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Client portals

Share a branded client portal.

Portals give clients a focused place to see shared work, project context, reports, files, invoices, proposals, and updates — all in one branded link.

Updated August 2026

01

What clients see in their portal

The portal is built from the client-facing parts of your workspace: a welcome message, action-needed items, documents, projects, invoices, reports, files, and a discussion thread.

  1. A welcome block with your business name, tagline, and portal cover.
  2. Action needed surfaces pending proposals and invoices that need payment.
  3. Your projects shows progress, the next milestone, and recent updates.
  4. Invoices, reports, and files appear under their own sections when enabled.
  5. The discussion thread lets you and the client exchange messages in place.

02

Create the portal

A portal is connected to a client. Each client gets one portal, generated from the Client Portals workspace.

  1. Open the Client Portals workspace and click Generate New Link.
  2. Assign the portal to a client that does not already have one.
  3. Copy the generated link or email it to the client.

03

Brand the experience

Portal branding uses your workspace logo, color, cover preset, tagline, and welcome message so the client-facing page does not feel generic.

  1. Use the workspace brand color for the portal accent system.
  2. Choose a preset cover such as Soft Mesh, Watercolor, Soft Circles, Sunrise Fade, or Dot Grid, or upload a cover image.
  3. Set a portal tagline and welcome message in Settings.
  4. Preview the portal before sending it externally.

04

Send the portal link

ClientDeck includes an email composer so you can send the portal without manually composing every detail from scratch.

  1. From a portal card, choose Email Link to Client.
  2. Confirm the recipient email, subject, and message.
  3. The portal link is appended automatically.
  4. Use Copy Link instead to share it in chat or elsewhere.

05

Control what clients can access

Each portal has four permission toggles that decide which sections the client can see.

  1. Invoices & Payments shows the invoice ledger and pay options.
  2. Project Boards shows project progress and task state.
  3. AI Reports shows published reports under Latest Insights.
  4. Shared Files & Assets lets the client view and download files.
  5. Flip a toggle off to hide that section from the client view.

06

Use the portal discussion

The discussion is a message thread between you and the client, tied to the portal. Messages from the client can ping Slack if that integration is enabled.

  1. Open the portal and scroll to the Discussion section.
  2. Type a message and press Enter to send.
  3. Client replies appear in the thread and can trigger a Slack notification.

07

Preview, track, and manage portals

You can preview the portal exactly as the client sees it, track engagement, and deactivate or delete portals.

  1. Click Enter Preview Mode to walk through the client view.
  2. Check the engagement status: Never opened, Viewed recently, Dormant, or Inactive.
  3. Use Deactivate to take a portal offline without deleting it, then Reactivate later.
  4. Use Delete Portal to remove the portal permanently.

Notes

Portal previews temporarily adjust the browser title and favicon, then restore them when you leave the portal view.