What clients & vendors can see
Understand exactly what's visible in a client or vendor portal — scoped to one project, limited to what you've sent, and always free.
Foreman's portal is built on a simple rule: clients and vendors see nothing by default. They only see what you've explicitly shared — and only on the projects where you've shared it. This article explains exactly where that line sits.
Access starts when you share
Sending a record — a proposal, invoice, vendor order, or bill — to a recipient's email grants them access to that project without a separate invitation step. Members who can edit the project can also add a contact from the dashboard's Project Access card. Project membership does not by itself grant access to every record or file.
Scoped to one project
Each project workspace is scoped to that project. A signed-in client or vendor may have access to more than one project, but only projects explicitly shared with them appear in their workspace.
Limited to what you've sent
Within a project, a client or vendor sees:
- Records you've sent them — only records where they're a named recipient. They never see records you sent to someone else.
- The schedule — only if you've turned on schedule sharing for that audience on that project.
- Files — only the ones you've shared with that audience (record attachments they received, plus any standalone files shared to their audience).
- Daily logs — hidden by default. They appear only if you've given that audience's role daily-log access — an all-or-nothing setting on the Client or Vendor role, not a per-log toggle.
- Budget — only if their role has budget access and a budget view has been shared with that role. The shared view limits which columns they can see; financial columns require the relevant financial permission as well.
Anything you haven't shared simply doesn't appear.
What they never see
The portal navigation is deliberately narrower than your team's. Clients and vendors never see:
- Home dashboards, Contacts, or your Cost Database.
- Time — labor hours and cost are internal-only and never shared.
- To-Dos — never shared with clients or vendors.
- Unshared budget columns and records addressed only to other recipients remain private. Sharing a budget view is separate from sending a record.
Note
Portals are free
Clients and vendors never consume a seat. You can give as many clients and vendors portal access as you need, on as many projects as you want, at no extra cost. Seats only apply to your internal team members.
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