# Using Your Portal

Section: Guest Management · Page: https://artsvp.com/docs/guest-management/using-your-portal

Your portal is the workspace an organiser has given you so that you can bring your
own guests to their event. Whether you are exhibiting at a fair, co-hosting a
private view, or sponsoring an evening, you invite under your own name, from a
number of guest places the organiser sets, and you watch the responses arrive as
they happen.

This page is written for you, the partner. The organiser's side of the same feature
is covered in [Portals](https://artsvp.com/docs/guest-management/portals). Claiming a portal needs
only a free ARTSVP account: there is nothing for you to buy.

## Claiming your portal

The organiser sends you a portal link. Open it, sign in or create an account, then
on **Connect your portal** choose which organisation manages it: one you already
belong to, or **Create a new organisation**. A new organisation asks for an
**Organisation name** and **What best describes your team?** (**Art Fair**,
**Gallery**, **Artist**, or **Other**).

From that moment the portal belongs to that organisation alone. Only its
members can open it. If you work two fairs with the same organiser, you claim
a separate portal for each.

Once connected, the portal also appears under **Portals** →
**Connected Portals** in that organisation. **Open portal** takes you
back into the workspace. A colleague who is not on the team sees
**This portal is locked** and can **Request access**;
[Bringing in your team](#bringing-in-your-team) covers how that request is
allowed.

## Your allocation

An allocation is the guest capacity the organiser has granted you for one event or
collection. It carries a cap, or reads **No limit** where they have chosen not to
cap you. These rules shape the count:

- **The unit is guests, not invitations.** A booking for four people uses four
  places, however that booking arrived.
- **The cap bites when a guest books**, not when you send. You can create and send
  invitations against a full allocation, but they cannot be redeemed until the
  organiser raises it.
- **A leftover place smaller than the event's smallest ticket counts as none
  left.** A pair ticket needs two places. Guests then see **This invite is no
  longer valid**, or **We are sorry, this link has been fully used.**
- **Remaining counts confirmed guests only**, so a few more places may already be
  spoken for by bookings still in progress.

Your portal home shows **Invited guests**, **Confirmed guests**, and
**Allocation used**.

If the organiser takes an event or collection off your portal, its card
leaves **Allocations**. You cannot send new invitations or copy a new
booking link for it. Your guest list keeps everyone who came through it.
On **Guestlist**, **Filter** lists that event under **No longer allocated**.
**Confirmed guests** still includes them. **Allocation used** counts only
the allocations you still hold, so the two figures can differ.

If the organiser cancels the event, its card stays on **Allocations** and
reads **Cancelled**. **Invite Guests** and **Copy link** are no longer
available. Invitations and booking links you have already shared open the
event's cancelled message. Guests who already booked stay on your guest
list as **Cancelled**.

For an allocation that is still open, invitations and booking links you
have already shared may still work until it is full, unless the organiser
has closed them to new bookings. Then a guest who opens one sees
**This invite is no longer valid**. Guests who have already booked keep
their places.

## Banners

Invitation emails sent from your portal use the event or collection banner by
default, but you can replace it with your own header image when you compose
the invitation. Your image is saved to your portal and used for all invitations
you send from it.

## Inviting your guests

Two routes lead to the same booking flow, and both draw on the same allocation.

1. **Invite Guests** sends a personal invitation to a named guest, who then books
   their own place. The composer lets you personalise the message with tokens
   such as `{{name}}`, see
   [Personalisation variables](https://artsvp.com/docs/guest-management/invitations#personalisation-variables).
   Before you send, **Send me a test** delivers the invitation
   as you've written it to your own address; your guests are not contacted, and
   the test link cannot be used to RSVP.
2. **Copy link** gives you a booking link capped by your allocation. Anyone holding
   it can book while places last, which suits a newsletter, a group chat, or a post.

When you type an **Email** on **Manually**, a **Heads up** note appears if
that person already has one of your invitations, or a booking through your
allocation. It is a warning, never a block. You do not see the organiser's
other guests, and the note has no **View invite** or **View booking** link.
**CSV Upload** (which also accepts Excel .xlsx files) and **Contact List** are
not checked.

Open a guest from your guest list and click **Edit** to change their
name or email. If you created the invitation without an email, add it
here, then click **Send invite**. Once they have booked, the invitation
can no longer be edited.

### When you only have an email address

Every invitation needs a name, so a guest you know only by email still
needs something in that field. If the organiser collects first and last
name separately, both **First name** and **Last name** are required. You
can send them a personal invitation by email all the same: enter a
stand-in name with their email, then send it.

One thing to be aware of: the guest cannot change that name when they RSVP.
Their booking form shows it as fixed, and it becomes the name on their
booking, their ticket, and your guest list. So:

- Choose a stand-in that reads well to them and that you will recognise at
  the door, such as *Guest of Galerie Lumière*.
- The invitation email opens with *Dear {{name}},*, so the guest would read
  *Dear Guest of Galerie Lumière,*. Edit the message body before you send and
  change that line to a greeting without the name, such as *Hello,*.
- If you learn their name before they book, open them from your guest list,
  click **Edit**, and correct it.

If they are happy to give their own details, a booking link from **Copy link**
lets them type their name themselves. A booking link is shared by you, through
your own email or messages, rather than sent by ARTSVP.

Invitation emails include a footer, *Unsubscribe from Gallery B invitations*,
named for your organisation (or the portal name if you have not connected
one). A guest who uses it stops receiving further invitations from you, not
from the organiser. **Send me a test** shows the same footer.

Invitations you create, and the names and contact details on them, stay private
to your portal. The organiser sees a guest only once that guest confirms.

When you send, guests see your portal name as the sender. Replies go to the
**Reply-to address** under **Settings** → **Email preferences**. You cannot
change it. If the organiser has set one for the group, it reads
**Set by your organisation.** Otherwise it reads
**Replies go to your notification email.**

If the organiser has turned on **Force Unique Bookings**, a guest who already
booked and opens your invitation sees **Existing Booking Found** and can
**Notify** you. That uses your allocation for their whole party, puts them
on your guest list, and sends you the same booking alerts as a new
confirmation. They then see your portal name followed by **Notified**.

If you do not have enough remaining places for the party, they see
**This invite is no longer valid** instead. When they already have a
booking, that page also says **You already have a booking for this event.**
and offers **Email me my booking link**.

### Pending invitations

An invitation is **Pending** when it has been created but not yet sent. This
happens when you add guests and choose to send later, or when you upload a CSV
or Excel file (.xlsx) without sending straight away. Imported rows are created
in the background, and nothing is sent automatically, the invitations appear
in your guest list shortly (large lists can take a few minutes) at **Pending**
status.

To send pending invitations, open **Guestlist** from your portal, select the
**Pending** tab, tick the guests you want to reach, then open **Actions** →
**Send invites**. That opens the invite composer where you can write your message
and send. If the guests you ticked are invited to more than one event, the
composer shows an **Event** tab for each, with that event's own wording. If an
orange badge such as *12 hidden* appears on the selection bar, some ticks are
from a previous filter and are not in this view: click the badge to clear them
before you send. If the organiser has enabled WhatsApp invitations, you will see
both **Send via email** and **Send via WhatsApp** options; otherwise only email
is available.

**Send tickets** also appears under **Actions** for guests who have already
confirmed.

If you reached a guest another way (a WhatsApp message outside ARTSVP, a phone
call, or an in-person conversation), open their row from your guest list, then
choose **Mark as invited**. That moves them from Pending to Invited so your list
reflects that you have contacted them.

### Large imports

CSV imports are processed in batches, so a partial count may mean the import is
still running. If the import fails, you receive an email and an in-app notice.

Portal invite uploads do **not** deduplicate: re-uploading the same rows creates
duplicate invitations. Upload only new rows, or remove existing pending invites
before re-importing.

### Removing a guest

On **Guestlist**, each row has a menu (three dots on the right). What you can do
depends on whether the guest has booked:

- **Not booked yet.** This covers guests you have invited and guests still
  pending (not sent yet). Open the row menu and choose **Delete guest**. A
  confirmation asks whether to remove them; once you confirm, the invite is
  removed from your list. Your places left do not change, because places are
  only used when a guest books. No email is sent to the guest.
- **Booked guests.** The row menu has no delete option. A booking belongs to
  the organiser, not to your portal, so only they can cancel it. Contact the
  event organiser if you need a booking removed.

## Asking for more places

When the organiser allows allocation increase requests, open the allocation's
availability badge or choose **Increase allocation**. Choose how many extra places
you need, up to 50 at a time, add a message if it helps your case, and the
organiser reviews it. The request opens a thread in **Inbox**, so the conversation
stays attached to the portal rather than scattering across email. If neither
control appears, contact the organiser directly.

### Who is notified about inbox messages

When the organiser sends you a message, the email notification goes to your
portal's **Notification email**. Set it under **Settings** → **Notifications**.
If no Notification email is set, the message still appears in **Inbox**, but no
email notification is sent. When you reply or request more places, the
organiser's team receives the notification at their Support email.

## Following the responses

Your guest list fills as invitations are answered and links are booked, and on the
day it moves again as guests are checked in at the door. Once an event has ended it
drops out of your actionable list, though your guest data stays readable.

On **Guestlist**, **Date** is the event slot. Tick **Created** under **Columns**
to see when each booking or invitation was made. Click **Created** to put the
newest rows at the top. Guests on the same booking share one time.

Click **Download** and choose **Guest List**. The CSV is emailed to the address
on your account, not the notification address under **Settings** →
**Notifications**. It matches the tab, search, and **Filter** you have open: every
guest and invitation in that view, with the details your portal shows. Organiser
notes and tags stay off the file.

Each portal can alert you by email and by WhatsApp when a guest books and when a
guest checks in. All four alerts are on by default. Change them, along with the
address and number they reach you on, under **Settings** → **Notifications**.

## Bringing in your team

Admins invite colleagues from **Settings** → **Share access** with
**Copy team invite**, or from **Manage team**. Anyone who joins your
organisation can help run the portal. Your guests are visible to your portal
team and to the organiser of the events they book into. Another partner
cannot open your guest list. A guest who already booked through someone
else, and then notifies you, appears on both lists.

### When a colleague is locked out

**Check the email first.** Often the person on the locked screen is not a new
colleague but someone already on your team, signed in with another address. Only
accounts that are members of the organisation that claimed the portal can open
it. The locked screen shows **Signed in as** with the email in use. If that is
not the address the portal was claimed under, click **Sign out** and sign back
in with that address. Your invitations and guests are safe: they belong to the
portal, not to the account you sign in with. Keep **Request access** for
colleagues who are genuinely new to your organisation.

If they open the portal link signed in with an account that is not on your
organisation, the screen reads **This portal is locked**. They click
**Request access**, confirm, and the screen shows **Request sent.** Your
organisation's owner receives an email with **Allow access**.

**Allow access** opens a page where an admin of your organisation chooses
their **Role** (**Admin**, **Event Manager**, **Booking Manager**, or
**Check-in only**; **Event Manager** is selected) and clicks
**Accept & send invitation**. That invitation adds them to your organisation
with the role you chose, not only to this portal. Roles are covered in
[Teams](https://artsvp.com/docs/getting-started/teams).

One thing to be aware of: the request email goes to the organisation owner.
Other admins can still accept it if they have the link. If your plan has no
free team seats, the page offers **Upgrade plan** instead of sending the
invitation.

Once you have allowed access, their locked screen shows **Access allowed.**
with **Accept invitation**. After they accept, the portal opens for them. A
second request is not sent while one is still waiting. If they turn the
invitation down, **Request access** appears again.

## When a portal goes read-only

A portal becomes read-only four months after it is activated. Its settings lock and
it issues no new booking links, with existing links shown as disabled. Your guest
data stays readable throughout, and links you have already shared keep working
until the allocation runs out. For a new season, expect the organiser to open a
fresh portal rather than revive this one.

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Keep reading: [Portals](https://artsvp.com/docs/guest-management/portals) ·
[Reporting and Exports](https://artsvp.com/docs/reference/reporting-and-exports) ·
[Invitations](https://artsvp.com/docs/guest-management/invitations) ·
[Teams](https://artsvp.com/docs/getting-started/teams)

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