# How to invite your first client to the client portal

Add a client contact, turn on portal access, and send the invite so the client can sign in to the portal.

The client portal is a branded sign-in where each client finds the files, requests and brand pages you shared with them. This guide covers adding a client as a contact, turning on portal access and sending the invite. The client portal is included on Pro and Agency, and [plans and pricing](/pricing) lists both plans.

## Add a client as a contact

1. **Open Contacts.** Open [Contacts](/dashboard/contacts) in the workspace that holds the client's files, then click **Add client**. The form opens as **New contact**.
2. **Enter the details.** Fill in **First name** and **Email**. **Last name** is optional.
3. **Group the client (optional).** Tick **Business contact?** and type the company in **Organization name**. If an [organization](https://tarkle.com/help/team-and-clients/organizations-group-contacts-by-company) with that name already exists in the workspace, the contact joins it. Otherwise Tarkle creates it and the contact becomes its Owner.
4. **Create the contact.** Click **Create contact**. Tarkle saves the contact but does not send an invite yet.

Business contact? and Organization name need Pro. Agency includes everything in Pro, so both are available there too. On Free, the checkbox is locked.

Note: if you leave **Organization name** empty and the email already belongs to a contact in the workspace, Tarkle shows "Contact already exists in this workspace."

## Turn on portal access

1. **Open the contact.** Click the contact's name in the contacts list.
2. **Turn on portal access.** Open the three-dot menu on the contact page and choose **Enable portal access**. Tarkle emails the invite and shows "Portal access enabled, invite sent".
3. **Share a file transfer.** When you create a file transfer, pick the contact in the recipient field or type the client's email address. After they sign in, the transfer appears under **Shared**.

On Free, **Enable portal access** opens the upgrade dialog instead. If Tarkle cannot turn access on, it shows "Could not enable portal access" and access stays off. This happens when the contact has no email address, when the email belongs to another contact in the workspace, or when the invite email cannot be sent.

## Add a colleague from the same company

1. **Open the organization.** In Contacts, open the **Organizations** tab and click the organization.
2. **Add member.** On the organization page, click **Add member**. Pick a contact under **Search existing contacts**, or type the person's **First name**, **Email** and, if you have it, **Last name**. The search lists contacts that are not in an organization yet.
3. **Choose a role.** Pick **Owner** or **Member**.
4. **Choose the invite.** **Send invite email** is on by default. Leave it on to invite a new person with portal access, or turn it off to add them without access. Then click **Add member**.

If the person is already a contact, adding them to the organization does not change their portal access. Use **Enable portal access** on their contact page instead.

## What the client sees

The invite email carries your logo and accent color. It tells the client they sign in with a one-time code that Tarkle emails to them, and it has a **Sign in to the portal** button. The email holds no one-time link: the button opens the sign-in page, and the client asks for a code there. The button opens that page on your custom domain, or on your Workspace URL if you have no custom domain.

On the sign-in page, the client signs in like this:

1. Type their **Email** and click **Continue with email**.
2. Enter the 6-digit code Tarkle emails them. The code is valid for 10 minutes, and the portal opens once it is accepted. If the client set up an authenticator app or a passkey, the portal asks for it before it opens.

Inside the portal the client sees **Home**, **Files**, **Shared** and **Requests**. **Brands** appears when [brand pages](https://tarkle.com/help/branding/share-a-brand-with-a-client) are assigned to them, or when their organization may create brand pages. **Feedback** appears when [feedback boards](https://tarkle.com/help/feedback/feedback-in-the-client-portal) are shared with them.

Their uploads go into a folder named after them with "(uploads)". Each contact can upload up to 5 GB by default. To set a different limit for one contact, see [Storage limit: set how much a contact can upload from their portal](https://tarkle.com/help/team-and-clients/storage-limit-set-how-much-a-contact-can-upload-from-their-p).

## What happens next

The client opens the email, signs in and finds the transfer you shared under **Shared**. If they lose the email, open the contact page, open the three-dot menu and choose **Resend invite**. That item appears only while portal access is on, and it sends the invite again without changing access.

To stop a client from signing in, choose **Disable portal access** in the same menu. Turning access back on does not send a new invite email, even though the message still says the invite was sent. Use **Resend invite** to send the email again.

## Related articles

- [The client portal: how it works](https://tarkle.com/help/client-portal/the-client-portal-how-it-works)
- [Which plan includes the client portal?](https://tarkle.com/help/client-portal/which-plan-includes-the-client-portal)
- [The client portal feature](https://tarkle.com/features/client-portal)

Source: https://tarkle.com/help/getting-started/how-to-invite-first-client-client-portal