Build your client portal

A portal is built from the sheets you already have. You are not rebuilding your data — you are choosing which parts of it face outward.

Plan it first

Answer these before touching the builder:

1. What should a client be able to see? Their projects, their requests, their documents, their invoices.
2. What should they be able to do? Just read, or also submit requests and reply.
3. What must never appear? Internal notes, margins, other clients, your team's workload.

The third question is the important one. Get it right on paper and the build is mechanical.

Build the pages

Add the pages a client needs — typically an overview, their work, and a way to ask for something. Each page pulls from a sheet, scoped so a client sees only their own records.

Keep it to a handful. A portal is not your workspace; it is the two or three things a client actually wants to check.

Brand it

Set your logo and colours so it reads as your company. Clients rarely know or care which tool is underneath — what matters is that it looks like you.

Test as a client before inviting one

Non-negotiable. Sign in as a test portal user and walk every page.

• Do you see only that client's records?
• Is anything internal visible on a record you exposed?
• Does the request flow reach the right place?

Five minutes here is much cheaper than a customer discovering something they should not see.

Then invite

Invite one friendly client first, ask them what was confusing, fix it, then roll out. See Portal users and access.

Related: What is the client portal? · Portal users and access · Build a form and collect responses