Give the client their link (the client portal)
One standing link that shows the client their job - and how it differs from sending documents.
The client portal is one link per job for the person paying for it. It is read-only, needs no account and no password, and works on a phone. They see progress, the schedule, permits, recent daily logs, any selections waiting on them, invoices you have sent and payments you have recorded.
- 1Open the job and press the share icon in the header (next to the gear).
- 2Copy the link, or type their email and press Send to have SyteNav email it for you.
- 3That is it - the link keeps working, and what they see updates as the job moves.
NOT THE SAME THING AS THE SHARING TAB. Sharing (under Docs & Legal) sends a chosen set of documents to somebody outside your company - an expeditor pulling a permit, an architect, a lender. The client portal is the whole job, standing, for your client. Two different jobs, two different doors.
WHEN THE SETUP CHECKLIST TICKS IT. The last setup step, "Give the client their link", is done once the link has actually been handed over - emailed from that box, or copied out of it. Simply opening the box does not count: SyteNav creates the link the first time you look, so a link existing only proves you looked. If you are in that state it says so - "a link exists, but nothing has been sent from here yet" - rather than claiming you have never shared it.
Already gave the client the link some other way? Open the box and press Copy. That records the share and finishes the checklist.
Opening the box does NOT break a link the client is already using. Regenerating does, and it is a separate, confirmed action - that is the point of having it, for when a link has gone somewhere it should not have. The server refuses to replace a link unless it is explicitly asked to, so a second tab or a double press cannot do it by accident.
WHO CAN DO THIS. "Client Portal Link" is its own row in Settings > Permissions, with three levels: see the link, create one on a job that has none, and replace an existing one. Admins, managers, project managers and office staff have all three by default; field supervisors, workers and invited subcontractors have none, because the portal carries your invoices to your client. If you cannot see the share icon in a job header, that is why - and a company admin can change it per role or per person.
It is also limited to your own jobs. A subcontractor invited onto a job cannot open, create or replace that job's client link even if their role allows it elsewhere.
Nothing appears on their page until you have actually sent it. A draft invoice or an unsent payment request stays yours.