{"id":6182,"date":"2020-07-20T14:13:06","date_gmt":"2020-07-20T14:13:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.softreetechnology.com\/?p=6182"},"modified":"2020-07-20T14:13:06","modified_gmt":"2020-07-20T14:13:06","slug":"how-to-create-a-client-customer-or-vendor-portal-in-sharepoint-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/softreetechnology.com\/blog\/sharepoint\/how-to-create-a-client-customer-or-vendor-portal-in-sharepoint-online\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Create a Client, Customer or Vendor Portal in SharePoint Online"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>External\nsharing is unavoidable these days and when you use SharePoint, content exchange\nwith external parties is almost mandatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Documents and folders are needed to exchange with those you collaborate with which was achieved via secure FTP sites in the past. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With\nSharePoint Online, we can achieve this in a more direct mechanism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today,\nI would like to explain you, how to build a simple and secure customer portal\nin SharePoint Online for document exchange with external parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>1.  Do not prevent external sharing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We\nlive in a world where collaboration and information matters the most. We live\nin a very mobile world, where location does not matter much and users want\ninfo, right now, in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>ENABLE BUT CONTROL EXTERNAL SHARING<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2022 Set up proper Information Architecture<\/strong><br>For example, the HR site should not be allowed to be shared externally, while a Project Site or Office 365 Group site might be allowed to be shared externally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2022 Monitor<\/strong><br> Check the Security and Compliance Centre and Site Usage reports regularly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2022 Training<\/strong><br> Your users should be trained on technical features of SharePoint and internal governance and business processes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2022 Fire people you don&#8217;t trust<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>2. Get familiar with how external sharing works<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How\nSite External sharing works?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Who\nis an external user in SharePoint?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2022 Users who doesn&#8217;t have an Office 365 license, but who has been given access to a site or document in your   SharePoint environment.<br>\u2022 Not an employee of the organization.<br>\u2022 Usually any 3rd party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What can be shared with an external user?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2022 Whole SharePoint site<br>\n\u2022 Specific folder<br>\n\u2022 Specific document<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Who can share externally?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2022 Site owner\/Administrator<br>\u2022 Any user in the Site Members Group<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>3. Decide on the appropriate site type<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There\nare three site template choices available:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2022 Team Site with an Office 365 Group<\/strong><br> Choose this, if you want to access and collaborate on more than just a site with your external users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2022 Team Site without an Office 365 Group<\/strong><br> Choose this, if you do not need all the other apps and want the look and feel of a regular team site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2022 Communication Site<\/strong><br> Choose this, if you don&#8217;t need 2-way collaboration and need to build an appealing site that will be informational.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>4. Provision a site for external sharing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\nfind from my experience that a Team Site without an Office 365 Group is\nnormally the finest site template for client sharing because, it gets you a\nplain site with left-hand-side navigation but without an overhead of an Office\n365 Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.softreetechnology.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/1-4.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6183\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.softreetechnology.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/2-3.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6184\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.softreetechnology.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/3-3.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6185\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.softreetechnology.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/4-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6186\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.softreetechnology.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/5.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6187\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.softreetechnology.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/6.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6188\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>5. Determine whether you will share the whole\nsite or just files and folders<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If\nyou are sharing the site, then you will need to build it out first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If\nyou are sharing just the files and folders, then create folders in the default\ndocument library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>6. Decide whether you will require clients to\nlogin (Authenticate)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If\na whole site is shared externally, users will need to log in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If\nyou share only files and folders, you can choose to share anonymously and the recipient\nhas to just click on a link. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If\nothers get a hold of that links, they will have access to content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>7. Customize the page look and feel<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2022 Divide your page into zones.<br>\n\u2022 Minimize the use of vertical scroll.<br>\n\u2022 Delete banner from working pages.<br>\n\u2022 Get rid of quick launch if it is not needed.<br>\n\u2022 If you do not want users to comment on the pages, disable comments.<br>\n\u2022 Do not embed a document library on the page.<br>\n\u2022 Do not add WebParts that have similar functionality.<br>\n\u2022 Clean quick launch menu.<br>\n\u2022 Do not add apps that are not needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>8. Setup Alerts (Optional)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.softreetechnology.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/7.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6189\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.softreetechnology.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/8.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6190\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.softreetechnology.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/9.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6191\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>9. Share externally<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.softreetechnology.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/10.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6192\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.softreetechnology.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/11.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6193\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>10. Monitor external sharing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can monitor external sharing via the Site Usage Report.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.softreetechnology.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/12.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6194\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.softreetechnology.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/13.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6195\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.softreetechnology.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/14.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6196\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>That\u2019s\nit fellow viewers. Hope the above mentioned steps help you in creating the\nclient portal in SharePoint Online and make external sharing easier for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Keywords:<\/strong><\/span><br> \u2022 Client portal<br> \u2022 SharePoint Online<br> \u2022 Set up alerts<br> \u2022 External sharing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>External sharing is unavoidable these days and when you use SharePoint, content exchange with external parties is almost mandatory. Documents and folders are needed to exchange with those you collaborate with which was achieved via secure FTP sites in the past. With SharePoint Online, we can achieve this in a more direct mechanism. Today, I would like to explain you, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sharepoint"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Create a Client, Customer or Vendor Portal in SharePoint Online - Softree Technology<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/softreetechnology.com\/blog\/sharepoint\/how-to-create-a-client-customer-or-vendor-portal-in-sharepoint-online\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Create a Client, Customer or Vendor Portal in SharePoint Online - Softree Technology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"External sharing is unavoidable these days and when you use SharePoint, content exchange with external parties is almost mandatory. Documents and folders are needed to exchange with those you collaborate with which was achieved via secure FTP sites in the past. With SharePoint Online, we can achieve this in a more direct mechanism. 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