The Customer Portal is a self-service area where your customers can see the documents you send them from SolaBooks — invoices, payments, quotes and sales orders — without emailing you for copies. Customers sign in with a secure link sent to their email. There is no password to create, remember, or reset.
This page is for the business using SolaBooks and for the customers they share documents with.
How a customer gets access
There is no switch to flip. A customer can use the portal as soon as:
- They exist as a customer in your SolaBooks organization, and
- Their customer record has the correct email address.
Access is tied to that email. If the portal says it doesn't recognize a customer, the first thing to check is the email on their customer record.
You can also get a customer into the portal by simply sending them a document: when you click Send on an invoice, quote, or sales order, the email they receive contains a secure button that signs them straight into the portal and shows them the document. See Secure document links.
How a customer signs in
The portal uses passwordless sign-in:
- The customer opens the portal sign-in page ("Customer Portal — Sign in to view your invoices, quotes and payments.").
- They type their email address and click Send me a login link.
- If the email is registered, they receive a message with a secure, one-tap sign-in link. The confirmation on screen reads: "If your email is registered, a login link has been sent. It is valid for 24 hours."
- Clicking the link signs them in — no password required.
Notes:
- Each login link is single-use and valid for 24 hours. A used or expired link shows "That login link is no longer valid. Enter your email below to receive a new one." — the customer just requests a fresh one.
- The links in document emails work the same way: one tap signs the customer in and takes them to the relevant document list.
What customers see
After signing in, the customer lands on their Dashboard. The navigation shows:
| Section | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Dashboard | Outstanding Balance, Overdue Amount, Open Quotes, Active Sales Orders, Recent Invoices, Recent Payments, and quick actions such as Review Quotes |
| Invoices | Every invoice issued to them, with PDF download |
| Payments | Payments recorded on their account, with a Payment Summary and Print Receipt |
| Quotes | Quotes awaiting their response — they can review, accept, or decline |
| Sales Orders | Their sales orders, with PDF download |
| Settings | Their profile — display name, contact details, billing address |
| Security | How their access works — sign-in email, last sign-in, account status, and Sign out / End this session |
Everything is read-only except quote responses and their own profile details. A customer only ever sees documents addressed to them.
Accepting quotes in the portal
Open quotes appear under Quotes ("Quotes Awaiting Your Response"). The customer can open a quote, download the PDF, and accept or decline it. When accepting, they confirm: "I confirm I am authorized to accept this quote." You see the result on the quote in SolaBooks straight away. See Public quote links.
Link expiry and stopping access
- Sign-in links expire after 24 hours and can only be used once. This is a security feature — an old email cannot be used to get in later. The customer can always request a fresh link from the sign-in page.
- Signing out ends the browser session immediately. The Security page reminds customers: "Signing out clears this browser session. If you're on a shared or public device, sign out when you're done."
- To stop a customer's access, remove or change the email address on their customer record, or archive the customer. New sign-in links can then no longer be requested for that email.
Common problems
- "If your email is registered…" but no email arrives. The address the customer typed doesn't match the email on their customer record. Check the customer record in SolaBooks and correct it, or ask the customer to check their spam folder.
- Customer sees an empty portal. They signed in with an email that is linked to a different customer record, or their documents were issued under another contact email.
- "That login link is no longer valid." The link was already used or is older than 24 hours. Request a new one — nothing is lost.