---
title: Client Portal
description: How clients get into your branded portal, what they see there, how passwords work, which emails they receive, and how to preview the portal yourself.
icon: building-2
---

The client portal is where your clients sign in to follow their projects, complete the tasks you've asked of them, share files, and message your team. Each workspace has its own portal at its own address, with your logo and brand color. This page explains how clients get in, what they see, and how you can check the portal through their eyes.

## How clients get access

1. Add the client as a person with an email address. See [People](/docs/contacts).
2. Add them to a project on its **Members** tab. See [Project Members](/docs/projects/members#how-to-add-a-client).
3. Invite them to the portal, either straight away while adding them or later from the project or the contact.

The invite email has a button that signs them in and opens the project. Each project is shared separately, so a client only sees the projects you've invited them to.

Each portal is separate. A client who works with two businesses on Upclient has two independent portal accounts, each with its own password and sign-in. Signing out of one portal doesn't affect any other.

## How clients sign in

On your portal's sign-in page, clients can:

- **Sign in with their email and password**, if they've set a password.
- Choose **Email me a sign-in link** to get a one-time link by email.

How long a link works:

- Links requested from the sign-in page expire after 15 minutes.
- Links in invitations and notification emails expire after 1 day.
- Every link works once.

The sign-in page responds the same way whether or not an email address has access, so it never reveals who your clients are. A portal session lasts 30 days. Links in invitations and notification emails take the client straight to the related project, task, or conversation after signing in.

## How portal passwords work

Passwords are optional unless you require them. To require them, turn on **Require password** under **Settings → Portal → Portal security**. See [Workspace Settings](/docs/workspace#how-to-customize-the-client-portal).

- **When Require password is on:** a client who signs in with an emailed link and has no password yet is taken to **Set your portal password**, and can't see their projects until they set one. After that they can sign in with either their password or a link. Invite emails tell them they'll be asked to set a password.
- **When it's off:** clients can keep signing in with emailed links, and set or change a password whenever they like from **Profile & security**.
- Turning **Require password** on applies to clients who are already signed in the next time they open the portal. Turning it off doesn't remove passwords clients have already set.
- Passwords must be at least 8 characters and include an uppercase letter and a number.
- Clients who forget their password can choose **Forgot password?** to get a reset link by email. Resetting a password signs them out on their other devices.

## What clients see

Every client sees the same sections, in your logo and brand color. Clients only see what you've chosen to show them: tasks and stages shown in the portal, files you've shared, conversations that include them, and published pages.

How the sections are arranged on a computer depends on the layout you choose under **Settings → Portal** (see [Workspace Settings](/docs/workspace#layout-and-navigation-color)):

- **Sidebar navigation:** **Home** and **Tasks** at the top, then each project with its [pages](/docs/projects/pages), **Tasks**, **Messages**, and **Files**.
- **Top navigation:** a bar with **Home**, **Tasks**, **Messages**, **Files**, and a **Projects** menu that lists the same links for each project. **Messages** and **Files** open the project the client is looking at, or their first project.

In both, next to each project's **Tasks** is the number of tasks waiting on the client, next to **Messages** the number of unread conversations, and next to **Files** the number of files.

On a phone, both layouts put **Home**, **Tasks**, **Messages**, **Files**, and **Projects** in a tab bar at the bottom of the screen, and the menu button at the top opens the full list of projects. The bell shows the client's notifications, and the account menu opens **Profile & security** and **Sign out**.

- **Tasks** lists every task shared with the client across their projects. Each project's **Tasks** groups its tasks by stage. See [Portal Tasks](/docs/client-portal/tasks).
- **Messages** and **Files** open a project's conversations and files. See [Portal Messages](/docs/client-portal/messages) and [Portal Files](/docs/client-portal/files).
- Portal pages you publish open as reading pages: the page title, then its text, embedded content, and form, at a comfortable reading width. See [Portal Pages](/docs/projects/pages).

## The client's home page

Home answers one question for the client: what do I need to do next? From top to bottom it shows:

- **The banner:** a greeting such as "Welcome back, Maya" and a one-line summary, for example "Website Redesign · 2 things are waiting on you", "3 things are waiting on you across 2 projects", or "You're all caught up". When the client has one project, the banner also shows its progress, for example "Design · stage 2 of 4" with a percentage and a progress bar. The banner uses your banner image or brand color. See [Workspace Settings](/docs/workspace#banner).
- **Start here:** the task that's most urgent, with its due date and a button named for what to do next: **Upload files**, **Fill out form**, **Sign document**, **Review & sign**, or **Open task**. Overdue tasks come first, then the earliest due date. When nothing is waiting, the card says "You're all caught up".
- **Waiting on you:** one tile for each kind of request (**Contracts**, **Signatures**, **Forms**, **File uploads**, and **Other tasks** for everything else, or **Tasks** when that's the only kind), with how many there are and how many are overdue, or when the next one is due. Each tile opens the **Tasks** page filtered to that kind. **View all tasks** opens the full list.
- **Upcoming tasks:** up to five tasks the client can act on now, in the same order as the **Tasks** page (tasks that need attention first, then by due date), each with its due date, what the client needs to do (for example **Fill out form**), and its status. Tasks waiting on your team, under review, or assigned to someone else aren't listed here; the client finds them on the **Tasks** page. **View all** opens the **Tasks** page.

Beside these, or below them on a small screen:

- **Your team:** up to four teammates who work on the client's projects, with the project owner first as **Project lead**, and "+2 more people" when there are more. The client sees names and photos, never email addresses. **Message Daniel** (with the project lead's first name) opens the project's **Messages**.
- **Latest from the team:** the most recent message from your team in a conversation the client can see, with a link to open it. Team-only conversations and internal messages never appear here.
- **Your projects:** when the client has more than one project, each project with its progress.

### How "waiting on you" is counted

- A task is waiting on the client when it's assigned to them, it's **To do** or **Needs attention**, and it still has a form, file upload, signature, or contract for them to complete. A task assigned to them without any of these counts under **Tasks**.
- Each task counts once. A task that asks for a form and a file upload appears in both tiles, but adds one to "2 things are waiting on you". The same count appears next to each project's **Tasks** and on the **Waiting on you** filter.
- Tasks under review, completed tasks, and tasks assigned to someone else don't count.
- A contract you haven't sent yet doesn't count. Until you send it, the task shows "This contract is being prepared" and asks nothing of the client. See [Contracts](/docs/contracts).
- A contract the client has signed doesn't count while it waits for your countersignature. The task shows **With the team** and "Waiting for Fernhill Studio to countersign" (with your workspace name), and it's never shown as overdue to the client.

### How progress is measured

- Progress is the share of the project's tasks that are **Completed**. A task under review isn't done yet.
- The current stage is the first stage, in order, that isn't completed. When every stage is completed, the project shows **All stages complete**. A project without stages shows a count such as "3 of 8 tasks done".
- Only the stages and tasks the client can see count.

### Tasks put the action first

When a client opens a task, they see its title, status, due date, and stage, and then straight away the thing to do: **Upload your files**, **Fill out the form**, **Add your signature**, or **Review and sign the contract**. The description and attachments follow. The stage, the people assigned, and the due date are tucked under **Task details**, and **Questions about this task** comes last. See [Portal Tasks](/docs/client-portal/tasks).

If a task is assigned to someone else, the client can read it and ask questions, and a short note explains why they can't complete it.

## Emails clients receive

Upclient emails clients when something needs their attention, for example:

- portal invitations and sign-in links, and a note when a new project is shared with them;
- tasks assigned to them, due date reminders, and tasks completed;
- new messages in their conversations, and conversations they're added to;
- signed contracts;
- emails sent by your [workflows](/docs/projects/workflows).

Every client email comes from your workspace name followed by "via Upclient", for example "Fernhill Studio via Upclient". When a client replies, the reply goes to the project's owner. If the email isn't about a project, or the project has no owner, the reply goes to the teammate whose action sent the email, or to your workspace's first Owner.

Clients whose portal sign-in is turned off don't get client emails. See [People](/docs/contacts#how-to-turn-portal-sign-in-off-or-on).

A client who turns off task emails in their portal notification settings also stops getting workflow reminders: task reminders and emails from workflows started by overdue, due date, waiting-status or not-signed-in triggers. The workflow's run says who was left out and why. See [Workflows](/docs/projects/workflows#how-workflows-work).

## How portal notifications work

- Clients get notifications about their tasks and project messages in the portal, and by email.
- The bell shows unread notifications and offers **Mark all as read**. Clicking a notification opens the related task or message.
- The **Notifications** page shows the full list. Clients can show only unread items, and archive notifications they no longer need.
- Clients can't change their notification settings.

## How to preview the portal

You can see the portal as your clients do before you invite anyone, and check it again at any time. Everyone on your team except Viewers can preview.

- **Preview Portal** at the top of a project opens that project as its client. When the project has several clients, the button reads **Preview as…** and lists them, primary contact first, with each one's portal status. When the project has no clients yet, it opens a generic client view of the project.
- **View portal as client** in a client's **⋯** menu on the project's **Members** tab opens the project as that client.
- The **Preview what … will see** link (for example **Preview what Maya will see**) in the confirmation when you invite a client opens the portal as them before the invite is sent.
- **Preview portal** in a person's **Actions** menu on the **People** tab of the Clients page opens the portal as them, starting on their most recently updated project.
- **Preview Portal** under **Settings → Portal** opens a generic client view of your most recently updated project, to check your branding and layout.

How previews work:

- A preview opens in a new tab with a bar at the top, for example "Previewing as Maya Okafor · read-only", and an **Exit preview** button.
- **Previewing as a specific client** shows everything that client sees: every project they already have portal access to, plus the project you started from, even if they haven't been invited to it yet. Their home page, tasks, conversations, and files appear exactly as they would for them.
- **A generic preview** reads "Previewing as a client" and shows only the project you started from. Its home page says "What a client would see" and "Waiting on clients", and treats tasks assigned to any client, or to no one, as waiting. Add a client to the project to see their assigned tasks.
- Previews are read-only. Buttons, upload areas, signature boxes, forms, and message boxes are shown as the client would see them, but disabled, with the note **Preview is read-only.**
- A preview never marks messages or notifications as read or contracts as viewed, never invites or emails the client, and never changes their portal status.