Creating a portal
Turn any client contact into a portal page in about ten seconds, then find and manage every portal you have made from one list.
Before you start
A portal is built for a client contact, so the contact has to exist first. If you search the dialog and see "No contacts yet — add one in Contacts first", add them in Contacts and come back.
There is no plan requirement. Portals are not capped or counted on any plan, including Free.
Creating one
Three menus open the same dialog:
| From | What you click |
|---|---|
| The sidebar | The + beside your workspace → Client Portal |
| Home | The New menu → New client portal |
| Home | The Common actions card → New client portal |
Then:
- Search by name, email, or organisation.
- Select the client. Use Change if you pick the wrong one.
- Click Create Portal.
Long client lists
The search shows a limited number of matches at a time and tells you when there are more, so refine the search rather than scrolling.
What gets built
A page titled "[Client] portal", bound to that contact, with four sections already in place:
| Section | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Needs from you | Things you have asked the client for |
| Time | Hours logged against that client for the current period |
| Invoices | Their invoices, and what is outstanding |
| Deliverables | Files you have sent them |
It is an ordinary page underneath. Edit the wording, reorder the sections, delete ones you do not want, and add anything else a page can hold. The three portal blocks are in the slash menu as Client actions, Client invoices and Client time, so you can put one back later or add a second.
Forms and booking pages can be embedded too, which is what makes the Book and Answer client actions useful.
Sharing it straight away
The success screen offers two things:
- Open Portal takes you to the page so you can add deliverables or client actions before the client sees it.
- Send by Email creates a share link and opens an email to the contact, ready to send.
The link that Send by Email creates gives the client Can comment access, which is the level they need to approve things, upload files, and pay invoices. See Sharing a portal.
Finding portals you already made
Open Portals from the sidebar. Every portal is listed with its client, whether it is active or archived, and when it last changed.
| What you want | What to do |
|---|---|
| Open the portal page | Open |
| Get the client link | Share → Copy link |
| Check what the client sees | Share → Open link |
Search matches the portal name, the client, their organisation, and the page title. The list shows active portals by default; switch the filter to see archived ones.
Portals also appear in your normal page tree, because a portal is a page.
Archiving and restoring
When a project ends, click Archive on the portal row.
What archiving does immediately
The client loses access to the portal link, their invoices and their hours. Any action link already sitting in their inbox stops working, and outstanding reminders stop. They see a message saying the portal has been closed.
Nothing is deleted. Click Restore on the archived portal and the same link works again.
Related
- What is on a portal — the four sections in detail
- Sharing a portal — links, access levels and expiry
- Asking your client for things — approvals, uploads and questions
- What your client sees — the portal from their side