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The client portal, for your firm

Each client has its own portal, where its contacts open what you share, approve documents, answer your requests and send you files. You run it from Documents, Requests and Reminders, under Portal in the sidebar.

Let a client's contacts sign in

  1. Open the client under Clients, then click Documents and requests › Open the portal page. This page shows who can sign in, the client's requests and all its documents.
  2. Under Who can sign in, click Give access next to a contact with an email address. The list shows the contacts linked on the client's People tab.
  3. The portal emails them an invite to choose a password. To send it yourself, Copy the invite link shown there. It works for 3 days, and the page always shows a fresh one.

To invite many clients at once, click Documents › Portal access › Invite clients, or tick clients under Clients and click Invite to the portal. Add A note in the invite (optional), check the preview, then click Give access and email the invites.

Keep track of who can sign in

Documents › Portal access lists everyone who can sign in, with their last visit. It also shows the address where your clients sign in, ready to copy. Invited means they haven't chosen a password yet. Invite expired means the emailed link ran out: click Send it again.

On the client's portal page, next to each person:

  • Email the invite (or Email it again) sends them a new invite.
  • Reset password signs them out, and they choose a new password from a new invite. It shows when their login is used only for your portal.
  • Remove access keeps their login, and the documents.

Upload and share documents

  1. On the client's portal page, click Upload documents.
  2. Choose the files, then the Engagement, Deadline it's for, Year and Kind. The year and kind follow the deadline you choose.
  3. Under Who sees it, choose Firm only or Shared with the client.
  4. Turn on Ask the client to approve it if they need to sign off. They get Approve and Request changes buttons.
  5. Leave Email the client about it on to tell them now, and click Upload.

Firm-only documents wait until you click Share. Documents shared without an email wait under Not emailed yet on the client's portal page: one email then tells the client about all of them. Don't email leaves them marked new in the portal instead.

See what clients did

Documents counts what needs attention, such as Waiting for approval, Changes requested and New from clients. Each shared document shows who at the client opened it, and whether they approved it or asked for changes, with their note.

What a client sends is marked New until someone at the firm opens it, and is always theirs to see.

See the portal as your client does

Click See it as the client on the client's portal page. Firm-only documents are hidden, and nothing can be approved or sent. Back to Firmdesk ends the preview.

Choose what the portal shows

Owners and admins decide in Settings › Portal:

  • Welcome message, at the top of each client's overview.
  • Deadlines, Invoices and Their team at the firm: turn off what clients shouldn't see.
  • Clients can upload documents.
  • Share new documents right away, or keep uploads firm only until you share them.
  • Only reviewers can share: seniors, managers, partners, owners and admins. Others upload firm only, for a reviewer to share.
  • Email a code at sign-in: after their password, clients enter a code emailed to them. It's on by default.
  • Clients can sign in: turn it off to close the portal for a while. Nothing is deleted.

If Settings › Portal address offers it, choose a name of your own on firmdesk.ca, or use your own domain, such as portal.yourfirm.ca, by adding one DNS record. Every email from the portal then links there.

The emails your clients get

With Email clients on in Settings › Portal, the portal emails the client's contacts their invite, the requests you send, documents when you choose to tell them, and the reminders you turn on. Emails come from your firm's name, and replies come back to your firm. Each one is listed under Documents › Emails sent.

Turn Email clients off to reach clients your own way. The portal works the same, and you send invite links yourself.

Good to know

  • Files: up to 50 MB each and 95 MB at once. Programs, web pages and scripts are refused, judged by what the file is, not only its name.
  • Documents are kept on servers in Canada (Québec) and are never attached to emails. Clients open them in the portal, after signing in.
  • Clients see only what you shared with their client, and what they sent.
  • The whole team can upload, share (unless kept to reviewers) and give access. Inviting many clients at once is for partners, managers, owners and admins.
  • Team members assigned to a client are emailed what it does in the portal, unless they turn off Email me what my clients do in their user settings.