What the portal is

Instead of sending customers to the generic sign-in page, you can share a link to your company's portal. The portal page is titled with your company name and provides a simple username-and-password sign-in. It is a front door only — it holds no data of its own and it does not change what a customer is allowed to see. Only people you invite as external users can sign in, and each can see only the customer data you permit them to see; sharing the link alone does not give anyone access.

After a customer signs in from your portal, one of two things happens:

• If their account has access to your company, they land on your Vendor Data page for your company — the three links into Orders, Shipments, and Invoices, covering every customer record you have granted them.
• If their account does not have access to your company yet, they simply land on their own home page (their list of companies), where any vendors that already share data with them appear.

Sharing your portal with customers

You'll find your portal link on your company's page in the web portal. Open your Company page and look for the Customer Portal box: it shows your ready-to-share link with two buttons.

1. Choose Copy Link to copy your portal address to the clipboard (or Open Portal to preview exactly what your customers will see).
2. Share the link with your customer contacts — for example in an email, on an invoice, or as a bookmark. It is safe to share publicly; it only shows your company name and a sign-in form.
3. Make sure each customer contact has an account with access to your company. If they don't yet, invite them from Invite External User and grant the customer records they should see; see External Users for managing existing access.

When you invite an external user, their invitation email includes an Accept Invitation link — the one and only way they gain access to your data (it sets up their account, if new, and links it to your company) — plus a link to your Customer Portal for signing in afterward. Simply creating a Backbone account never links anyone to your company; access comes only from accepting an invitation you sent.

Signing in (for customers)

If a company has sent you a link to their Customer Portal:

1. Open the link. You'll see the company's name above a sign-in form.
2. Enter the username and password for your Backbone account and choose Sign In.
3. Once signed in, you go straight to your Orders, Shipments, and Invoices with that company.

Don't have a Backbone account yet? Use the Accept Invitation link in your invitation email — that sets up your account and gives you access to the company's data in one step.

If the link shows “Portal not found,” the address is incorrect or the company is no longer active — check the link, or ask the company that sent it to you for an updated one.

Custom portal address (optional add-on)

By default your portal address ends in your company's ID number. For a short, memorable alternative you can reserve a custom slug — a branded address such as https://<your Backbone site>/portal/acme instead of /portal/42. It's a $10/month add-on to your subscription.

1. An administrator opens Company Settings → Subscription Settings.
2. Make sure the Order Entry feature is enabled — the custom slug is an add-on to it, so its controls stay disabled until Order Entry is active.
3. Under Custom Portal Slug, type the address you want. As you type, Backbone shows whether it's available (lowercase letters, numbers and hyphens; 3–63 characters).
4. Choose Reserve. If you already have an active subscription, the $10/month charge is prorated for the rest of the current billing period and then billed in full each month thereafter.

Both addresses keep working — the numeric one never stops — so links you've already shared stay valid. You can change or Release the slug at any time from the same page.

Branding your portal

You can make the portal feel like your company's, not a generic Backbone page. Branding you set here appears in two places: your public sign-in page and the portal your customers see after they sign in. An administrator manages it all on the dedicated Portal Branding page.

Open your Company page, go to the Customer Portal, and choose Customize Portal Branding. On that page you can set:

• Logo. Upload your company logo (PNG, JPG, GIF, SVG, WebP, or BMP). It appears at the top of your portal and as the browser tab icon, and takes effect immediately.
• Brand colors. A primary color (used for the sign-in button and main links) and an accent color (used for secondary links and footer links). Pick a color with the swatch or type a hex value such as #0055a5.
• Welcome message. A short line shown under your company name on the sign-in page — for example, “Welcome to Acme's order portal — sign in to track your orders.”
• Support details. A support email, phone, and hours, plus your website address. These appear in a tidy footer so customers always know how to reach you.
• Footer links. Up to five labeled links (for example your website, terms, or a returns page). Each needs a label and a web address.

Choose Save Branding when you're done. Reload your portal (use Open Portal on the Customer Portal page) to see the changes.

Your logo

Upload your logo right on the Portal Branding page using Upload Logo. It's the same logo used elsewhere for your company, and once set it appears at the top of your sign-in page and inside the portal, and is used for the browser tab icon. As a convenience, uploading a logo also suggests a matching brand color — choose Use logo color to accept it, or set your own color instead.