Set up the basics
Before your first client signs in, put your brand on the client portal, choose what clients see there, and run one request from start to finish.
1. Put your brand on it
Open Settings › Brand › Identity and upload the Main logo. Without it, clients see Zendo's logo. The invitation email shows this logo, so upload it before you invite anyone. On Settings › Brand › Identity, also add a Favicon for browser tabs and an App icon for clients who add the client portal to their phone's home screen. Then open Settings › Brand › Appearance, pick a starting point with Choose a theme preset, and check it in Live preview. See Put your logo, favicon and app icon in place and Set your workspace appearance.
2. Choose what clients see
Open Settings › Portal › Sidebar content and open the sidebar marked Clients. On the Elements tab, drag the items into the order you want. Remove the items your clients do not need: for example, if you do not sell through Zendo, remove Orders and Billing. Your changes go live when you select Update; a sidebar that is still in Draft is not shown to anyone. See Change what is in the client sidebar.
3. Create your first request type
A new workspace already has one request type, marked Default, so clients can submit requests before you set anything up. To add your own, open Settings › Requests › Request types and select Create Request type. On General, enter the Name and add the statuses the work goes through. Start with a status from the Pending state and end with one from the Completed state; see Understand statuses and the three states. Under Who can submit, Everyone lets every client choose this type when they submit a new request. Select Save, then use Preview to see the type as a client will see it. See Create a request type.
4. Add clients
In Clients, select Add client. Only a name and an email address are required. Creating the account and inviting the client are separate steps, so you can prepare requests, files or a quote first. Before you invite the client, use View as client on their profile to see the client portal exactly as they will see it. When you invite them, they receive an email, set a password and are taken to the client portal. To see the emails yourself, add a second email address of your own as a client. See Add clients and View the portal as a client.
5. Run one request end to end
Create a request for the client with New request, or let the client submit one. Open it and assign someone, unless the request type already assigns people automatically. Use Reply to write to the client and Note for a message only your team sees. Change the status as the work progresses; each time, the Status changed notification tells the client how far the work is. To complete the request, change its status to one from the Completed state, then Archive it to remove it from the active list. See Work a request from arrival to done.
You are ready when one request has reached a status from the Completed state and View as client shows the client portal the way you want your clients to see it.
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Updated on: 09/11/2026
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