External Portals

External portals let you share your Kinabase data with people outside your organisation - clients checking project status, vendors viewing orders, partners accessing shared resources, or volunteers seeing their assigned tasks.

External users sign in with email verification codes, so they don't need a Kinabase account. Each user is matched to a record in your system, and they only see data relevant to them.

---

1. When to Use External Portals

External portals are ideal for:

Client portals

Let clients view project status, invoices, deliverables, and support tickets.

Vendor portals

Give suppliers visibility into orders, delivery schedules, and stock requirements.

Partner portals

Share inventory, collaborative projects, or joint initiatives with business partners.

Volunteer portals

Allow volunteers to view their assigned shifts, events, and responsibilities.

Donor portals

Show donors the impact of their contributions and related project updates.

---

2. How External Portals Work

External portals use a different authentication approach than internal portals:

1. User Collection - you designate a collection (e.g., "Contacts", "Clients") as the source of portal users
2. Email Matching - each user is identified by their email address in a field you specify
3. Email Verification - users sign in by entering their email and a verification code sent to them
4. Data Filtering - users see only records linked to their user record through relational filters

This approach means external users:

• Don't need a Kinabase account
• Can only access data associated with their record
• Are automatically limited to relevant information

---

3. Prerequisites

Before creating an external portal, ensure you have:

1. A User Collection

You need a collection

containing records for each external user. This might be:

• A "Contacts" collection with client details
• A "Vendors" collection with supplier information
• A "Partners" collection with partner organisations
• A "Volunteers" collection with volunteer profiles

2. An Email Field

The user collection must have an Email field containing each user's email address. This is how Kinabase identifies and authenticates users.

3. Related Data

Your data collections should link to the user collection, so you can filter what each user sees. For example:

• Projects linked to a Client record
• Orders linked to a Vendor record
• Tasks linked to a Volunteer record

---

4. Creating an External Portal

1. Access Portal Settings

1. Go to Settings → Operations → Portals.
2. Click + Add Portal

2. Configure General Settings

In the General tab, provide:

• Portal Name - a user-facing name (e.g., "Client Portal")
• Icon - select an icon for the portal
• Description - explain the portal's purpose (for administrators)
• Customer Support Email - where users can get help
• Customer Support Phone - optional support phone number
• Website URL - optional link to your company website

3. Set User Type to External

In the Users tab:

1. Select External Users as the user type

   Once saved, the user type cannot be changed.

2. Configure the User Data Source:
   • User Collection - select the collection containing your external users
   • Email Field - select the field containing user email addresses

4. Add Navigation Items

In the Structure pane, add the content users will see:

1. Click Add item to create a navigation item
2. Select the item type:
   • Collection View - display records from a collection
   • Report - show a dashboard
   • External Link - link to an external website

Reference data collections cannot be used as portal structure items. Only standard collections appear in the collection picker.

For each Collection View navigation item, you'll need to configure user-based filters - see the section below.

4b. Set Access Conditions on Navigation Items

Each navigation item can have access conditions that control who sees it in the sidebar. For Collection View and Report items, open the Access tab. For External Link items, the access settings appear directly in the editor.

Select who can see the item:

• Everyone - all portal users can see this navigation item (the default)
• Custom - define conditions using the condition builder

Access controls let you show different pages to different users within a single portal.

You must configure a user data source in the Users tab before you can set custom access conditions.

5. Configure User-Based Filters

This is the crucial step that ensures users only see their own data.

For each collection navigation item:

1. Open the Filters configuration
2. Add a User-Based Filter (also called a relational filter):
   • Collection Field - the field in this collection that links to user records
   • User Field - the corresponding field in the user collection
   • Select Current Record to match on the logged-in user

Example: For a client viewing their projects:

• Collection: Projects
• Collection Field: Client (a Linked Collection Field
  Linked Collection Field

  A Field that links a record to one or more records in another Collection; Lookup and Aggregation Fields use this link to pull in or summarise related data.
  linking to Contacts)
• User Field: The current user's record
• Result: The client sees only projects where they are the linked client

6. Configure Hosting

In the Hosting tab, select your domain:

• Kinabase Hosting - a subdomain like client-portal.kinabase.cloud
• Custom Domain - your own domain like portal.yourcompany.com

Read our Custom Domains & Branding guide for custom domain setup.

7. Set Up Emails

In the Emails tab, configure communication:

1. Outbound Email Address - select the email address for portal communications
2. Email Templates - customise messages for:
   • Invitation - sent when inviting new users to the portal
   • Sign In - sent when users request access codes

Personalise these templates to match your brand voice and provide clear instructions.

8. Customise Display

In the Display tab:

1. Display Messages - customise:
   • Sign In - welcome message on the sign-in page
   • Support - how to get help
   • Welcome - greeting after signing in
2. Brand Identity - select which brand to apply
3. Design Colours - set background colour
4. Homepage - control what appears on the portal homepage:
   • Show recently viewed records - toggle on or off to show or hide the Recently Viewed section on the homepage. Defaults to enabled. When enabled, the section only appears once a user has opened at least one record.

9. Configure Security (Optional)

In the Security pane, you can enable an inactivity timeout to automatically sign out idle users. This is recommended for portals that handle sensitive data or are accessed on shared devices.

Read our Portal Security guide for details on configuring inactivity timeouts.

10. Save the Portal

Click Save to create your portal.

---

5. Example: Client Project Portal

Here's a practical example of a portal for clients to view their projects:

Prerequisites

• A "Clients" collection with Name, Email, and other client details
• A "Projects" collection with a Client field (record field linking to Clients)
• A "Tasks" collection linked to Projects

Portal Configuration

Setting	Value
Name	Client Portal
Icon	briefcase
Description	Client access to project information
User Type	External
User Collection	Clients
Email Field	Email

Navigation Items

1. My Projects (Collection)
   • Data Source: Projects
   • Display Type: Table
   • User-Based Filter: Client = Current User
   • Visible Fields: Project Name, Status, Start Date, Due Date, Progress
   • Lists: Tasks (filtered by Status ≠ Completed)
2. Documents (Collection)
   • Data Source: Project Documents
   • Display Type: Catalogue
   • Catalogue Layout: Cards
   • User-Based Filter: Project.Client = Current User
   • Visible Fields: Document Name, Type, Upload Date
3. Contact Us (Link)
   • URL: Your support page or contact form

---

6. Inviting External Users

Once your portal is set up, you need to invite users:

Option 1: Manual Invitation

1. Open the user collection (e.g., Clients)
2. Open a record
3. Navigate to the Portal Access section
4. Click Grant Access for the portal
5. Click Send Invite to email the user

Option 2: Bulk Invitation

1. Select multiple records in the user collection
2. Use bulk actions to grant access and send invitations

Option 3: Automated Invitation

Add an Update portal access step to an automation

to grant access and send invitations automatically when certain conditions are met - for example, when a client's first project is created.

Read our Managing Portal Users guide for the full access-state reference and how to set up the automation.

---

7. Tracking User Access

For each user record, the Portal Access section shows an access status, plus Last Accessed (when the user last signed in) and Last Invited (when the invitation was last sent).

Each user record has one of five access states, per portal:

Status	Description
No Portal Access	Access has not been granted.
Access Granted	Access enabled, but no invitation sent yet.
Pending Access	An invitation was sent (usually by an automation) before access was granted - it's still awaiting access.
Invited	Access is granted and an invitation has been sent, but the user hasn't signed in yet.
Active User	The user has signed in at least once.

Read our Managing Portal Users guide for how to grant access, send and resend invitations, and automate the whole process.

---

8. Best Practices

Start with essential data

Share what users need to see, not everything you have. Less is often more.

Test user-based filters thoroughly

Use the "Preview as user" feature to verify each user type sees only their data.

Customise email templates

Make invitation and sign-in emails clear, branded, and professional.

Provide clear support information

Ensure users know how to get help if they encounter issues.

Consider a custom domain

A branded domain like portal.yourcompany.com builds trust with external users.

---

Related Guides

• Portal Views - configure table and catalogue displays
• Custom Domains & Branding - personalise the portal
• Managing Portal Users - control access and invitations
• Internal Portals - portals for your own team

---

External portals extend your Kinabase workspace beyond your organisation, providing clients, vendors, and partners with secure, controlled access to the information they need.

---

Need more help? Ask your System admin, or contact our support team via Help & Support.