settings: The Expiry date and time (UTC) field controls when the Countdown Timer finishes. With the Empire Theme, check off Show styled background to match the timer background color to the background page color (you can change this color in Theme Settings).

Headings: The Heading is the title for the entire section. The Subheading appears directly below or above the heading (depending on your Site Theme), and can be used to add a few sentences about the Countdown Timer.

Button: You can Link to any Thinkific site page, or an external page custom URL using the Select a destination drop-down menu. Edit the Button text field to customize your call to action. Use the Button style to select either the Primary or Secondary button theme color (you can change these colors in Theme Settings).

Background & Layout: With the Vogue Theme select your Background color as either the Primary or Secondary background theme color from the drop-down menu (you can change these colors in Theme Settings). Check the boxes for Remove top or bottom section padding if there appears to be too much space between this and adjacent sections. Select the Column layout.

Background Image: With the Vision Theme upload a Background image (recommended dimensions: 1440px x 720px). Use the Overlay color and Overlay opacity to help your timer standout against the background image.

Important Considerations

The time for the live Countdown Timer is set in UTC. This means that if you set your Countdown Timer to finish at 12:01am Jan 1st, 2021, the timer will finish at Jan 1st, 2021 at 12:01am UTC.

If you need help figuring out how your local time zone compares to UTC, check out this handy site.

Section Examples

Empire (Jet)

Vision (Tempo)

Vogue (Parker)

For in-depth examples of our different Themes and Styles in action, check out our Theme Demo Site. Use the buttons along the bottom of the page to browse all the different possibilities!

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I automatically set the Countdown timer to reset when it finishes?

The Countdown timer currently does not have the option to reset once the countdown is finished. If you are looking for custom coded solutions, we recommend checking out the Thinkific Experts Marketplace for developers and web designers.

Can I have more than one Countdown timer on the same Thinkific site page?

You can add more than one Countdown timer to a single site page, however all of the timers will countdown to the same date and time.

Countdown timers on different site pages can be set to countdown to different dates and times.