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A portal is an onboarding made for one company from a template. This guide shows MSP staff how to create a portal, run it day to day, and finish it. Company users should read Open your onboarding portal.
Each portal is linked to a project. Open the portal’s project from Projects to manage it.

Before you start

  • Client Onboarding is turned on for your organization.
  • You need Projects & Client Onboarding Read access to view portals. Creating or changing portals needs Write access, or the Run client portals option, and an active subscription. Convert to Client needs Manage access. See Permissions.
  • You need a template. See Templates.

Find your way around a portal

Open Projects, choose Project category > Onboarding projects, and open the project. The portal’s controls are spread across these places. If the project has more than one portal that is not archived, switch between them with Portal at the right end of the tabs row. On a phone, open Actions first. Archived portals are not listed there; open them from Settings > Projects > Client Portals > Portals.

Start from Projects

1

Start a new project

Go to Projects and select New project.
2

Choose the template and company

Pick an onboarding template, choose the Company, enter a Project name, and set the Start date and the required End date. MSPortal fills in the end date from the template’s duration when it has one, and your change stays. Next stays off while the end date is empty or before the start date. Select Next.
3

Name the portal and add contacts

Enter the Portal name and an optional Description. Add each contact with a name, email, and role, or leave contacts empty while you prepare a draft. Select Next.
4

Create it

Review the details and select Start onboarding. MSPortal creates a Draft portal and its linked MSPortal project. Copy any invite links you want to share by hand, then select Open project.
The portal name and contacts step appears only when the template’s project type has Onboarding turned on. If your PSA owns project creation for the company, MSPortal creates the portal and tells you the project was not created. Link the portal to a PSA project when you start it. Do not run the wizard again, because that would create a second portal. Creation also runs any configured onboarding automation. Linking a project and creating tickets are real actions, even on a draft.

Create a portal from Settings

Use this path when you want to combine several template modules or set the portal language.
1

Open the portal list

Go to Settings > Projects > Onboarding Portals > Portals and select Create Portal.
2

Choose the company

Search for the company and select Continue.
3

Choose the template and name the portal

Select one or more Template Modules. Review the Portal Name, optional description, and Portal Language.
4

Add contacts

Enter each contact’s name, email, and an available role. Rows without both a name and an email are not saved, so check the contact list afterward. Select Create Portal.
5

Link a project

The portal is saved as a Draft first. On the Link Project step, choose a Project system and link or create a project, or select Skip. Copy the invite links shown, if you want to share them by hand.
If a message says a module or some configuration could not be copied, open the saved draft and check it before you try again. The portal may already exist.

Add a template to a portal

When a client takes on another service during onboarding, add that service’s template to the portal you already have instead of building a new one. You can start with a main template and add smaller service templates as the client picks them.
1

Open the MSP dashboard

Open the project and go to Overview > MSP Dashboard. Open Portal actions in Portal status. Add template is in the menu while the portal is a Draft or Active.
2

Pick the templates

Select Add template and tick one or more Template Modules. Templates the portal already has show Already on this portal and can’t be picked again.
3

Add them

Select Add to portal.
The new phases go after the portal’s last phase, and their dates count from today. Internal-only items stay hidden from the client, tasks for a team role go to the company’s holder of that role, and the template’s pages, key dates, and client actions come with it. Nothing already on the portal changes. If the portal has a linked project, the new tasks have no tickets yet: use Create tickets in the Portal actions menu to add them. See Create tickets from tasks. If a message says some settings did not copy, check the new items’ forms, emails, pages, and assignees.

Update a portal from its template

When you change a template after a portal was built from it, bring those changes into the open portal without archiving it and starting over. You pick each change before anything is written.
1

Open Update from template

Open the project and go to Overview > MSP Dashboard. Open Portal actions and select Update from template. It shows while the portal is a Draft or Active.
2

Review the changes

The preview lists every change made to the template since the portal was built, in four groups, each with a checkbox:
  • New in the template: new phases with their items, and new tasks, approvals and documents in existing phases.
  • Changed in the template: the name, details and settings of phases, open tasks, and documents that aren’t approved yet.
  • Removed from the template: tasks, approvals and documents deleted from the template, and phases deleted with everything in them. Items nobody has worked on are ticked for you. A task that was started or has comments is left unticked, so you can check it first.
  • Team role owners: open MSP tasks whose template team role has a holder at the company. Filling an empty owner is ticked for you. Replacing a different person is left unticked, in case someone reassigned the task on purpose.
3

Apply

Untick anything you want to leave as it is, or use Select all, then select Apply N changes. If any removals are ticked, a confirmation lists them first: type DELETE and select Remove and apply.
New tasks land next to their neighbors from the template, with the due dates, forms, emails, checklists, dependencies and team-role owner a new portal would give them. Items you added by hand keep their place. Progress and due dates stay as they are. Completed tasks, uploaded documents, decided approvals, sent or answered surveys, and tasks holding a client’s signature, credentials, files, form entries, checked checklist items or a linked PSA ticket are never removed, even if they were deleted from the template. Items from an archived template stay too. A deleted phase that still holds any of them, or an item you added by hand, stays with those items in it. Removals need the Manage onboarding permission; without it, the preview leaves them out. A task’s type changes only before the task starts, and a document’s source changes only before anything is uploaded. If the template was archived or deleted, there is nothing to compare, and the dialog says so. Each update is recorded as Updated From Template in the portal’s activity.

Start a portal

1

Open the MSP dashboard

Open the project and go to Overview > MSP Dashboard.
2

Select Start Portal

Start Portal shows while the portal is a Draft. If the portal has no linked project, the first screen is Link Project. Link or create a project, or select Skip. If a project is already linked, Start Portal skips that screen and goes to the confirmation.
3

Choose ticket creation

If the portal has a linked project, a checkbox offers to create a project ticket for every task that has no ticket yet. Leave it off if you only want the link.
4

Send the invitations

Select Start & Send Invites. This activates the portal and queues an invitation email for each contact. With no contacts, nothing is sent.
The email is queued, not delivered. Check Team & Contacts afterward to confirm each contact’s Portal access.

Portal lifecycle

Read the MSP dashboard

Overview > MSP Dashboard shows an Operational snapshot with the status, start date, current phase, progress, and key-date countdowns. Next to it you get:
  • Phase readiness, with progress, target dates, and blockers for each phase.
  • Needs attention, a list of overdue, blocked, and active tasks. Select one to open it.
  • Client Pages, the pages assigned to the portal, with a Review link.
  • A summary of open tasks, unassigned open tasks, pending decisions, action items, and hours.
The snapshot also holds the portal’s controls in one row: a Portal actions menu, and beside it the one button that moves the portal to its next status. The Portal actions menu lists the actions that apply:

Manage tasks

Open Project Plan > Tasks. Tasks are grouped by phase, with a count and progress bar on each phase. Use Search tasks… to filter.

Change a task’s status

1

Click the status icon

Select a task’s status icon to move it forward from Pending to In Progress to Completed. Right-click it to choose any status, including Blocked.
2

Update a whole phase

Use Start Phase, Complete Phase, or Reopen Phase on the phase header. Complete All Tasks marks every task in the phase done at once.
To change which phases and tasks exist, edit the template and create a new draft. The Tasks view manages the work in a running portal. It does not rebuild the structure.

Assign tasks

1

Open the assignee area

Select the assignee name, or Unassigned, on a task.
2

Choose a team member

Search and select a person. Choose Clear assignment to remove it.
To assign many tasks, select Reassign, check the tasks (hold Shift to select a range), then select Assign.

Work with a task

Select a task to open its details. They show Status, Assignment, Evidence, Due, and Portal comments. For client tasks you can also choose Which contacts can see this task?, with All contacts as the default. Set phase target dates with Set phase dates or Edit phase dates. The change applies to this portal only and does not change the template. With Status sync on, a task due date set here is also written to the task’s linked PSA ticket. Phase dates set here stay in this portal; to move phase dates in your PSA, reschedule the linked project’s phases in Projects, or change them in your PSA. Each task has two comment streams. Use the filter to switch between Client-facing, Both, and Internal.
  • Client-facing comments are shared with the client, who can reply.
  • Internal notes are for your team. Clients never see them.

Send task emails

1

Choose what to send

Select Send All Tasks for a summary of every task, Send Phase Email on a phase header, or Send reminder email on one task.
2

Check the recipients

Review the recipients, subject, and body. You can add other email addresses and edit the text.
3

Send

Select Send Email.

Schedule a meeting

1

Open the meeting task

On a Meeting / Call task that has no meeting yet, select the Schedule icon.
2

Set the details

Enter the Subject, Date & Time, and Duration. Add optional Notes.
3

Choose attendees

Check the portal contacts who should attend. You can add other email addresses.
4

Schedule

Select Schedule Meeting. MSPortal emails each attendee an invitation with a calendar file and shows Meeting invite sent. The invite has no video call link, so add a link or joining details to the Notes if you need them. The date and time in the email use your time zone, with the zone name, so attendees elsewhere can convert them. Use Cancel Meeting in the task details to cancel it.

Review documents

Client uploads and document requests for the portal show in Files & Forms > Documents.
1

Open the request

Select the document request. The dialog lists each uploaded file with who uploaded it and when.
2

Review the file

Select Download file to open it. Select Review, add optional Review notes (optional), then select Approve or Reject. A rejection reason shows to the client as Needs Re-upload.
Document statuses are Requested, Uploaded, Approved, and Rejected. Required documents that are still missing are flagged. Use Show on portal to control whether a document is visible to the client.

Review pages on a portal

Open Client Portal > Pages. The left list shows Assigned pages with Visible and Hidden counts and a search box. The right side previews the selected page.
  • A Shared page follows the library page. Editing the library page changes what the portal shows.
  • A Portal snapshot keeps its own saved content.
  • Each page shows how many contacts have viewed it, for example Viewed by 2 of 3 contacts.
To change what the portal shows:
1

Add a page

Select the Add page menu. Choose New page to write one for this portal, or Import page to pick one from your library.
2

Edit or remove a page

Select a page. Edit is available for pages that belong only to this portal. Remove takes a page off the portal. Removing a shared page keeps it in your library.
Template page assignments are copied when the portal is created. Changing a template link does not change existing portals. See Client Pages.

Change portal settings

1

Open the settings

Go to Client Portal > Portal settings.
2

Name the portal

Edit Portal name and Subtitle. Clients see the subtitle under the portal title, so keep internal notes out of it. Leave it empty to show none.
3

Choose how tasks open

Under Client task editing, choose Pop-up or Inline editing.
4

Control what clients see ahead of time

Turn on Reveal phases progressively, Hide blocked tasks, or Hide future-dated tasks as needed.
5

Save

Select Save Changes, then use View as to check the result. These settings apply to this portal only and do not change the template.

Review activity

Open Client Portal > Activity for a timeline of recorded events, plus flow diagnostics such as average task time. Use Search activity… to search by description, actor, or email. Use the type filter, starting at All Types, to show only portal, phase, task, document, contact, communication, or approval events. Select Load more activity for older entries. Events include status changes, task completions, document uploads and reviews, invitations and contact access, signatures, credential submissions, meetings, comments, and questions. A recorded event shows that an action happened. It does not prove an email was delivered.

Manage contacts

Open Team & Contacts. Client contacts and your own staff share one list.

Add a contact

1

Add a row

Select Add Contact. A new row opens at the end of the client list.
2

Fill it in

Enter the contact’s name and email. Choose a role if you want one.
3

Save

Select the check mark or press Enter. Select the cross or press Escape to discard the row. MSPortal asks before you leave with an unsaved contact.
Roles come from Settings > Projects > Onboarding Portals > Client roles. They help identify each person’s responsibility and can affect task visibility.

Send, replace, or revoke access

The Portal access column shows Active, Not signed in, Link expired, or Revoked, with the last visit and visit count. Change a role from the Portal role menu on the row. Open the … menu on a contact for these actions. Under Your team, open a staff member’s … menu to reassign all of their portal tasks to someone else, or to unassign them.

Preview as a client

1

Open View as

In the page header, select View as. On a phone, open Actions first. The control stays in the header on every portal section and follows the selected portal.
2

Pick a contact or role

Choose a contact. If the portal has no contacts, choose a client role under Roles.
3

Look around

The portal opens in a new tab with a Preview mode banner. Click through tasks and forms freely.
Preview works on a Draft portal, so you can test a template before any client is invited. Nothing you enter in preview is saved or triggers a notification. Preview needs Projects & Client Onboarding Write access. It does not test a real invitation, email verification, or a saved submission. You can also preview from the portal list under Settings > Projects > Onboarding Portals > Portals.

Review credentials, secure files, and signatures

For a credential handoff or a secure file, read Retrieve onboarding credentials and secure files before you choose Reveal & Delete or Download & Destroy. Those actions use up the stored submission. To review a signature, open the signature task. You see the signature image, the signer’s name, email, IP address, and time, and a content hash you can copy. If a document was attached, the signed document is available too. For a form task, open the saved entry. Select Create asset to send the values to Hudu or IT Glue, or Assets to manage ones you already created. See Onboarding Forms. Use Link Project to choose MSPortal Projects or the company’s PSA. MSPortal Projects tracks work in MSPortal with no PSA. PSA choices depend on the company’s PSA mapping and your PSA defaults.
1

Open Link Project

On Overview > MSP Dashboard, open Portal actions and select Link Project. It shows for an active portal that has no linked project. For a draft, link on the Start Portal screen.
2

Choose the project system

Choose a Project system.
3

Select or create a project

On Select Existing, search and pick a project, then select Link Project. On Create New, enter a Project Name, set a Start Date and an End Date, and add an optional description. Then select Create & Link. The End Date is required and has no default, so the button stays off until you pick it and it is on or after the start. These dates are the ones MSPortal sends to ConnectWise, Autotask or Halo when it creates the project there.
Link Project dialog on the Create New tab with a Project Name, a Start Date of Oct 20, 2026, an End Date of Nov 3, 2026 and an optional Description.

Create New on the Start Portal screen, with the Start Date and the required End Date filled in. Here the button reads Create & Continue.

Linking saves right away. A badge on the overview shows the linked project with a link to open it.

Create tickets from tasks

1

Open the ticket dialog

On the MSP dashboard, open Portal actions and select Create tickets for N tasks or Create PSA tickets for N tasks.
2

Choose tasks

Check the tasks that need tickets. Tasks that already have a ticket are disabled.
3

Create

Select Create. Each selected task gets a ticket under the linked project, and its row shows the ticket number. Select the badge to open the ticket.
PSA ticket creation needs the PSA defaults below. The dialog tells you which are missing.

Log time on a task

1

Open Log time

On a task with a linked ticket, select Log time.
2

Enter the time

Set Date Worked, Start Time, End Time, and optional Notes. Choose a Billing status, and a Work role and Work type for a PSA.
3

Save

Select Log Time. The entry is created on the linked ticket. A single entry cannot exceed 24 hours.

Set PSA project defaults

Go to Settings > Projects > Onboarding Portals > PSA projects. This section appears only when a PSA integration is active. Choose values from the drop-downs. They come from your synced PSA data, so you never type an ID. Select Save Changes when you are done. A stale ticket status can mean a sync has not finished. Check for a sync failure before you treat a ticket as complete.
Task status syncs both ways between an onboarding portal and its PSA tickets. A task due date you change in the portal is sent to the linked PSA ticket, but a due date changed in the PSA does not come back to the portal. Clearing a due date in the portal leaves the PSA date as it is. Phase dates you edit in the portal stay in MSPortal. For what writes back from the linked project itself, see What writes back to your PSA.

Export to Excel

Audience: MSP staff with onboarding access. Company users do not see the button, because the workbook includes MSP-only items and every client response. Open the portal’s project and select Export to Excel in the project header to download the project workbook. See Export a project to Excel. A portal with no linked project yet, or a staff member without project access, still opens the company’s Onboarding tab. There, choose the portal and select Export to Excel in the page header to download the portal workbook. Neither export changes the portal. Export to Excel button in the company onboarding header The portal workbook always has an Overview sheet. Other sheets appear only when the portal has rows for them. Items sheet of an exported onboarding workbook Each data sheet has a frozen, filterable header row. Files stay in MSPortal and the workbook lists their names. Credentials and secure file contents are never exported. The workbook uses your tenant’s brand color and your current language. To export the plan rather than a client’s progress, use the Excel tab in the template’s Import / Export dialog. See Templates.

Complete, convert, and archive a portal

1

Review the work

Check that tasks are complete and documents are approved.
2

Complete the portal

On Overview > MSP Dashboard, select Complete Portal and confirm. This marks the portal finished. It does not complete open tasks or approve documents. Clients keep a read-only view.
3

Convert the client (optional)

With Projects & Client Onboarding Manage access, select Convert to Client. This activates the company, copies completed onboarding tasks into Planner, marks the portal Converted, and revokes current portal sessions. Review the completed work first.
4

Archive when you no longer need it

Open Portal actions, select Archive and confirm. Archiving revokes all client sessions. The data is kept.

Manage portals from Settings

Settings > Projects > Onboarding Portals > Portals lists every portal across companies. Filter by All, Active, Draft, Finished, or Archived, search by name, and select a portal to see its detail.
Archive takes effect immediately. Clients lose access until you restore and start the portal again. Delete cannot be undone.

Use the dashboard widgets

Your MSP dashboard shows two onboarding widgets when you have onboarding access and active portals exist.
  • Active Onboarding shows a tile for each active portal with the company, portal name, and a progress bar. Select a tile to open the portal.
  • My Onboarding Tasks lists the onboarding tasks assigned to you across active portals. Select a task to open it.

Troubleshooting

Frequently asked questions

No. Complete Portal is your decision. Check open tasks, evidence, and documents before you confirm.
No. It activates the company, copies completed tasks into Planner, marks the portal converted, and revokes current sessions. It needs Projects & Client Onboarding Manage access.
No. Start onboarding or Create Portal already saved the draft. A project link or new project also stays once its action succeeds.
No. Opening the task only shows its status. Reveal & Delete and Download & Destroy use up the submission. Read the retrieval guide first.
No, with Status sync on. Task status syncs with the linked PSA ticket both ways, and a task due date you change in the portal is sent to the PSA ticket. Phase dates set in the portal are the exception: reschedule the linked project’s phases in Projects, or change them in your PSA.
No. It emails a calendar invite with no video link. Add a link to the Notes if attendees need one.