Set Up Clio for Clients

In Clio Manage, you can create a Clio for Clients portal for each matter, so your firm and your clients share one secure place for messages, documents, invoices, events, tasks, and matter stages. Clients follow their case and respond to your firm from the Clio for Clients mobile app or a web browser. Every client conversation and shared file stays attached to the matter it belongs to.

Create client portals

Each matter holds one client portal. You can create a portal from the main Communications tab or from the Communications subtab of a matter. Sharing a document from a matter with no portal will also create one.

1. Go to Communications.
2. Click New and select New client portal.
3. Select the matter. Your name and the names of the matter's clients fill the participants' field by default. You can add or remove other contacts.
4. Click Create client portal.
   • After you send the first message or share the first document in your new portal, your clients receive an invitation email. The invitation and sign-in steps are under Control client sign-in below.

Manage portal participants

Participants are contacts with access to a client portal. When you create a portal, you and the matter's clients join as participants. You can add other firm members or contacts related to the matter and remove participants from the client portal at any time. A client portal stays open once you create it. To limit what a participant can access, remove the participant, delete a message, or stop sharing a document.

A removed participant can no longer send messages in the portal or open the messages and shared resources. The removed participant will receive calendar event notifications by email. You can manage participants from inside the client portal. 

1. Go to the matter's Communications subtab and click Go to client portal.
2. Under the portal name, click the participant count, such as 2 participants.
3. In the Participants panel, add or remove participants.
   • To add a participant, click Add. In the Add participants window, under Select participants, find and select a user or contact, then click Add.
   • To remove a participant, click the remove icon next to the participant's name. In the Remove participant window, click Remove.

Control client sign-in

Clients sign in to Clio for Clients with their email address and a sign-in link, instead of a password. Your firm controls which email address receives the invitation, and Firm Admins can change it.

Invitation email

After you send your first message or share your first document, your client receives an email invitation to join Clio for Clients. The email carries your firm's logo and name, and a Sign in to secure portal button. Each sign-in link works once and expires after 1 hour. On the web, the link opens a confirmation page where your client clicks Continue to sign in. To get a new link, your client enters their email address on the sign-in page or in the mobile app.

Client email address

Your client signs in with the email address that receives the invitation. By default, this is the contact's primary email address, or the first listed email address when no primary address exists. Firm Admins can change it in the Clio for Clients email field when they edit a contact. For other users, the field is read-only.

Sign-in link for your website

You can add a public sign-in link to your website or send it directly to clients. The link works for clients who already have a Clio for Clients account.

1. Copy this link: https://clients.clio.com/login.
2. Paste the link in a message or email, or add it to your website.

Configure client portal settings

Firm Admins choose the firm-wide client portal settings in Settings > Firm Preferences > Client Portal, and each setting applies to every portal your firm uses. Matter stage sharing is set per practice area. Each firm user chooses their own portal email notifications. Clients choose only their language and appearance.

Message content in client emails

By default, the email a client receives for a new portal message includes the full message. Upon setting off, the email tells the client a message is waiting and includes a Read message button that links to the portal. The setting covers new message emails only. Bill and trust request emails, email subject lines, and push notifications to the mobile app follow their own formats.

1. Go to Settings > Firm Preferences > Client Portal.
2. Under Client notifications, toggle Include message content in email notifications on or off.

Share matter stages with clients

Clients follow the stages of their case when the matter's practice area has Show matter stages in Clio for Clients turned on. The setting is off by default and shares every stage in the practice area. You turn on the setting and add client-facing stage names and descriptions on the practice area's stages board. Learn how to show matter stages in Clio for Clients.

Your portal email notifications

Each firm user chooses whether to receive an email when a client sends a message or a document. The setting is on by default. Emails for client portal activity are grouped and sent every five minutes. The Clio mobile app sends push notifications for client portal activity regardless of this setting. In your Clio Manage notification settings, or from Notification settings at the top of a client portal, under Client portal messages, toggle Notify me when contacts send a message or a document via Clio for Clients on or off.

Up next

• Message Clients in Clio for Clients: Send messages and documents and manage the portal conversation.
• Share Documents, Invoices, and Events With Clients: Share documents, folders, invoices, trust requests, and calendar events through the client portal.