Event rental customers plan with other people: a venue coordinator, a wedding planner, the family. A share link puts the event layout in front of any of them before there's a quote, and pinned comments let them point at the exact spot they want changed instead of describing it in an email.
Share links and comments are part of event layouts (Growth plan, turned on in Settings → Event Layouts). Both are set layout by layout, in the layout editor's Customer tab.
Turn on the share link
Open the layout and go to the Customer tab.Switch on Share link: "Anyone with the link can view the layout, no login and no quote needed." The address appears under it (it starts with app.portaprosoftware.com/l/).Press the copy button beside the address (Copy share link) and send it however you like: email, a text, a message from your own phone. Open shows you the page exactly as they'll see it.The person you send it to doesn't need an account, a login or a quote.
What they see
The page carries your company name and logo, your company phone and email when they're set, and the heading Your event layout. Under it:
the drawing to scale, on its satellite photo or the venue's floor plan: drag to look around, pinch or scroll to zoom, Full screen for a bigger view;PDF to save or print the layout;the list of what's on it ("15 × 60in Round") and the Notes for the crew from the Details tab (anyone with the link sees them, so keep gate codes and crew-only details out of a layout you share);the comments, when Customers can comment is on;a Seating chart link, when you've turned on Show the seating chart to the customer (see Guest Lists and Seating Charts);Move tables and chairs, when you've turned on Customers can move tables and chairs (see Letting Customers Move Tables and Chairs);Approve layout and Ask for changes, when you've switched on Ask the customer to approve;the Layout terms, when you've asked for approval or it's been approved (see Customer Approval).Reference marks are crew aids and never appear on the share link. The page ends with "Drawing to scale for planning. Final placement may vary on site."
Turn it off or replace the link
Switch Share link off and the address stops working at once. Switch it back on and the same address works again.New link makes a fresh address. It asks first: "Make a new link? The old link stops working right away." Use it when a link went to someone who shouldn't have it.Anyone who opens a link that's off or replaced sees "This layout link isn't available" and is asked to get a fresh link from you.Turning event layouts off for the company stops every share link too.
Ask for approval from the link
Ask the customer to approve works from the share link alone, so a prospect or a planner can approve a layout before you've written the quote. Their answer freezes a version of the drawing, the same as an approval on the quote page. When the event has no delivery date yet, pick the Approve by date yourself; otherwise it follows the delivery date once there is one.
The reminder email links to the layout on the quote page, so it only goes out for a layout on a quote with Show on the quote on. A layout shared only by link, or shown only in the customer portal, gets no reminder. See Customer Approval.
Customers can comment (Customer tab, on unless you turn it off) shows comments on the share link, the quote page and the customer portal.
How the customer comments
They press Add a comment. The page says "Tap the drawing where your comment goes."They tap the spot on the drawing the comment is about, and the pin lands right where they tap: on a table, inside a tent or anywhere else. Or they choose Or comment on the whole layout for a comment about the drawing as a whole, which has no pin.They type their name, an email for replies if they want one (it's optional), and the comment, then press Post.Each comment pinned to the drawing gets a number, and a pin with that number sits on the drawing. The number is the same for you and for them, so "see 3" means the same thing on both screens. A comment on the whole layout is listed without a pin. Customers can Reply in a thread too.
What you get
A notification for each customer comment.When the layout belongs to a customer, the comment is also posted to their conversation in the Inbox.The editor's Comments tab counts the threads waiting on your reply.Answer, resolve, delete
In the editor's Comments tab, tap a pin or a comment to jump to it.
Reply answers in the thread. Your reply is emailed to every customer in that thread who left an email, with a link back to the layout: the share link when it's on, otherwise the quote page, or their customer portal for a layout shown only there.Resolve closes a thread once it's handled, and Reopen opens it again. A new message on a resolved thread reopens it by itself. Resolved threads are tucked under Show N resolved.Add a comment works for you too: pin a note where you want the customer to look ("the generator goes here, away from the tent").Delete removes a comment and its replies. It asks first.Comments are not part of what the customer approves. Answering or resolving one never asks them to approve again.
Layouts for leads
Draw an event for a prospect before there's a quote:
Open the lead and go to its Quote tab.Under Layout, press Draw a layout. When the lead has a map pin, the drawing opens on its satellite photo; otherwise it opens on a grid, where you can upload the venue's floor plan (see Indoor Floor Plans).Draw it, then turn on the share link in the Customer tab and send it.When you write the quote for that lead, the layout is listed under the quote's Layout with Add to quote. Adding it joins the layout to the quote; turn on Show on the quote in its Customer tab to put it on the quote page and the quote PDF. When the lead becomes a customer, its layouts move to the customer with it. The share link keeps working through both steps.
Limits
One share link per layout. New link replaces it; it never adds a second one.A layout takes up to 40 customer comments an hour, from the share link, quote page and portal together.A comment is up to 2,000 characters.Common questions
Can the person with the link change what's booked? No. They can comment, approve or ask for changes, open the seating chart and, when you allow it, move tables and chairs. Nothing on the share link changes the quote or the order.
Do they need the customer portal? No. The share link needs no login.
Does the share link put the layout in the portal? No. A layout shows in the customer portal when it's on the customer's quote with Show on the quote on, or on a job you booked without a quote with Show in the customer portal on. Comments, moved furniture and approval are shared between the share link, the quote page and the portal: one layout, one set of comments, one approval.
The page says the link isn't available. The share link is off, was replaced with New link, or event layouts are off for the company. Check the layout's Customer tab.
Related articles
Event Layouts: Draw Where Everything GoesEvent Layouts: Customer ApprovalEvent Layouts: Indoor Floor PlansEvent Layouts: Guest Lists and Seating ChartsEvent Layouts: Letting Customers Move Tables and ChairsSending Quotes to Customers
