The Customer Portal is part of SolaCount. It gives each of your customers a private, passwordless area to see the invoices, payments, quotes and sales orders you issue to them, download PDFs, and accept or decline quotes. This page is for SolaCount users: how customers get access, what you control, and which links you can share. For the customer's view, see Customer Portal overview.
Where to find it
There is no portal settings page to configure. The portal works from your existing customer records and documents:
| Task | Where in SolaCount |
|---|---|
| Give a customer access | AR (Sales) → Customers → All Customers → the customer's Email |
| Send a document with a portal link | The invoice, quote or sales order → Send Email panel (quotes also have Send) |
| Share time for customer approval | Projects → project → Time → Customer approval |
| See what was emailed | Reports → Accountant → System Mails, or the document's Email History |
Customers use the portal at /customer-portal/login on solacount.com.
What customers can reach
| Link or page | What it does | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Customer Portal (sign-in) | Customer enters their email and receives a one-tap login link (24 hours, single use). | Overview |
| Secure document links | The Open Customer Portal button in document emails signs the customer in and opens the right section. | Secure document links |
| Quote responses | Customers accept or decline quotes in the portal; older /q/… links still work until they expire. |
Public quote links |
| Customer time approvals | A secure link per time entry for projects that require customer sign-off. No sign-in. | Customer time approvals |
| Project shares | Read-only (or comment/edit) links to project progress or documents, created in SolaProjects. | Project shares |
Give a customer access
- Go to AR (Sales) → Customers → All Customers and open the customer.
- Make sure Email contains the address the customer will use. Save.
- Send them any invoice, quote or sales order by email, or tell them to sign in at the portal address with that email.
Access is tied to the email on the customer record:
- Change the email to move access to a new person. New login links go only to the email on file.
- Remove the email to stop new sign-ins.
- If the same email is on customer records in several organizations, the customer can switch between them in the portal.
What appears in the portal
| Portal section | Comes from |
|---|---|
| Invoices | Invoices issued to that customer, with balance due and payments applied. |
| Payments | Customer payments recorded in SolaCount. |
| Quotes | Quotes for that customer; respond with Accept Quote / Decline Quote. |
| Sales Orders | Sales orders for that customer. |
| Dashboard | Outstanding Balance, Overdue Amount, Open Quotes, Active Sales Orders, recent invoices and payments. |
| Profile / Settings | The customer's own contact details, billing address, TRN and preferences. |
The portal uses your organization's name and logo. It shows no internal notes, other customers or accounting data. Customers cannot pay online through the portal; record payments in SolaCount as usual (see Payments).
When a customer responds
- Quote accepted or declined: the quote's status changes to Customer Accepted or Customer Declined, the response is recorded in its activity, and your organization's active users are notified of acceptances. Convert accepted quotes from the quote page.
- Time approved or rejected: the time entry's billing status changes, and the decision appears under Decision notes on the project's Customer approvals page.
Worked example
Al Noor Trading LLC sets up portal access for Gulf Interiors LLC.
- Customer record: Email accounts@gulfinteriors.ae.
- Quote QT-00031 for 21,000.00 AED (20,000.00 + 5% VAT) is sent with Send. Gulf Interiors accepts it in the portal; the quote shows Customer Accepted.
- The quote is converted and invoice INV-00052 is posted (Dr Accounts Receivable 21,000.00 / Cr Sales income 20,000.00 / Cr VAT Output Tax 1,000.00) and sent from Send Email.
- Gulf Interiors opens Invoices in the portal, downloads the PDF and pays by bank transfer. Al Noor records the 21,000.00 AED payment. The portal then shows the invoice with a zero balance and the payment under Payments.
Rules, limits and permissions
- Sending documents needs Send invoice emails, Send quotes or Send sales order emails.
- A customer email is required for secure links ("Customer email is required to send this quote.").
- Login links: 24 hours, single use. Time approval links: 14 days. Project share links: optional expiry date.
- Old
/i/…and/portal/…document links are retired; customers sign in from the portal instead.
Tips and common problems
- Customer says the portal does not recognize them. Check the email on the customer record, including spelling.
- Customer did not receive the login email. Ask them to check spam; check System Mails for your document emails.
- A colleague of the customer needs access. Login links go to the email on the customer record. Use a shared accounts address there, or send documents to both people.