How to share an invoice, quote, or sales order with a customer from SolaBooks, what the customer sees, and how to handle expired links.
How sending works
There is one flow, and it's simple:
- Open the document you want to share.
- Click Send. Confirm the customer's email (it defaults to the address on their record) and send.
The customer receives an email with the document attached as a PDF and a secure button. One tap signs them into the Customer Portal and shows the document — no account setup, no password. In the portal they also see their other invoices, payments, quotes, and sales orders, all limited to their own account.
What the customer sees
- The document, with your branding, and a PDF download.
- For quotes: the option to accept or decline — you see the result on the quote immediately (Customer Viewed, Customer Accepted, Customer Declined).
- Their dashboard: outstanding balance, overdue amount, and recent activity.
Link expiry
The secure button in the email works once and is valid for 24 hours. This is a security feature, and expiry loses nothing:
- The customer can go to the portal sign-in page any time, enter their email, and click Send me a login link for fresh access.
- Or you click Send on the document again.
Before you send — checklist
- The customer record has the right email address — portal access is tied to it.
- The document is in a sendable state (quotes: draft or sent).
- The totals are what you intend — for invoices, post before sending so the customer sees the final numbers.
Common questions
"Can I extend the 24-hour window?" No — but you don't need to. The customer can request a fresh sign-in link themselves from the portal sign-in page whenever they want.
"My customer says they can't open the link." It's probably used or older than 24 hours. Send the document again, or point them to the portal sign-in page. If they get no email there, the address they typed doesn't match the email on their customer record — fix the record.
"Can I see whether the customer opened it?" For quotes, yes — the quote's activity history records viewed, accepted, and declined events. Portal sign-ins are also recorded.
"Can the customer reply through the portal?" No. The portal is read-only apart from quote responses. Conversations happen by email outside Solavel.
Other sharing tools
| Situation | Use |
|---|---|
| Get a quote accepted or declined | Public quote links |
| Show a customer a whole project | Project shares |
| Have a customer approve billable time | Customer time approvals |