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Customer Portal

Give each customer a private, view-only web portal to see their proposals, jobs, invoices, credit memos, and appointments — set business-wide defaults and control exactly what each customer sees.

Written by Nick Stanisavljevic

Quick Start

The Customer Portal is a view-only web page your customer opens from a link you send. It shows them their proposals, jobs, invoices, credit memos, and appointments — without a login.

  1. Set your business-wide portal defaults once in Business Settings.

  2. Open a customer's Account and adjust their portal only if they need something different.

  3. Copy the portal link or send it to the customer by email.


Overview

The Customer Portal gives each customer a private, view-only web page where they can check their own proposals, jobs, invoices, credit memos, and appointments at any time.

You decide exactly what customers see. You can set defaults for your whole business, then fine-tune the portal for any individual customer.

Customers open the portal from a link — there is no app to download and no password to remember. The portal is set up from the Web App.


When to Use This Feature

  • A customer keeps calling to ask "Is my invoice paid?" or "When's my next visit?" and you want to give them a place to check for themselves.

  • You finished a job — say a new roof install — and want the homeowner to see the photos and final invoice in one place.

  • A commercial property manager wants to forward their open invoices to their finance team.

  • You want a professional, branded way for customers to track their work instead of trading emails and PDF attachments.

  • You want to share job progress with a customer but keep internal details, like team member names or checklists, private.


How Portal Settings Work

Portal settings work on two levels:

  • Business defaults — the sections you want most customers to see. New customers automatically follow these defaults.

  • Per-customer settings — a customer keeps following your business defaults until you change their portal. Once you customize a customer, their settings are their own and no longer change when you update your business defaults.

If you customize a customer and later want them back on your standard setup, you can reset them to your business defaults at any time.


What Your Customer Can See

The portal can show up to five sections. You choose which ones to turn on:

  • Proposals — estimates you've sent, with status, dates, service address, and total.

  • Jobs — open and completed jobs, with status, address, and scheduled dates.

  • Invoices — invoices with amounts, due dates, and payment status.

  • Credit Memos — any account credits, with amount and the invoice they were applied to.

  • Appointments — upcoming and past visits tied to the customer's jobs.

Two sections have extra options you can turn on or off:

  • Jobs — show photos and videos, show checklists, and show proposal history and change orders.

  • Appointments — show the scheduled time and show the assigned team members.

When you turn a main section off, its extra options turn off with it. A section that is turned off simply does not appear in the customer's portal.


How to Set Business-Wide Portal Defaults — Web App

Set your defaults once so every new customer starts with the right sections.

  1. In the Web App, go to Business Settings and open Customer Portal.

  2. Enable Customer Portal functionality for your business. This is the master switch - when it's disabled, no customer can open their portal.

  3. Choose whether new customers get the portal turned on automatically.

  4. Select the default sections and options you want most customers to see.

  5. Save your settings.

New customers and customers you haven't customized will follow these defaults.

Note: You need at least one section turned on to save your defaults.


How to Set Up the Portal for a Customer — Web App

Use this when a specific customer needs a different setup than your business default.

  1. In the Web App, open the Account for the customer.

  2. Find the Customer Portal section and click Configure.

  3. Turn on the sections you want this customer to see: Show Proposals, Show Jobs, Show Invoices, Show Credit Memos, and Show Appointments.

  4. For Jobs, choose whether to also show photos and videos, checklists, and proposal history with change orders.

  5. For Appointments, choose whether to also show the scheduled time and the assigned team members.

  6. Click Enable to turn the portal on and save your settings.

The portal settings are synced with your business customer portal settings, unless you explicitly override them on a specific customer.

Once you customize a customer, their portal keeps these settings even if you change your business defaults later. To put them back on your standard setup, reset them to your business defaults.


How to Share the Portal Link

After the portal is enabled, you can share the link with your customer.

  1. On the customer's Account, find the Customer Portal section and click Share.

  2. Copy the link to send it yourself, or choose Send via email to send it directly to the customer.

  3. If you send by email, pick the contacts you want to send to or type in an email address, then send.

Your customer opens the link in any web browser — no login or password is needed.


What Your Customer Sees

When your customer opens the link, they see a clean web page with your company name and logo at the top, and only the sections you turned on.

  • They can browse each section and open an item to see more detail, such as the line items on a proposal or invoice.

  • If a section has no records yet, the customer sees a short "nothing here yet" message instead of an empty page.

  • The portal works on phones, tablets, and computers.


Tips & Best Practices

  • Set your defaults first. Choose the sections most customers should see as your business default, then customize individual customers only when needed.

  • Share only what helps. A homeowner may only need Appointments and Invoices, while a property manager may want all five sections.

  • Keep internal notes private. If you don't want customers seeing team member names or checklist results, leave those Jobs and Appointments options turned off.

  • Show photos to build trust. Turning on job photos and videos lets customers see completed work — a simple way to back up your invoice.

  • Resend the link when it expires. If a customer says their link no longer works, regenerate it from their Account and send the new one.


Things to Know

  • The portal is set up in the Web App. Defaults live in Business Settings; per-customer changes are made on the customer's Account.

  • New customers follow your business defaults until you customize their portal.

  • Once you customize a customer, their portal no longer changes when you update your business defaults. You can reset them to your defaults at any time.

  • The master switch controls everyone. If you turn the Customer Portal off for your business, every customer's portal becomes unavailable; turning it back on restores their existing links.

  • If you turn the portal off for a single customer, that customer's link stops working.

  • There is no login or password. Anyone with the link can view the portal until the link expires or you turn it off, so only send it to people you trust.

  • Portal links expire after a set period of time (about one month). When a link expires, you can create a new one from the customer's Account.

  • Draft proposals, draft jobs, and draft invoices do not appear in the portal — only sent and active records show.


Troubleshooting

My customer says their link has expired.
Portal links expire after a set period. Open the customer's Account, regenerate the portal link, and send them the new one.

My customer sees a "portal is currently unavailable" message.
This appears when the portal is turned off. Check that the Customer Portal is on for your business in Business Settings, and that it's enabled for that customer on their Account.

A section is missing from the customer's portal.
A section only appears when it's turned on. Check your business defaults, or open the customer's Account and click Configure to turn the section on for that customer.

I changed my business defaults but one customer didn't update.
That customer has been customized, so they no longer follow your business defaults. Reset them to your business defaults to bring them back in line.

The customer can see a job but not its photos or checklists.
Photos, videos, checklists, and proposal history are separate options under Jobs. Turn on the ones you want the customer to see.

I can't email the link to my customer.
Make sure the customer has an email address saved. The portal link can't be emailed to a contact with no email on file.


Have questions? Reach out via the support chat or email support@motionops.com.

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