Signing up
Creating a WorkZerk account takes about a minute, and no card is involved. You get a 30-day free trial with every feature unlocked, and the account is usable the moment you land.
What you need
An email address you can receive mail at, a password of at least 12 characters, and a browser. There is nothing to install and no plan to choose.
Use an address on your own domain if you have one, for example [email protected]. Every portal link you share shows the domain of this address ("yourcompany.com"), and so does the email that carries the link, so the person opening it can check who it came from. A personal address (Gmail, Outlook, iCloud and the like) is described as a personal address, not a business email address, and the form tells you so as you type it. On the free trial a personal address also lowers the number of different people who can send you answers or files from 5 to 2. Only the domain is shown, never the full address, and you can change the address later on your profile page, under Change email.
The password rule is length only. No forced mix of capitals, digits or symbols.
Two kinds of address are refused. Disposable inbox services (yopmail, mailinator and the like) are rejected outright, and so is an address that looks undeliverable, usually a typo in the domain. Ordinary personal and work addresses are fine.
Creating the account
Go to Create account, enter your email and a password, and click Start free trial. There is one password field with a Show button beside it, so check what you typed there rather than typing it twice.
There is no terms checkbox. The line under the button says that by signing up you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy, both linked, and clicking the button is the agreement. WorkZerk records which version you agreed to and when.
The form then turns into a Setting up your account card that ticks off each step as it finishes:
- Checking your email address
- Creating your login
- Starting your 30-day free trial
- Adding a sample portal to look around
- Setting up your email templates and defaults
- Sending your verification code
It usually takes under 30 seconds. Keep the window open while it runs. If the connection drops part way, the account is still created and the remaining steps finish without you.
When it is done you land on Requests, which is the screen you will spend most of your time on.
The sample portal
A new account arrives with one onboarding portal already built, holding eight people at different stages: one finished, some part way through, one with a rejected document, a couple of certificates about to expire. It is there so the Requests screen has something in it and so you can see the shape of a real portal before building your own.
It also adds a small workflow library, four custom contact fields and a sample agreement, for the same reason.
Remove sample data, in the top bar immediately left of the notification bell, clears all of it after a confirmation that says what it deletes. Once it is gone, a Load sample data button appears on the Portals toolbar if you want it back.
Removal never costs you your own work. Anything sample that your real work uses is kept, and the message afterwards tells you what:
- The sample portal, if your own people have used it: an active link, an answer, an upload, a signature, a ticked step, a status or a check-in keeps the whole portal.
- Sample people you have put on your own portals.
- Contact fields, workflows and terms that your own contacts, requests, packs or automations use, and terms one of your people has signed.
Kept items stay marked as sample data, so a later Remove sample data clears them once nothing uses them.
The two emails
Expect two messages within a minute or two of signing up: a short welcome, and one with the subject "Your WorkZerk verification code" followed by a six digit code. Enter that code to verify your address. Codes last 30 minutes.
If neither arrives after a couple of minutes, check spam and junk, and in Gmail the Promotions and Updates tabs. If they are not there either, the address may have a typo in it: email us and we will move the account to the right address.
You do not have to verify straight away, and nothing stops working if you leave it. It does matter before you invite people, because sending links by email needs a verified address. See verifying your email address.
If signup will not go through
"Could not create your account. If you already have one, sign in instead." There is almost always an account on that address already. Try signing in, and if the password is gone, reset it from that page.
If the sign-in page tells you the account signs in at a different address, it belongs to another product. Sign in there instead.
"Use at least 12 characters." The password is too short.
"Disposable email addresses aren't allowed." Use a real address. Personal Gmail, Outlook, iCloud or your work address are all accepted.
"That email address doesn't look like it can receive mail." Check the domain for a typo (gmail.om for gmail.com is the classic). If the address is right and working, email us and we will look at it.
"We couldn't verify that you're human." Reload the page and try again.
Getting help
Anything else, email [email protected]. A person reads that inbox.