v2.47, which began rolling out on Monday, October 12, replaces the separate external portal with a free portal user role in the main Hudu app. Your clients sign into the same platform your team does but only see the companies, tools, and records their groups allow.
Why we made this change
The old portal was limited. It had its own interface and its own short feature list. Managing it was cumbersome and time consuming. Anything we improved in Hudu had to be rebuilt again before portal users could have it, so the portal fell behind the rest of the product. Admins also had two permission models to keep straight.
Portal users are now a role in core Hudu. One app, one set of groups, one place to manage access. Clients can belong to more than one company, which the old portal could not do. Because they use the same product as everyone else, later improvements that fit this role reach them without a separate portal version.
The role stays free.
What changed
Existing portal members become portal users automatically, including archived people. Archived users stay archived.
Active former portal members are placed in a group named Previously ungrouped portal users. That group starts with no companies, no asset layouts, and every group Core feature turned off. Until you move someone into a long term group, they sign in and see an empty state. New users you invite later are not added to that group. You choose their groups at invite time, the same way you do for Spectator or Editor.
Company access comes from groups, not from a single company field on the user. A portal user can see every company their groups allow, and they switch between those companies with the company switcher.
The old portal pages are gone. Bookmarks to /portal/... send users to that company’s page in the main app after they sign in. “Add to portal” and the curated In Portal checklist are no longer how you choose what a client sees. They see what their groups allow, the same way other roles do.
The Portal Member Export is no longer in Admin → Export Data. If you downloaded it in v2.46, use company_name as the starting point for which company each person’s group should allow. They do not get that company automatically.
What portal users can do
They are read-only. Within that, they can:
- Read the assets, passwords, knowledge base articles, and other records their groups allow
- Use Central KB, My Vault, client requests, Hudini, and secure notes when those are turned on for the instance and for their groups
- Use the company switcher to move between companies they can access
- Use Hudu Assist, the Hudu Password Manager extension, and the mobile app, when you enable those apps and their groups allow the records
They sign in with email and password. They are not forced through your team’s SSO or Duo. If you require app-based two-factor authentication, they may still need to set that up. If you already turned off IP access control for portal members, that exemption still applies.
What stays limited
Portal users are similar to Spectator, with a shorter list of tools. Putting them in a more open group does not turn these on:
- Creating, editing, archiving, or deleting records
- The companies directory, Global, and Hudu Radar
- The dashboard
- Archived companies, archived records, and Museum
- Flagging, record comments, and record activity history
- Feature requests and the integrations control in the top bar
Spectator remains the licensed internal read-only role. Use portal user for clients who should stay free and more limited.
What to do after you update
- Add each migrated portal user to the group or groups you want them in. Check companies, asset layouts, password folders, KB folders, and Core features on those groups. That is what they will be able to read.
- Remove them from Previously ungrouped portal users. If they stay in that group, access stays blocked even when they are also in another group.
- Delete that group once it is empty. If you unarchive a former portal member later, they join your default group like any other role. Assign the groups you actually want after that.
- Impersonate a portal user from Admin → Users and confirm what they see before you send them in.
- Ask clients to save your normal Hudu URL. Their email and password stay the same. The page will look different, and they will not be able to edit anything.
Read full preparation steps, a sample note for clients, and FAQs in Upcoming portal changes: what to expect and how to prepare.
For additional information on the portal user role, including how to invite portal users and control what they can access, visit Portal Users.