Project Tools → Projects
Projects
A project is one piece of work for one client: brief, quote and contract at the front, then services, review rounds and sign-off until it's done.
How to create a project
Every project hangs off a client, so you start one from the client's page. Name it after the work, not the client — a client can have several projects running at once.
Open Project Tools → Clients and open the client.
Click New project.
Type a project name, for example "Branding and Website".
Click Create project. It opens straight away, as a lead.
To find it again later, open Project Tools → Projects and use the stage filter, or open the client.
Tip: Renaming is easy: on the project page, click ••• and then Rename project.
How to move a project from lead to live
Before a project goes live it shows four numbered steps instead of tabs. Each step has the one action that moves the work forward, and the panel tells you what is holding it up.
Open the project. Step 1: Create Brief is open by default.
Click Create brief to send the client a brief. The step completes when they have filled it in.
Open Step 2: Create Quote & Send Proposal and click Create quote. The step completes when the quote is accepted.
Open Step 3: Send Contract to upload and send your agreement, or mark it not required.
Open Step 4: Start Project and click Start project once the quote is accepted and the contract is signed.
Use the + button on Step 1 or Step 2 to add a second brief or a revised quote — they stack up on the project.
Tip: Briefs and quotes are optional. A project with no quote and no contract can go straight to Step 4.
How to start a project and add services
Starting a project takes it live: you pick the services you're delivering, each gets its own card of review rounds, and your client gets portal access.
Open Step 4: Start Project and click Start project.
Tick the services you're delivering. If a quote is linked, they're already ticked from its line items — adjust as needed.
Set the start date and estimated end date.
Click + Add account and enter a name, email and password for whoever needs the client portal.
Leave "Email sign-in details to each account" ticked to send them their login, or untick it to hand them over yourself.
Click Start project. The four steps are replaced by the project's tabs and service cards.
To add a service later, scroll to Add Service under the cards and click the one you want.
Tip: Handover only appears in Add Service on a live project. Add it when you're ready to send final files.
How to add review rounds to a service
Each service is a stack of rounds — that's how the work gets shown, commented on and approved. A round is one conversation with the client about one stage of the work.
Open the project and stay on the Project tab.
Click + on a service card.
Choose Add Review for a normal round, Add Specification for the scoping round at the front, or Add Sign Off for the final approval.
Click a round's header to open it. The ••• menu on the round has Open Review, Close review and Delete round.
Delete Service on the same + menu removes a service and all its rounds.
Tip: A service shows ACTIVE once any round is under way, and COMPLETE when every round is signed off or complete.
How to send work to the client for feedback or approval
Sending a round emails your client a private link with your notes and anything you attach. You choose whether you want comments back or a sign-off.
Open the round and type your message in Feedback notes. It saves as you type.
Click + Add file or link to attach a file or a URL, or + Add feedback link to attach a page or mockup the client can comment on.
Click Send to Client.
Tick the portal accounts it should go to. If there are none, add one on the Accounts tab first.
Click Send for Feedback to ask for comments, or Send for Approval to ask them to sign off — approval asks you to confirm.
The message appears in the round's timeline, and the status becomes Awaiting client response or Awaiting client approval.
Tip: You can send more than one message in a round. Use the ⋯ on a sent message to send a reminder, or to delete it from the client's timeline.
How to handle a reply and sign off a round
When the client replies, the round moves to Awaiting your response and a dot appears on the project. Signing off closes the round and starts the next one.
Open the project. A red dot on the Project tab means there's something unread.
Open the round and read the client's reply in the timeline.
Reply by typing new notes and sending again, or book a call with Book Meeting.
When the round is settled, open the round's ••• menu and click Sign Off. The next round opens automatically.
Click Mark Complete on a signed-off round when there's nothing left to do on it.
Got it wrong? The same menu has Mark as not signed off and Mark as not complete.
Tip: A signed-off round locks its notes and stops the client adding new comments on its feedback links, but they can still read and reply.
How to put a page or mockup in front of the client to comment on
The Feedback tab is where you create feedback links: a live website, or an image or PDF you upload. The client opens one and pins comments straight onto it.
Open the project and click the Feedback tab.
Leave Link selected and paste a website URL, or click Upload and choose an image or PDF.
Pick the review round it belongs to, so it travels with that round's messages.
Click Add review link (or Upload document). The review workspace opens.
Click the share button, top right, and tick the people who should have access. That generates the private link.
Click "Email link to selected" to send it, or Copy to paste it yourself.
Back on the Feedback tab, each row shows unresolved comment count, whether it is shared, and a dot when the client has commented.
Tip: Use + Add page inside a review to build up a whole site, and the ⋯ on a row to duplicate a review into the next round without carrying its comments over.
How to find everything you've shared
The Files & links tab collects every file and link that has actually been sent to the client, grouped by service and round, so you never have to hunt back through the rounds.
Open the project and click Files & links. The number next to it is how many things have been shared.
Find the service, then the round the item went out with.
Click any row to open the file or link in a new tab.
If something is missing, it hasn't been sent yet — attach it to a round and send that round.
How to give your client portal access
Portal accounts are the email and password logins your client uses to see the project. Rounds are sent to these accounts, so a project with none can't be sent anything.
Open the project and click the Accounts tab.
Type the person's name, their email and a password in the Add account row.
Leave "Email sign-in details to the client" ticked to send them their login.
Click Add.
Use ••• on a row to Edit name, Change password (with the option to email the new one) or Remove the account.
If the email already has a portal login with you or another studio, it links to their existing password instead of setting a new one.
Tip: One person, one password: changing it here changes it everywhere that email is used.
How to see a project's history
The Journey list at the bottom of the project builds itself from what has actually happened — briefs, quotes, the contract, going live, and every round signed off.
Open the project and scroll to the bottom of the Project tab.
Read the Journey list — newest event first, each with its date.
Use it to answer "when did we send that?" without digging through email.
The client's own page has the same list merged across all their projects.
How to complete, archive or delete a project
When the work is finished, mark the project complete so it drops out of your active list but stays readable. Lost, archived and deleted are there for the ones that don't finish.
Open the project and click ••• next to its name.
Click Mark as Complete when the work is done.
Click Mark as Lost if the enquiry didn't turn into work — you can Reopen as Lead later.
Click Archive to file it away, and Unarchive or Reopen as Lead to bring it back.
Delete project only appears on an archived project, and asks you to confirm. It removes the project and its rounds for good.
Filter by stage on Project Tools → Projects to find completed, lost or archived projects again.
Tip: Lost projects are hidden from the All tab on the projects list — look under the Lost filter.