> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.clinikehr.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Give a patient portal access

> Enable portal access for one person from their record, when sharing documents, or when you approve a self-registration request.

export const StillStuck = ({topic}) => <div className="ck-callout ck-callout--note" role="note">
    <p className="ck-callout__body">
      <strong>Still stuck{topic ? ` with ${topic}` : ''}?</strong>{' '}
      Check <a href="/platform/help/troubleshooting">Troubleshooting</a> first —
      it covers the failures we see most often. If that does not resolve it,{' '}
      <a href="/platform/help/contact-support">contact support</a> and include
      your workspace name and the time the problem happened, so we can find the
      matching entry in your audit log.
    </p>
  </div>;

export const TaskHeader = ({before, time, after}) => <div className="ck-task">
    {before ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">Before you start</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{before}</p>
      </div> : null}

    {time ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">Takes about</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{time}</p>
      </div> : null}

    {after ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">When you're done</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{after}</p>
      </div> : null}
  </div>;

export const Path = ({steps = []}) => <span className="ck-path">
    {steps.map((s, i) => <span key={i} className="ck-path__step">
        {i > 0 ? <span className="ck-path__sep" aria-hidden="true">
            ›
          </span> : null}
        {s}
      </span>)}
  </span>;

export const Availability = ({editions = ['all'], plans, roles, note}) => {
  const list = editions.includes('all') ? ['clinic', 'pharmacy', 'lims'] : editions;
  return <div className="ck-avail" role="note" aria-label="Feature availability">
      <span className="ck-avail__label">Available in</span>

      {list.map(e => <span key={e} className={`ck-pill ck-pill--${e}`}>
          {EDITION_LABELS[e] || e}
        </span>)}

      {plans ? <span className="ck-avail__label">Plan</span> : null}
      {plans ? <span className="ck-pill ck-pill--plan">{plans}</span> : null}

      {roles ? <span className="ck-avail__label">Who</span> : null}
      {roles ? <span className="ck-pill ck-pill--role">{roles}</span> : null}

      {note ? <span className="ck-avail__note">{note}</span> : null}
    </div>;
};

<Availability editions={['all']} plans="Essential and above" roles="Owner" />

Turning the portal on for your clinic does not let anybody in. Access is granted one person at a time, and there are three ways to do it. This page covers all three and the one mistake that matters.

<Path steps={['Clients', 'open a client', 'Edit Client', 'Portal']} />

<TaskHeader before="A published portal and a client record with a correct, personal email address" time="Under a minute per person" after="That person can sign in at your portal address with a code sent to their email" />

<Warning>
  **Sign-in is by the email address on the record — check it before you enable access.** Anyone who can read that inbox can read that person's appointments, documents, results and messages. A shared family address, an old work address, or a typo that happens to be a real mailbox all send health information to the wrong person. Confirm the address with the patient, and never enter one relative's address on another adult's record.
</Warning>

## Route 1 — enable it from the client record

The route to use when someone asks for access at the desk or on the phone.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Open the client and check the email address">
    Find the person under **Clients**, open their record, and confirm the email address on file is personal to them and spelled correctly. Fix it here first if it is not.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Open the Portal tab">
    Select **Edit Client**, then the **Portal** tab. You see a panel headed "Engage through our Client Portal".

    If instead you see an amber notice — "Clinic portal is currently disabled" — the clinic-wide switch is off. Turn it on first: [Turn on the patient portal](/portal/setup/enable).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Select Enable portal access">
    The button changes to **Portal access enabled** and you get the message "Portal access enabled successfully".
  </Step>

  <Step title="Give them the address">
    There is no "send invite" button. Hand over your portal address — `client.clinikehr.com/` followed by your slug — by reading it out, writing it down, or including it in an email you send them.

    Tell them there is no password: they enter their email address and we send them a code. See [Sign in to your patient portal](/portal/patients/sign-in), which you can safely send to patients.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Route 2 — enable it by sharing a document

The most practical invitation, because the email carries the link.

When you share documents with a client, the share flow tells you the person will receive portal access and enables it as you send. The email they get includes your portal address, so they can go straight from the message to signing in and signing the document.

Use this for new patients you are sending intake or consent paperwork to — it grants access and delivers the link in a single action.

## Route 3 — approve a self-registration request

People who use the **New Patient** button on your portal's welcome page land on your waitlist. They do not have an account and cannot sign in.

<Steps>
  <Step title="Find the pending requests">
    In your client list, switch on the **Waitlist** filter to see people who have asked to join.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Review what they submitted">
    A request carries their name, email, date of birth, what brings them in, how they heard about you, and their preferred way to pay — plus partner or guardian details where the request was for a couple or made on someone else's behalf.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Approve, and tick the portal box">
    Select **Approve**. The dialog has a checkbox to grant portal access — **tick it** if you want them to be able to sign in.

    Selecting **Decline** archives the request instead.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Warning>
  Approving a request does **not** grant portal access unless that checkbox is ticked. An approved patient with the box left unticked is a real client record with no way in — and when they try, they see "This account doesn't have patient portal access yet." That is the single most common cause of a patient calling to say the portal will not let them in.
</Warning>

## Check it worked

1. Reopen **Edit Client › Portal** — the button reads **Portal access enabled**.
2. Ask the patient to sign in, or test it yourself with a colleague's record and their agreement. They should reach the **Enter your code** screen and, after entering the code, land on a dashboard greeting them by first name.
3. If they instead see "This account doesn't have patient portal access yet", access was not saved — repeat route 1.

## Turning access off

Use the same **Portal** tab to withdraw access — when a record is closed or merged, when an email address turns out to be wrong, or at the person's request. They then see "Your portal access is currently disabled by the clinic. Please contact them directly for assistance." and cannot sign in until you re-enable it.

Withdraw access straight away if you learn an email address reached the wrong person, then correct the address before enabling it again.

## If something goes wrong

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="There is no Portal tab on the client record">
    Per-person portal access needs Essential and above. On a lower plan the tab is not there. See [Change your plan](/platform/plans/change-plan).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The Portal tab shows an amber notice">
    "Clinic portal is currently disabled — The client portal is globally disabled for your clinic. You can enable it in Settings > Client Portal to allow clients to log in." Turn the clinic-wide switch on first: [Turn on the patient portal](/portal/setup/enable).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="The patient never receives a code">
    Almost always the email address. Compare what is on the record with what they are typing, character by character, and ask them to check junk or spam. Correct the address on the record and have them try again — the code is only ever sent to the address you hold.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Two people share one email address">
    Give each adult their own address. Two records on one mailbox means either person can request a code for the other and read their health information. For a child or a dependent adult, use the guardian's address on the dependant's record deliberately, and record why.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="I cannot change portal settings at all">
    Only the practice owner can edit them; everyone else sees them read-only. See [Roles and permissions](/platform/team/roles).
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

Portal access is access to health information, so treat it with the same care as handing over a printed record. See [HIPAA and your data](/platform/security/hipaa).

<StillStuck />