External sharing (Clients & Partners)

import { Aside } from ‘@astrojs/starlight/components’;

Share work outside your team — with a client, supplier, partner, or investor — without adding them as workspace members. They see only what you share, on a branded page, and you can see when they open it.

How it works

Create a client. Home → Admin → Sharing → Add client or partner — an inline form on the page (company name + relationship). No modal; the empty state walks through the steps and the same form appears under the header once you have clients.
Invite their people. Add emails — they get an invite and log in like any ShareOut user. They stay external (never on your member list, never billed).
Share a folder or file. Pick a folder and a level — View, Comment, Can create, or Can edit. A folder shares everything inside it — pages and files. From Assets you can also Share with a person on a single file (email + view/comment, no client org required).
They open /shared. Each external person has a “shared with you” page showing only what you gave them — pages and downloadable files — branded by their client org when grouped under a client. First-time visitors see a short orientation card. Shared files with comment access include an inline comments thread on the portal card; shared pages open in the normal viewer.

Access levels

Level	They can…
View	Open and read the shared artifacts.
Comment	View + leave comments.
Can create	Author new pages inside the shared folder (kept private to that folder).
Can edit	Edit the shared artifacts.

A higher level includes the ones below it. You can share a whole folder with a client, a single artifact, or a single file from Assets.

POST /v1/workspaces/{id}/share-person invites one outside email and grants view or comment on a file or folder. Teams/Enterprise (the External sharing feature on self-host) + admin required. The person appears on /shared without creating a client org. Returns 409 ALREADY_MEMBER if the email is already an internal workspace member.

Folder managers (not only admins) can also do this from a folder’s Who has access panel. Only the admin role is relaxed: the workspace still needs external sharing, and the email must pass the workspace’s allowed domains. Removing someone never needs the entitlement. Managers pick when access ends: In 7 days, In 30 days, In 90 days, On a date… or Never. Access stops as soon as it lapses; sharing again replaces the end date. The invite email links straight to the folder’s portal. See Client portals.

Guest access (no account)

For a folder, tick Guest access — no account needed when you share. The person gets an email with a link that opens the folder; nothing asks them to create an account, remember a password or pick a workspace. On another device they open the portal link, enter their email and type the 6-digit code we send.

A guest sees only that folder and what is inside it, up to the access you picked (Can view or Can comment). They have no home page, search, members list or assistant. Removing them, the end date passing or deleting the folder closes their access on their next click. API: share-person with "guest": true. See Client portals.

Read receipts

Every time a client opens something you shared, it’s logged. In the client’s view you’ll see recent activity — “someone at Acme opened the Q3 deck.” A clear signal for renewals and follow-ups.

For a single folder, Who opened what in the folder’s access panel lists what outside people opened, commented on or downloaded there.

API access for clients

If a client needs to pull their data programmatically, mint them an API token from their member row. The token only reaches what you granted them — never the rest of your workspace — and it’s read-oriented (it can’t publish). Copy it once; it’s not shown again.

Notes about a client (your assistant remembers)

Each client has a Notes section — private to your team, never shared with the client. Jot down what you know: how they like to work, what they’ve asked for, what’s next.

Your workspace assistant reads these notes automatically when it’s helping with that client, and can update them itself as it learns more — so the account memory stays current without you maintaining it by hand. Admins edit by hand; everyone on the team can read.

Find it in Admin → Sharing → [client] → Notes about this client.

Billing

External people are $0 and uncapped. Your bill counts only internal members; the billing page shows external members on a separate “included” line. If your plan lapses, clients keep reading what you already shared — only creating new shares pauses until you’re back on Teams.