What your clients see

Your clients see a different application from the one you're using. It's worth knowing exactly how much less of it they see, because the most common portal mistake is assuming they can see something they can't — or worrying they can see something they never could.

Where to find it

The What clients see preview is on that tab.

What they can see

Portal users see only what concerns them:

• Documents you've shared with them, and anything they've uploaded
• Document requests you've sent, and what's still outstanding
• Things awaiting their signature
• Invoices, and a way to pay them
• Messages between them and your firm

They see this for their own client record only. Someone who deals with three of your entities and holds an invitation on each sees three separate views, not a combined one.

What they never see

• Your internal notes
• The Activity tab — who at your firm did what, and when
• Tasks, your pipeline, statuses, or where their work sits in your queue
• Time entries, WIP, or anything about how the fee was arrived at
• Health scores and friction events
• Tags, unless a tag has been deliberately surfaced
• Any other client, ever

The boundary is enforced at the database level, not by hiding things in the interface. There's no URL a client can guess their way into.

Check before you send

Use the preview before inviting someone for the first time, and again the first time you send a new kind of request.

The thing it catches is wording. A document request that reads perfectly to you — because you know what you meant — routinely reads as ambiguous to the person receiving it. 2023 K-1 is obvious to you and a coin flip for a client who receives four of them.

Notes and limits

• Portal access is per client, per email address.
• Revoking access doesn't remove anything the client already uploaded or downloaded.
• Clients can't see each other, including entities in the same group, unless separately invited to each.