Notes from your people

Portal notes and private notes go one way, from you to the people you onboard. The notes box goes the other way. It puts a box on each person's link where they can tell you something you would otherwise hear by email: a start date that moved, the name they go by, why a document will be late.

Each person writes their own note, and only your side of the account reads it.

Turning it on

Open the portal, click the gear beside its name (Portal Settings), and go to the Options tab. Under Shown on their portal, tick Notes to admin and save.

It is set portal by portal, so ticking it on one portal leaves the others as they were.

What they see

A card below the notes you wrote for them and above their requests. As standard it is headed Notes to us, with the question Anything we should know? Add it here. under it and a gray example inside the box.

They type their note, up to 2,000 characters, and tap Save. The card comes back with their note in the box, which is how they know it saved. To change it they edit the text and save again, and the new version replaces the old one. To remove it, they clear the box and save.

A note they type but do not save is lost when they leave the page. If the portal is closed, the save is refused and the card tells them to contact whoever sent the link.

Reading their notes

Open the portal and expand the person's row in the people panel. A section headed Notes from and their first name holds whatever they wrote. Once there is a note, the section header carries a small set badge.

That row is the only place a note shows up. There is no list of every note on the portal, and nothing tells you a new one has arrived: no email, nothing in the bell. Check the rows when you work through a portal, and ask people to email you about anything urgent.

If you already have someone's row open when they save, reload the page to see the new note.

Editing a note for them

You can change a note from their row: edit the text and click Save note. They see your version the next time they open or reload their link. Use it to tidy a note up, or to record something they told you by phone.

If they changed the note while you were editing, yours is not saved. A message shows their new note in the box and your unsaved text above it, so you can merge the two and save again.

Who can see a note

The person who wrote it, you, and anyone you have shared your account with. Nobody else on the portal ever sees it, and it never appears on anyone else's link.

The box has no sensitive setting, so it is the wrong place for bank details or an ID number. Ask for those in a request marked sensitive instead. See keeping sensitive information private.

Turning it off

Untick Notes to admin and save. The box disappears from every link on the portal and the section disappears from each row. The notes themselves are kept, and they come back if you tick it again. They are also included when you export your data.

Changing the question

What the box asks decides what comes back. "Anything we should know?" gets you everything; "Any dates you can't start on?" gets you dates. The heading, the question and the example answer are all yours to reword. See changing the words people see.

Getting help

If someone says they cannot see the box, check Notes to admin is ticked on that portal. Otherwise, email [email protected] and we will take a look.