We're retiring the Classic editor in Client Portal

Client Portal has two ways to build a portal, and we're retiring one of them in 2027.

The Classic editor is the original portal builder. You add phases and modules through settings screens, and you only see what the client sees when you preview the portal.

The block editor is what Client Portal moved to in 2024. It's built on the WordPress block editor, so phases and modules are blocks you add and arrange on the page, and what you're editing looks like the portal your client will see.

This is about Client Portal's own editor, not WordPress's. If you use the Classic Editor plugin for the rest of your site, you can keep doing that. Here's how to use the Classic editor for WordPress and the block editor for Client Portal.

If you bought Client Portal after April 2024, this probably won't be relevant to you unless you've switched to the Classic editor. If your portals are already in the block editor, nothing changes for you.

If you bought before that, you may still have portals built in the Classic editor. There's now a tool to move them across, and the rest of this post covers why we're retiring it, when, and what you need to do.

Check whether this affects you

Go to Client Portal > Portals in your WordPress admin and look at the Editor column. If you don't see "Classic" anywhere in the list, you have no Classic portals and there's nothing to do.

You'll also see a notice on your dashboard if you have any Classic portals or templates left, with a count of how many.

Why we're retiring it

Client Portal moved to the block editor in 2024, and every new feature since has been built for it. Keeping the Classic editor running alongside means maintaining two versions of the same product, and in practice the Classic one has been standing still while the block editor moves on.

Retiring it means we can stop splitting our time and put all of it into the version you'll actually be using.

What you get in the block editor

If you've been on Classic for a while, a fair amount has happened without you. A few of the things you'll have once you've moved:

• Comments and notifications on content pages
• Pattern syncing, so you can update a section once and have it change across several portals
• The portal gallery, with ready-made templates you can import in a click
• The new Text & Media module, plus link lightboxes and custom module icons
• The Five design, including the editable "Client Portal Archive" page

The timeline

So nothing breaks on a particular date. Your portals keep working the whole way through, and if you do nothing at all, they'll be converted for you in April. Moving them yourself before then just means you get to check each one first.

I'll send reminders between now and then, so it won't sneak up on you.

How moving a portal works

You move one portal at a time, so there's no big switchover day.

1. Convert the portal. This makes a block editor copy, and your clients keep seeing the Classic version.
2. Check the copy and fix anything that didn't carry over the way you'd like. You can preview the Classic version to compare.
3. Move your clients over. They see the new version at the same link, and nobody gets an email.

The Classic version stays as a backup until you delete it, and you can move clients back to it if something isn't right. Templates work the same way, so new portals created from your registration form or WooCommerce products pick up the block version too.

👉 Read the step-by-step guide