How to Set-up Email-only Support and Hide the Customer Portal
Currently, it is not possible to disable or hide the customer portal. However, you can prevent your customers from using the customer portal and only replying via email (utilize this as an email system) by following these steps.
- Turn off activation verification and contact password reset.
- Delete the ticket URL and ticket ID from the template.
- Disable the sign-up option from the customer portal.
- Change the file attachment download settings to public, allowing anyone who has a file download link to download the file without having to log in.
In an email-only support setup, customers receive agent responses by email only when the Ticket Reply Agent contact email notification event is enabled. Disabling this notification prevents agent replies from being delivered to requesters via email. If you intend to handle customer communication exclusively through email and hide the Customer Portal, ensure the relevant contact email notification settings are enabled so customers continue to receive agent responses directly in their inbox.
Configuring Email-only Support
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Navigate Admin > Email notifications > Contacts and disable the Contact Activation, Contact Password Reset, and Contact Verification events as shown in the following screenshot.
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In other events, click the respective Settings icon and click the Edit icon to edit the email templates.
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Delete the ticket ID and links from all the email notification templates that will be sent to the customer. This approach ensures that the customer remains unaware of the existence of the customer portal, allowing them to only view and respond to emails.
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In the admin settings, uncheck the customer portal sign-up option. This will prevent customers from being able to sign up on the customer portal.
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Go to Admin > Customer Portal > General > Allow anyone to download files without logging in.
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Hide the Tickets tab and Login button under the customer portal. You can follow the instruction in the mentioned article to hide Tickets Tab and Login Button. Explore How to Hide the Login Option in the Customer Portal and How to Hide the Tickets Tab in the Customer Portal.
Troubleshooting (email-only setup)
Customers are not receiving agent replies
- Confirm the Ticket Reply Agent contact email notification event is enabled.
Customers can still access the Customer Portal
- Confirm sign-up is disabled in the Customer Portal settings.
- Confirm the Tickets tab and Login button are hidden using the supported portal customization methods.
- Confirm you removed ticket URLs/ticket IDs from all customer-facing email templates (customers often find the portal via old links).
Customers cannot download attachments
- Confirm Allow anyone to download files without logging in is enabled under Admin → Customer Portal → General.
- If public download is not enabled, customers may be forced to authenticate via the Customer Portal to access attachments.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Can I disable or hide the BoldDesk Customer Portal completely?
No. BoldDesk does not currently support disabling or fully hiding the Customer Portal via an admin setting. -
What is the supported way to run email-only support?
Use an “email-only” configuration by disabling contact portal-access notifications, removing ticket links/IDs from customer email templates, disabling portal sign-up, allowing public file downloads (if acceptable), and hiding the portal Tickets tab and Login button. -
Which contact email notification events should be disabled to reduce portal usage?
Disable Contact Activation, Contact Password Reset, and Contact Verification under Admin → Email notifications → Contacts. -
Where do I remove ticket links and ticket IDs from customer emails?
Go to Admin → Email notifications, open each relevant event, then use Settings (gear) → Edit to remove the ticket ID and ticket URL/links in templates sent to customers. -
What happens if the “Ticket Reply Agent” email notification event is disabled?
Requesters may stop receiving agent replies by email. If you want customers to communicate only through email, keep Ticket Reply Agent enabled. -
Why enable “Allow anyone to download files without logging in” for email-only?
If customers receive file download links via email, requiring login can force them into the Customer Portal. Public downloads prevent that login dependency. -
If I disable portal sign-up, can existing customers still log in?
Disabling sign-up prevents new registrations via the portal. It does not inherently remove the portal or guarantee that all existing users cannot authenticate.
