Give clients a portal with every document

The client portal is one stable link per client that lists every document you've sent them, grouped by project: proposals, invoices, project briefs, and deliveries. There's no client account to create. The link plus an optional PIN is the only credential, and you control both from the client's detail page.

Where to find it

Dashboard → Clients → [a client] → Client portal card.

Set up the portal

Click Set up portal. FirstSlate turns the portal on for that client and, the first time, generates a PIN automatically. Nothing is sent to the client yet at this point, you still need to invite them.

What shows, and what never shows

The portal only ever lists documents you've actually sent. A proposal, invoice, brief, or delivery still in Draft never appears, and a project with nothing sent yet doesn't show up at all. This means the portal never exposes anything a client couldn't already reach some other way, it's an index of links they already hold, not a new door into your drafts.

Within each project group, documents appear in the order a client experiences them: brief, then proposal or estimate, then invoice, then delivery, each with its current status (for example Awaiting signature, Paid, or Changes requested).

Invite the client

Click Send invite (it reads Resend invite after the first send). This opens a dialog where you can adjust the recipient email, add a personal message, and optionally BCC yourself, with a live preview of the email. Click Send invite in the dialog and FirstSlate emails the client their portal link and PIN together, since the PIN is meaningless without the client knowing it exists.

Sending the first invite is also what flips on the portal footer described below, so send the invite before you rely on that.

The document-email footer

Once you've sent a client their portal invite, every proposal, invoice, brief, and delivery email you send them afterward includes a "View all your project documents" link back to the portal. This only appears after that first invite, so a client is never pointed at a portal without already having the PIN to open it.

Managing the PIN and access

In the Client portal card:

• Set PIN / Change: choose a 4 to 8 digit PIN. Changing it invalidates any existing browser session that unlocked the portal, so the client has to enter the new PIN.
• Remove PIN: drops the PIN requirement entirely. FirstSlate shows a warning that anyone with the link can open the portal without it.
• Preview: opens the portal in a new tab exactly as the client sees it, without needing the PIN.
• Rotate link: mints a brand new link and immediately kills every copy of the old one, including whatever's sitting in the client's old invite email. The PIN stays the same. Use this if a link leaked or you want a clean break.
• Turn off: disables the portal without deleting anything. The client's link then shows a "Portal Not Available" message until you turn it back on.

Plan availability

The client portal works on every plan, including Free.

Common questions

Can a client see a proposal or invoice I haven't sent yet?

No. The portal only lists documents that are past Draft status. Anything still in progress is invisible to the client until you actually send it.

How do I cut off a client's access?

Use Rotate link to kill the current link while keeping the portal active for next time, or Turn off to disable the portal entirely. Neither deletes any of the client's history.

Do I have to set a PIN?

No, but FirstSlate defaults every new portal to a PIN and flags it clearly if you remove it, since the link alone is enough to open the portal without one.

Will the client know when I update something?

The portal always reflects the latest status of each document, but FirstSlate doesn't separately notify the client of updates. Send them the relevant document email (proposal, invoice, and so on) to prompt them to check.