The Client portal gives each client a private, password-protected space to work with your firm. Before anyone can log in, you invite the right contact and set what they're allowed to see.
Add the contact first
A portal login belongs to a contact on a client record, not to the client record itself. So the first step is to make sure the person you want to invite exists as a contact with a correct email address. One client can have several contacts, and each can have their own login.
- Open the client, then Contacts. Add a new contact or open an existing one.
- Fill in the name and email. The email is where the invitation and every future notice will go, so double check it.
- Turn on portal access. Mark the contact as active and allow them to log in. Save.
Send the invitation
When you save a contact with a login enabled, you can have the system send a welcome email that lets the client set their own password. If you'd rather set a password yourself, you can, but letting the client choose their own is usually simpler and more secure.
If a client says they never got the invitation, check the email address for typos and look in their spam folder before resending. The reset password link is the fastest way to get someone back in.
Choose what each contact can do
Permissions are set per contact, so you decide exactly what each person sees once they're in. A primary contact at a company might see everything, while a junior staff member sees only invoices. Typical permissions cover:
- Invoices, estimates and any proposals or contracts you've shared
- Projects or matters the client is involved in
- Shared files and document requests
- Support tickets and messages
Turn on only what that person needs. You can change these permissions at any time, and the change takes effect the next time they load a page.
More than one person on a file
For clients with several contacts, invite each person separately and give each the permissions that suit their role. Everyone works in the same client space, so a document you share is visible to every contact you've allowed to see files, not just the one who happened to be online.
Removing a contact's login access is immediate and reversible. If someone leaves the client's organization, switch off their access rather than deleting the contact, so your history of who saw what stays intact.
Once a contact has accepted the invitation and set a password, they land on their portal home the next time they sign in, showing only the areas you've allowed. From there, the rest of this group walks through what they'll actually see and do.