FAQ and troubleshooting
Quick answers to the questions we hear most about the customer portal. For the full picture, start at the user guide index.
Access and visibility
My customer can't see a ticket a colleague opened. Their portal account is not linked to the customer record. Open Support → Portal users and pick the customer in the Customer column; the company-wide view appears straight away. See Link a portal user to a customer.
Can one portal user see two customers? Not within one workspace: a portal user is linked to one customer at a time. If someone works with you through two companies, give them a portal account for each email address they use.
Why does the portal say "Showing requests you've submitted"? The signed-in user is not linked to a customer. Link them, or leave it if they should only see their own requests.
Why is the Tickets link missing for a customer? Their Access does not include Support tickets. Change it on the Portal users page. If Home is missing instead, they lack Onboarding & tasks or are not linked to a customer.
Can I preview the portal myself? Yes. Workspace owners and admins can sign in to the portal with their own email. You are not linked to a customer, so you see only requests you submitted yourself; link a test account to a customer if you want the full picture.
How do I remove a portal user? Click Deactivate on the Portal users page. Accounts cannot be deleted, but a deactivated user cannot sign in to the portal. Reactivate brings them back.
Invitations and sign-in
The invitation link has expired. Invitations last 7 days. Click Re-invite in the Contacts tab, or Resend under Pending invites on the Portal users page.
The customer says they never received the code. Ask them to check spam for an email from BlueHill with the subject Your sign in code for BlueHill. Codes expire after 10 minutes, so they should request a new one with Resend code; a new code cancels the old one. Sending is limited to a few codes per address every ten minutes.
The customer sees "You don't have access to any organizations". Their address has a BlueHill account but no portal access in any workspace. Common causes: the person is a member of your own team (they use the main app), their portal account was deactivated, or they are signing in with a different address from the one you invited.
Why does the invitation email come from BlueHill, not from us? Invitations and sign-in codes are sent by BlueHill and carry its branding. The portal itself shows your name, logo and colours. Your support replies come from your own sending address as usual.
Why is there a Change Password button if sign-in uses codes? Some accounts set a password when they were created from an invitation. Sign-in always works with the emailed code; a password is never required.
Tickets
Can customers close their own tickets? No. They reply to tell you the problem is fixed, and you solve the ticket from the inbox. Replying to a solved ticket reopens it.
Can customers attach files? Images only: PNG, JPG, GIF or WebP, up to six per message and 12 MB in total. For other files, ask them to reply by email; the email joins the ticket.
Where are closed tickets in the portal? Under the All tab. Solved shows only tickets in a solved status.
Do I get an email when a portal ticket arrives? Only the agent that routing or round-robin assigns it to is emailed. Set up routing rules if portal tickets should always reach someone's inbox.
Why does our reply show as "Support" instead of the agent's name? The portal labels each message with the name it was sent under, which for a shared inbox is usually Support; automatic replies carry the brand's name. Agents' email addresses are never shown.
Can customers rate our support in the portal? Not in the portal. Satisfaction surveys are sent by email; see the Support guides for CSAT.
What is the difference between the contact form and the portal? Both open a ticket with the channel Portal. The contact form on the help center needs no account and asks for a name and email; the portal is for signed-in users, who can also follow and reply to tickets there.
A customer replied in the portal but the ticket did not reopen. Check Support settings → Workflow: when replies are limited to solved and closed tickets, a pending ticket stays pending.
Self sign-up
Someone signed up but is not linked to a customer. Their email did not match a customer exactly, or matched more than one. Link them by hand on the Portal users page, or add the customer's domain to the customer record so future sign-ups match.
A customer from an allowed domain cannot sign up. Check the domain is spelt correctly under Allowed email domains on the right site; brand sites can have their own list. Also check that the person is not already a portal user or a team member.
Can I turn self sign-up on for one brand only? Yes. Pick the brand's site at the top of the help center settings and change its Self sign-up card; it stops following the default site's policy.
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