When you email an invoice, quote, or sales order from SolaBooks, the message your customer receives contains a secure link. One click signs the customer into the Customer Portal and shows them the document — no account setup, no password.
How to send a document by secure link
- Open the invoice, quote, or sales order in SolaBooks.
- Click Send.
- Confirm the recipient email (it defaults to the customer's email on file) and send.
The email goes out with the document attached as a PDF and a secure button that opens it in the portal. The customer record must have a valid email address — sending fails with a clear message if it is missing.
What the recipient sees
- Clicking the link signs them into the Customer Portal and lands them on the matching section — Invoices, Quotes, or Sales Orders — with their full document list, including the one you just sent.
- They can read the document, download the PDF, and (for quotes) accept or decline.
- While signed in they can also see their other documents, payments, and outstanding balance — everything is limited to their own account.
Expiry
- The secure link in the email is valid for 24 hours and works once. This protects the customer: an old email cannot be used to reach their documents later.
- After it expires, nothing is lost. The customer goes to the portal sign-in page, enters their email, and clicks Send me a login link to get a fresh one — or you can simply send the document again.
Revoking access
- For one document: links expire on their own within 24 hours. If you need to cut access sooner, correct the document and resend — for quotes, re-sending automatically invalidates the previous link.
- For a customer entirely: change or remove the email on their customer record, or archive the customer. They can then no longer request sign-in links.
Good to know
- Anyone with the emailed link can open it during its 24-hour life. Advise customers not to forward these emails.
- Each open is recorded — on quotes, you can see viewed/accepted/declined activity on the document's history in SolaBooks.
- If the customer wants ongoing access, they don't need anything extra: the portal sign-in page works for them any time with the same email.
Common problems
- "My customer says the link doesn't work." It is probably older than 24 hours or was already used. Send the document again, or point the customer to the portal sign-in page to request a fresh link.
- The Send option is unavailable. The customer record has no email, the document is in a status that can't be sent, or your user isn't allowed to send documents — ask your workspace administrator.