Client Portal for Document Sharing: A Better Way to Work with Clients
- Ryan Redmond
- 5 days ago
- 12 min read
Summary
A client portal for document sharing replaces email-based chaos with a secure, centralized experience for clients and internal teams. Using Power Pages and SharePoint, businesses can simplify document collection, improve visibility, and deliver a smoother client experience without adding operational overhead.
One of my favorite aspects of consulting is the constant challenge that comes with new requirements, especially when they push me to learn something new. In this case, I was asked to set up a customer portal that would allow contacts to view assigned tasks, upload documents for verification, and mark those tasks as complete.
Before my career as a consultant, I experienced this problem from the other side. As an end user, I was responsible for onboarding new clients using a manual checklist of tasks and documents spread across multiple accounts. Things were frequently missed, follow-ups were inconsistent, and visibility was limited. It was messy and difficult to scale.
So, when I was asked to build a client portal to support this process, I was genuinely excited. I started the way I usually do, by researching existing guidance. While I found articles that addressed individual steps, I could not find a clear, end-to-end walkthrough for building a client portal for document sharing that solved the full problem.
After some trial and error, I landed on an approach that worked. What follows is a practical, step-by-step guide, including links and screenshots, for building a secure client portal using Power Pages and SharePoint.
Why Email-Based Document Sharing Breaks Down at Scale
Email feels simple, which is why it becomes the default for sharing documents with clients. It works well enough when volumes are low and processes are informal. The problems start once document sharing becomes part of a repeatable business process, such as client onboarding, compliance, or ongoing service delivery.
At that point, email stops being a convenience and starts becoming a bottleneck. What looks like a technology issue on the surface is really a process and visibility problem, and it is often one of the earliest signs that a business has outgrown its current way of working.
This is where digital transformation begins to matter. Not as a large initiative or system overhaul, but as a practical response to friction that slows teams down and creates unnecessary risk.
Missed Documents and Manual Follow-Ups
When documents are shared through email, responsibility becomes unclear. Clients send attachments when they remember, internal teams download files manually, and someone is left tracking what has arrived and what is still missing.
This leads to constant follow-ups, duplicate requests, and incomplete records. Even with the best intentions, things slip through the cracks. As volume increases, so does the amount of time spent chasing documents instead of moving work forward.
Version Confusion and Rework
Email-based document sharing makes version control difficult. Files are renamed, reattached, and forwarded multiple times, often without a clear indication of which version is final.
Teams end up reviewing outdated documents, asking clients to resubmit files, or redoing work that was already completed. Over time, this creates frustration on both sides and introduces avoidable delays into otherwise straightforward processes.
Lack of Visibility for Internal Teams
Email creates information silos. Documents live in individual inboxes, personal folders, or shared drives with inconsistent structure. There is no single place to see task status, document completion, or overall progress for a client.
Without visibility, teams rely on manual checklists, status meetings, or institutional knowledge. This makes onboarding new employees harder and increases dependency on a few key individuals who “know where things are.”
Poor Client Experience at Scale
From the client’s perspective, email-based document sharing is equally frustrating. Expectations are often unclear, requests arrive piecemeal, and there is no easy way to confirm what has been submitted or what still needs attention.
As businesses grow, these small frictions add up. Clients experience delays, confusion, and unnecessary back-and-forth. What began as a simple process starts to feel disorganized and unprofessional, even when the underlying team is doing its best.
This is why document sharing becomes a meaningful digital transformation opportunity. Improving the experience does not require sweeping change, but it does require moving beyond email as the system of record.
How a Client Portal Improves Secure Document Sharing
A client portal for document sharing addresses the core problems created by email by introducing structure, visibility, and accountability into the process. Instead of relying on scattered messages and manual tracking, documents and tasks live in a single, shared workspace that both clients and internal teams can access.
This shift is not about adding complexity. It is about replacing informal workflows with a system that supports how work actually gets done as a business grows.
Centralized Access for Clients and Internal Teams
A client portal creates a single source of truth for documents, tasks, and status. Clients know exactly where to upload files, and internal teams know where to find them. There is no need to search inboxes, shared drives, or forwarded messages.
By centralizing access, email threads are eliminated and ownership becomes clearer. Tasks are tied directly to the documents they require, making it easier to see what is complete, what is missing, and what needs attention next. This improves accountability without adding manual oversight.
Built-In Security and Permissions
Security is often one of the biggest concerns with external document sharing. A client portal solves this by using role-based access and clearly defined permissions.
Clients can only see their own records and documents, while internal teams maintain control over who can view, upload, or edit files. This reduces the risk of accidental exposure and helps support compliance requirements without relying on informal workarounds like password-protected attachments or shared links.
A Better Client Experience
From the client’s perspective, a portal removes uncertainty. Tasks are clearly defined, expectations are visible, and there is a simple way to confirm what has been submitted and what is still outstanding.
Instead of responding to a series of emails, clients interact with a structured experience that guides them through the process. This reduces friction, shortens turnaround times, and creates a more professional impression, especially as client volume increases.
Why Power Pages and SharePoint Work Well Together
Once the decision is made to move document sharing out of email, the next question is how to support that experience without introducing unnecessary complexity. Power Pages and SharePoint work well together because each platform is doing what it is designed to do, without overlap or forced customization.
Rather than building everything from scratch, this approach uses proven components from the Microsoft Power Platform to support secure external access, structured workflows, and reliable document management.
Power Pages as the Client-Facing Portal
Power Pages provides the front door for clients. It allows external users to securely sign in, view assigned tasks, upload documents, and track progress in a way that feels intentional rather than improvised.
Because the portal is connected directly to Dataverse, task interaction happens in context. Clients are not just uploading files, they are completing specific steps tied to their account or onboarding process. This keeps the experience focused and reduces confusion about what is expected.
SharePoint as the Document Backbone
Behind the scenes, SharePoint handles document storage. This is where files live, versions are tracked, and permissions are enforced consistently.
Using SharePoint as the document backbone provides reliable versioning, structured folder management, and enterprise-grade security without requiring custom file handling logic. Documents uploaded through the portal are stored in the right place automatically, making them easy for internal teams to find and manage.
Together, Power Pages and SharePoint create a clean separation of responsibilities. Power Pages manages the client experience, while SharePoint manages documents at scale. The result is a client portal for document sharing that is secure, maintainable, and built to grow with the business.
Real-World Use Case: Client Tasks and Document Submission
To see why a client portal for document sharing matters, it helps to look at a common scenario: client onboarding. This is where document collection, task coordination, and follow-up all converge, and where manual processes tend to break down first.
The Problem with Manual Onboarding and Checklists
In a manual onboarding process, tasks are often tracked using spreadsheets, shared documents, or informal notes. Documents arrive through email at different times and in different formats. Follow-ups depend on someone remembering what is missing and who needs to be contacted.
As client volume increases, this approach does not scale. Steps are missed, responsibilities are unclear, and consistency suffers. Even well-run teams find themselves spending more time managing the process than actually onboarding clients.
What the Client Portal Needed to Do
The goal was not to build something complex. It was to create a simple, repeatable experience that supported both clients and internal teams.
At a minimum, the client portal needed to:
Allow clients to view assigned tasks in one place
Provide a clear way to upload required documents
Show progress so both sides could see what was complete and what was still outstanding
Signal when a task was finished, without relying on emails or manual updates
By tying tasks and documents together in a single portal, the onboarding process became easier to manage, easier to track, and easier to scale. This use case sets the foundation for the step-by-step build that follows.
Step-by-Step: Building a Client Portal for Document Sharing
At this point, the goal is simple: turn the ideas above into something real.
What follows is the approach I used to build a client portal for document sharing using Power Pages and SharePoint. It reflects real decisions, a few lessons learned along the way, and the resources that actually made a difference. This is not meant to be the only way to do it, but it is a way that worked and scaled well.
If you are new to Power Pages or external document sharing, some steps may take a bit of patience. That was certainly my experience. Taken together, though, these steps form a clear path from scattered emails and manual tracking to a structured, secure client portal that both clients and internal teams can rely on.
Provision a Power Pages Portal
Step 1. Provision a new Power Portal
The linked article is very easy and straightforward, but I went ahead and included screenshots as well.
Enable SharePoint Integration
Here is where it starts to get more fun. This linked article is also very thorough and helpful as there are several steps within this step. This shows how the built in SharePoint integration can be setup in just a few clicks as shown below. One catch is that you must have the appropriate permissions to complete this step.
Enable Document Management
Step 3. Enable document management on tasks and contacts
In your solution, edit the advanced properties for the Task and Contact entities. Enable SharePoint document integration on each table.
Step 4. Run document management wizard to create folders
I merely went in to ensure that the contact and task folders were created.
Configure Tasks for External Users
Step 5. Set Up Task Form
I realized the best way to do this was to set up a main form like I always do that I would like the contact to use when submitting info in the portal. I do recommend setting up a custom field for the contact to update regarding status that is not the status reason. That way you can monitor status but ultimately have control over the final record status (or use the out of box field “Percent Complete” as I did below). Also, you will need to add the document location sub grid per step 4 above.
Step 6. Set up Task View
Like the form, I wrestled with the instructions on this and landed on creating a special view on my own as usual. I saved the All Tasks view as All Portal Tasks and configured it to include my portal status field. All of this set up is going to pay off shortly!
Generate Portal Pages Using the Wizard
Here is the big revelation step! If I had known about this prior, I could have saved myself a lot of time. The article even starts with an acknowledgement of complexity in this set up. Basically, this wizard takes your pieces of set up above and knits them together nearly perfectly. Why they put this at the bottom of the navigation bar is beyond me. It is totally worth the scroll though. Just click it, make your selections, and hit Create.
Step 8. Update Web Page in Studio
Now your page has been set up! Like other WYSISYG editors, this allows simple updates. Navigate to the page you just created and click on the view. Then update as needed in the menu on the right.
Configure Entity Permissions and Web Roles
Now all that remains is making sure your contact has all the privileges needed to read, edit, and upload documents to their tasks. The wizard already created the task entity permission for you. Just find and update it per the screenshot below.
Step 10. Create entity permission for SharePoint documents with task entity permission as parent.
Also, per step 5 of the SharePoint article (that was the best article in my opinion), create the document location entity permission and save.
Step 11. Create Web Role
Web roles stitch all these entity permissions together to allow a simple assignment per contact. While this may seem tedious, it helps in the long run. You could also just skip this step if you already had a role set up or wanted to use the default web roles.
Step 12. Add entity permissions to web role
Use the Related menu to add the entity permissions for task and documents.
Step 13. Assign web role to contact
Use the Related menu to add that existing web role to your contact. You did it! Although you will need to test in the next step.
Test the Client Experience End to End
Step 14. Create a test task regarding contact
Once you create this task, be aware that this did take a few minutes to show up. At first, I was disheartened, thinking I missed a step. But then, I saw this beautiful display!
Be sure to test it fully including editing and uploading a document.
And finally, make sure your edits came through.
You can also check from within your model driven app.
When a Client Portal Makes Sense for Your Business
A client portal for document sharing is not necessary for every business. In some cases, email and shared folders are still sufficient. The value of a portal becomes clear when document exchange is no longer occasional, but part of a repeatable process that needs structure and visibility.
You are more likely to benefit from a client portal if any of the following apply.
High document volume
When clients are regularly submitting forms, agreements, or supporting files, managing everything through email quickly becomes inefficient and error-prone.
Client onboarding
Onboarding often requires a specific set of tasks and documents to be completed in a particular order. A portal helps standardize this process and ensures nothing is missed as client volume grows.
Ongoing compliance or documentation requirements
If your business depends on collecting, reviewing, or storing documents over time, a portal provides a more reliable system of record than inboxes and ad hoc folders.
Partner collaboration
Working with external partners often involves sharing sensitive information across organizational boundaries. A client portal allows controlled access without overexposing internal systems.
Service delivery workflows
When documents and tasks are tied directly to delivering a service, a portal keeps everyone aligned on progress, expectations, and next steps.
If these scenarios sound familiar, a client portal is less about adding new technology and more about removing friction from everyday work. It replaces manual effort with a process that is easier to manage, easier to explain, and easier to scale.
Final Thoughts: Client Portals as a Practical Digital Transformation Win
Client portals are often thought of as large, complex initiatives. In practice, they can be a relatively small change with a meaningful operational impact. Replacing email-based document sharing with a structured portal improves visibility, reduces manual follow-up, and creates a better experience for both clients and internal teams.
The return on investment is usually clear. Time spent chasing documents goes down. Errors and rework are reduced. Processes become easier to manage and easier to scale as the business grows.
None of this requires sweeping transformation or unnecessary complexity. In many cases, this kind of work is best supported through an ongoing partnership like the Optrua Care Plan, where systems can evolve as business needs change.
I hope this was helpful. I would have appreciated an article like this when I first started working through this problem.
If you’re interested in practical ways to improve visibility, reduce manual work, and modernize client-facing processes, you may find our monthly webinar, “Smarter Systems Start Here: Unlocking Sales with AI,” helpful. It’s designed for business leaders who want clarity, not hype.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a client portal for document sharing?
A client portal for document sharing is a secure, centralized space where clients can upload documents, view tasks, and track progress related to their account or engagement. Instead of relying on email attachments and shared folders, all documents and requests are managed in one place, improving visibility and accountability for both clients and internal teams.
Is Power Pages secure for external document access?
Yes. Power Pages is designed to support secure external access using role-based permissions and authentication. When combined with SharePoint for document storage, it allows businesses to control exactly what external users can see or upload, reducing the risk of unauthorized access or accidental data exposure.
How does a client portal replace email attachments?
A client portal replaces email attachments by providing a structured workflow for document submission. Clients upload files directly to assigned tasks, documents are stored automatically in the correct location, and both sides can see status without relying on follow-up emails. This eliminates version confusion and reduces manual tracking.
When does a client portal make sense for small and mid-sized businesses?
A client portal makes sense when document sharing is part of a repeatable process, such as client onboarding, compliance, or ongoing service delivery. As volume increases, email-based workflows become harder to manage. A portal introduces structure without requiring a large or disruptive system change.
Can Power Pages integrate with SharePoint?
Yes. Power Pages integrates with SharePoint to handle document storage, versioning, and permissions. This allows documents uploaded through the portal to be managed using SharePoint’s native capabilities, while Power Pages focuses on the client-facing experience and task interaction.
About the Author
Ryan Redmond is the founder of Optrua and has spent over two decades helping organizations make sense of CRM platforms like Microsoft Dynamics 365. His work often focuses on practical topics such as licensing, system design, and aligning technology decisions with real business needs.
Ryan works closely with sales, operations, and IT leaders to cut through complexity, avoid over-licensing, and ensure teams are paying for what they actually use. His approach emphasizes clarity, long-term scalability, and making informed decisions rather than chasing features.
Connect with Ryan on LinkedIn.
