Client Portal was built to sit alongside the tools you already use. Keep your project management tool, keep your accounting software, and let the portal be the bit your clients see. (More on that in why I don't recommend all-in-one tools for freelancers.)
Files are a good test of that idea. If you already keep everything neatly organized in Google Drive or Dropbox, with a folder per client and a system you mostly stick to, you probably don't want to rebuild it in WordPress just so clients can see it in their portal.
Client Portal doesn't have a built-in way to embed those folders. So we tried a WordPress plugin that does, Use-your-Drive from WP Cloud Plugins. We're not affiliated with them, but it works really well with Client Portal.
What we tested
WP Cloud Plugins makes one plugin per storage service: Use-your-Drive for Google Drive, Out-of-the-Box for Dropbox, Share-one-Drive for OneDrive and SharePoint, and Lets-Box for Box. They all work the same way. We tried the Google Drive one.
Setup was quick. You install the plugin, connect your Google account, and choose how much of your Drive the plugin can reach:
- a dedicated folder the plugin creates for itself
- your whole Google Drive (what we used)
- your whole Google Drive, read-only
- full access
There are plenty of privacy and security settings beyond that too, so the plugin only gets access to what you actually want to share.
How it looks in a portal
This is the part that felt easiest. Open a content page in Client Portal, add the WP Cloud Plugin block, pick a module, and point it at a folder. That's it.
You set up each module to show only the folders and files you choose, so one connected Drive account can serve every client. And because the files stay in Drive, anything you change there shows up in the portal automatically. No re-uploading, and no out-of-date copy.
Which module you pick depends on what the client needs to do with the files. There's a file browser for a whole folder, an embed for a single Google Doc or Sheet, a gallery for images, and an upload box if you want clients to send files to you. A designer might embed the project brief, show brand assets as a gallery, and add a file browser for deliverables, all on one content page.
The full setup instructions are in our help doc if you want the step-by-step version.
Built-in files or an embed
Client Portal's own file modules are still the better fit for some projects. The difference comes down to where you want the files to live.
| Client Portal files | WP Cloud Plugins embed | |
|---|---|---|
| Where files live | On your WordPress site | In Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive or Box |
| Updating a file | Upload the new version to the portal | Edit it in your cloud storage, and the portal updates |
| Privacy | Behind the portal login, with Private Files protection if you need it | Handled by the plugin's access settings and your storage provider |
| Cost | Included with Client Portal | A separate paid plugin |
| Setup | Nothing extra | Install the plugin and connect your account |
| Good for | Final deliverables, sensitive files, anything you hand over once | Files you're still working on, or a folder system you already rely on |
Before you buy
The embedded files don't get Client Portal's Private Files protection. The content page itself is still behind the portal login, but the plugin and Google (or Dropbox, and so on) serve the files themselves, using the plugin's own access settings. For anything sensitive, set those settings carefully and check your sharing settings in Drive as well. Or use the portal's own file modules for that project instead.
It's also a separate paid plugin, so it's one more license to keep renewed. And if you only need a single Google Doc, you don't need it at all. An iframe embed of a published copy works fine, and there's a help doc for that too.
The embed is for people who already have a good system in Google Drive or Dropbox and would rather keep it than switch to something new.
If you're not using cloud storage for your files, or you'd rather use Client Portal's built-in files but want to update a file once and have it change in every portal, there's a way to do that too. You can share files, Private Files included, across several portals with synced patterns. Update the pattern once and every portal using it updates.
Want to try it?
Have a look at WP Cloud Plugins for your storage provider, and the setup guide for using it in Client Portal. New to Client Portal? Have a look here.
