Clients & the Client Portal
Overview
A client is a customer with a login. Clients can sign in to a private portal on your workspace to see their own invoices, payments, quotations and account statement. They are also who you sell to on credit, so what each client owes is tracked in Accounting.
Managing clients (/clients)
Adding a client
- Open Clients > Add Client.
- Enter the name and email (the email is their login and must be unique).
- Add a phone and address if you have them.
- Set a password for them.
- Save.
A client is Active or Inactive. An inactive client can't sign in.
The list supports searching, sorting and the row menu to edit or delete. The number of customers you can have depends on your plan.
Self-signup
Clients can also create their own account. On your workspace's login page they choose Sign up if not logged in and enter their email. They receive an access code and a link to open their workspace. If your business has not set up a mail server, the code and link are shown on screen instead, so signup never gets stuck.
The client portal (/portal)
After signing in, a client sees:
| Page | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Overview | A welcome, their lifetime total, what was invoiced this month, their total invoices, and a month-by-month chart with their busiest month. |
| Invoices | Every invoice (completed sale) made to them, with the amounts. |
| Payments | Money they have paid. |
| Quotations | Quotations raised for them, and their status. |
| Statement | Their account activity in date order. |
| Profile | Their own details, with an option to close their account. |
The portal is read-only: clients see their records but can't change your data.
Clients and accounting
When you sell to a client on credit (a full credit sale, or a part-paid one), the amount owed appears under Accounting > Receivables against their name. Recording a payment there reduces what they owe, and the client portal reflects it.
A credit sale needs a client, so there is always someone responsible for the balance.