Give the client the view, not a licence
Three ways to let a client see the work without paying for them: a document sent to named people who prove their address with a code, a report published as a link you can password-protect, and a portal you build where each client sees only their own rows.
What changes about keeping a client informed
Emailing them a PDF every Friday
- Export the plan, tidy it so it does not show the other clients.
- Attach it, write the same covering note as last week.
- Answer "is this the latest one?" on Tuesday, because it is not.
- Find the version they are quoting back at you in a thread from March.
- Have no idea whether anyone opened any of it.
Giving them a door instead
- One link, and the live version is the one they get.
- Named recipients prove their address with a code.
- A portal shows each client their rows and nobody else's.
- Revoke it and the access ends, snapshot destroyed with it.
- Nobody bought a seat, and nothing was exported.
Three ways, in order of effort
These are alternatives rather than steps. Pick the one that matches what you owe this particular client, and note that all three are reachable without paying us.
Option 1
FreeSend the document, and know who opened it
Name the people who should see it and they get a link plus a single-use six-digit code at that address. There is no anonymous mode to forget to turn off: a share has recipients or it does not exist. Send the live document or freeze a snapshot, set an expiry, revoke it later, and the frozen copy is destroyed when you do.
Option 2
FreeOr publish the report and send the link
When the answer is a status view rather than a file, share the report itself. It renders for anyone holding the link, it records the view count and when it was last opened, and you can put a password on it. Read the honest limit below before you send one to a client who should not see the others.
Option 3
Free, 1 appOr build the portal, where each client sees only their own rows
Describe the portal you want and publish it on its own live URL. Point it at a list, tell it which column holds the client, and the read is scoped by the signed-in visitor's verified email. A row belonging to somebody else is never served, and a visitor with no identity is served nothing rather than everything.
Send one to yourself first
All three of these are on the Free plan, so the way to settle whether the shape fits your clients is to share something with your own second address and open it as they would. You will see the code arrive, the viewer ask for it, and the revoke take effect while the tab is still open.
We are not quoting a statistic about clients who prefer portals to email. The question is whether your clients will use one, which is answered by sending them a link and not by us. When the answer is the third option, the app builder is where you describe the portal, and pricing has the published-app allowance per plan.
What it costs, and what it does not do
Document sharing, report sharing and publishing an app are all on the Free plan, at 1 live app there and 10 on Professional. Guest seats, for a client who needs to work in the project rather than look at it, are 2 free on Professional and more above. It replaces the Friday PDF and the shared drive folder nobody trusts.
The honest limits
- There is no portal you switch on. Sharing a document or a report works out of the box. The per-client portal is something you describe and publish, which takes minutes rather than a project, but it is still a thing you make. If you want a finished portal product with a fixed layout and a vendor's branding on it, buy one of those instead.
- A report link is only as private as the link. The token is the secret, so anyone it is forwarded to can open it unless you set a password, and that password is shared by everyone rather than per person. Document shares are the opposite and are bound to the addresses you name, so do not reason about one from the other.
- A scoped portal looks empty to you. You are not one of your own clients, so previewing a per-client portal as its owner shows you nothing. That is the scoping working rather than failing, and it surprises everyone the first time.
Questions before you send a client a link
Do I have to buy my client a seat?
No, and there are three ways not to. A document share and a report link need no account at all. A published portal needs no account with us either: the client signs in to the portal with their own email. If the client genuinely needs to work IN the project, comment and see the board, that is a guest seat, and the Professional plan includes 2 free ones, with more on the plans above.
Is a shared link secure, or is it just an unguessable URL?
It depends which one, and the difference is worth knowing before you send it. A DOCUMENT share is bound to the addresses you named: each person proves the address with a single-use six-digit code that expires in fifteen minutes, and there is no way to create one without recipients. A REPORT share is a link, and the token is the secret, so without a password it is exactly as private as the link is. Put a password on any report a client should not be able to forward.
Can a client see only their own records, not everyone else's?
Yes, in a published portal. You name the column that holds the client, and every read is filtered to rows matching the signed-in visitor's verified email. It fails closed in every direction it can: no identity means no rows rather than all rows, a row with no owner is served to nobody, and a row owned by somebody else is never served at all.
Is there a portal I can just switch on?
No. The document and report shares work out of the box, but the per-client portal is something you build, in minutes and by describing it rather than by coding it, and then publish. That is the honest shape of it: there is no Portal tab to enable, and if what you want is a finished portal product with a fixed layout, this is not that.
What does it cost?
Document sharing and report sharing are on the Free plan. Publishing an app is too: 1 live app on Free and 10 on Professional, with more above. So the whole of this page is reachable without paying us, which is deliberate: you should find out whether the shape fits your clients before it costs anything.
Can I take it off them later?
Yes, and it takes effect immediately rather than at the next login. Revoking a document share stops the viewer and destroys the frozen snapshot it was serving. Unpublishing an app takes the URL down. A share can also be given an expiry when you create it, which is the better habit for anything tied to a phase that ends.
If the client relationship is the whole business rather than one deliverable, PSA for small consultancies covers the cycle from pipeline to invoice, and portfolio management covers the view across all of them at once.
Share something with your own second address
All three ways are on the Free plan. Open it the way your client would, and decide from that rather than from this page.
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