Your client experiences most of a project through their portal — that’s where milestones land, where invoices come due, and where they weigh in on the choices you’ve offered them. So one of the simplest ways to keep the relationship healthy is to see that portal the way they see it, and make sure it’s putting your best foot forward.
Client Preview lets you do exactly that. From an active project, you can open your client’s portal and walk through it as they would — every tab, every milestone, every number, hydrated with the real project data. It’s the same “see it through your client’s eyes” idea you already use before sending a quote, carried through to the whole life of the project.
This article covers where to find the button, what you’ll see when you open it, and the one thing to keep in mind: preview is strictly look-but-don’t-touch.
Why This Matters
Your relationship with a client doesn’t end at signature — arguably that’s where it starts. Milestones get sent, payments come due, selections need making, and the portal is where your client lives through all of it. If something looks off on their end — a milestone that reads confusingly, a payment button they say they can’t find, a choice they swear isn’t there — you want to see exactly what they’re seeing, not guess at it from your own admin view.
Client Preview is your tool for that. It’s how you debug a client complaint (“where do I approve this?”), gut-check a milestone before it goes out, and confirm the portal always looks the way you intend. You see the real, fully working portal for that project — not a mockup — hydrated with the client’s own information.
Where to Find It
Open the project and look at the top-right corner of the project detail screen. You’ll see a Client Preview button there — the same spot and the same idea as the preview button on your opportunities, carried through to signed projects.
Click it, and the client portal for that project opens in a new browser tab, exactly as your client would see it. A blue bar across the top makes it clear you’re in preview — “This is a client preview. Signing, payment, selection, and file actions are disabled.” — with a Back to Pro button to jump back to your own view whenever you’re done. Your working tab stays put, so you can flip between the two freely.
A few things worth knowing about what opens:
It’s the real portal, fully loaded. This isn’t a static sample or a stripped-down demo. Everything is hydrated with the actual project data, so you can click into milestones, open a milestone’s details, browse the tabs, and see the true state of the job.
If the project has more than one client, the preview shows the view for the client who was added to the project first. You’re seeing one client’s portal at a time.
The button appears once there’s a signed contract and a client to show. If a project doesn’t have a client attached yet, there’s no one to preview it as — add the client first, then try again.
It’s a Preview, Not a Remote Control
This is the important part. Client Preview is there for you to look, not to act on your client’s behalf. So the controls that would actually commit something on the client’s account are switched off while you’re previewing.
You can:
Move around freely — every tab and section is open to you.
Open milestone updates and drill into their details.
You can’t (these are disabled in preview):
Sign the contract.
Make a payment.
Make selections.
Take file actions.
If you hover or click one of the disabled controls, Eano reminds you why: “This action is disabled because you’re in client preview mode.” Anything that simply navigates or opens a view stays fully clickable — only the controls that would put something on record for the client are held back.
Think of it like sitting in the passenger seat with a clear view of the whole dashboard. You can see every gauge and read every screen — you’re just not the one with your hands on the wheel.
If You Want to Make a Choice for Your Client
Preview mode is view-only, so it’s not the place to record a selection on your client’s behalf — the selection buttons are disabled there, on purpose. But making a pick for a client is a real thing you can do; it just lives in your own scope, not in the preview. When a client tells you which option they want over the phone, you record it from the selection’s menu using Select for Client. See Making the Choice for Your Client in the selection groups guide for the full walkthrough.
A Few Things Worth Knowing
This is the companion to quote preview. The preview you use when finalizing a quote works the same way — Client Preview simply extends that experience to projects that are already underway, so you’ve got it for the full cycle. For the quote side, see Choosing What Your Client Sees on a Quote.
Nothing you do in preview affects the client. Because the action controls are disabled, there’s no way to accidentally sign, pay, or select on their behalf. Explore freely.
Don’t see the button? It shows up on signed projects for team members who manage the project. If it’s not there on a project you’d expect it on, your role may not include managing that project.
FAQ
Is this the same as the preview I use before sending a quote? It’s the same idea, extended. You’ve always been able to preview a quote as your client before you send it. That same view is available after the contract is signed, for the active project — so you have it for the full cycle.
Will my client know I looked at their portal? No. Opening the preview is just you viewing the portal on your own screen. It doesn’t notify the client and it doesn’t leave a trace on their side.
Can I sign, pay, or make a selection for my client from the preview? No — those are intentionally disabled. Preview is for seeing what your client sees, not for acting for them. To record a client’s selection, use Select for Client from your own scope instead (see the link above).
My project has two clients. Whose view am I seeing? The one who was added to the project first. The preview shows a single client’s portal at a time, and for now it defaults to the earliest-added client.
How do I get back to my normal view? Click Back to Pro in the preview banner, or just close the preview tab — your original working tab is still open behind it.