When you email an invoice, quote or sales order from SolaCount, the email contains an Open Customer Portal button. That button is a secure, single-use link that signs the customer into the Customer Portal and opens the right section, with no password. This page explains how to send one, what the customer receives, and how long it lasts.
Where to find it
Open the document in SolaCount:
| Document | Path |
|---|---|
| Invoice | AR (Sales) rail → Documents → Invoices → open the invoice |
| Quote | AR (Sales) rail → Documents → Quotes → open the quote |
| Sales order | AR (Sales) rail → Documents → Sales Orders → open the order |
The email is sent from the document's Send Email panel. Quotes also have a Send button at the top of the page.
You need the send permission for that document type (Send invoice emails, Send quotes or Send sales order emails).
Send a document with a secure link
- Open the posted invoice, or the quote or sales order.
- Open the Send Email panel (on quotes, click Send Email in the side panel or scroll to it).
- Check the fields:
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| To | Yes | Defaults to the customer's email. |
| Recipient name, Subject, CC, BCC | No | Subject defaults to the document type and number. |
| Message | No | Your text, up to 5,000 characters. |
| Attach PDF | No | Attaches the document PDF. |
- Click send. The email is queued and appears in the panel's Email History and in Reports → Accountant → System Mails.
For quotes, the Send button at the top asks "Send this quote?". Confirm, and SolaCount sends the quote to the customer's email with the PDF attached, marks it Sent, and creates a fresh response link (older links for that quote stop working).
What the email contains
- Your message and the document details.
- An Open Customer Portal button with "The button above signs you in directly. The link is valid for 24 hours and can only be used once."
- A fallback line with the portal sign-in address, so the customer can request a fresh link after it expires.
- The PDF, if attached.
If SolaCount cannot create a secure link (for example, the customer record has no valid email), the email still contains an Open Customer Portal button that goes to the sign-in page, with "Enter your email on the portal page to receive an access link."
What the customer sees
Clicking the button signs the customer in and opens:
| Document emailed | Portal section opened |
|---|---|
| Invoice | Invoices |
| Quote | Quotes |
| Sales order | Sales Orders |
From there they open the document, print it or download the PDF, and respond to quotes. Their dashboard, other documents and payments are also available.
Link lifetime and security
| Rule | Detail |
|---|---|
| Valid for | 24 hours from sending. |
| Uses | Single use. Once clicked, the link cannot be used again. |
| Stored | Only a hashed form is stored; the link cannot be read back from SolaCount. |
| Identity | The link signs in as the customer record's email, even if you typed a different address in To. |
| After expiry | The customer signs in at the portal page with Send me a login link, or you send the document again. |
Because the button signs in as the customer, anyone who receives the email (including a forward) can use it once within 24 hours. Send documents only to addresses your customer controls.
The old document links (/i/… and /portal/…) no longer work. Customers who use one should sign in from the portal page instead.
Worked example
Al Noor Trading LLC posts invoice INV-00045 to Gulf Interiors LLC: 10,000.00 AED + 5% VAT = 10,500.00 AED.
| Account | Debit (AED) | Credit (AED) |
|---|---|---|
| Accounts Receivable – Gulf Interiors LLC | 10,500.00 | |
| Sales income | 10,000.00 | |
| VAT Output Tax | 500.00 |
The accountant opens Send Email, keeps To = accounts@gulfinteriors.ae, ticks the PDF option and sends. At 09:00 on 5 March the customer clicks Open Customer Portal and sees INV-00045 under Invoices with balance due 10,500.00 AED. Clicking the same button on 6 March returns "That login link is no longer valid…", and the customer requests a new link from the sign-in page.
Sending the email has no accounting effect.
Revoke access
- A link expires by itself within 24 hours and after one use.
- To stop a customer signing in at all, change or remove the email on the customer record in SolaCount. New login links go only to the email on file.
- A customer who is already signed in stays signed in until they sign out or the session ends.
Tips and common problems
- Sending fails with a missing-email message. Add a valid email to the customer record (for quotes, "Customer email is required to send this quote.").
- The customer forwarded the email to a colleague. The link works once. The colleague should request their own link with their own email, which must be on a customer record.
- The customer cannot see the PDF in the email. Tick the PDF option before sending, or let them download it in the portal.