Admins can deactivate or shut down the customer portal to limit customer access or streamline internal workflows. However, they can hide this portal and enable email-only support or restrict ticket creation via the customer portal. Explore How to set up email-only support for customers and hide the customer portal.

Also, if you only want to access the knowledge base and disable ticket creation via the customer portal, use the custom CSS and JS. Learn How to Disable Ticket Creation in the Customer Portal for more details.

Deactivating the Customer Portal

1. Navigate to the Admin center > Brands.

2. On the list, select the brand to deactivate its customer portal and click the more options icon next to it.

3. Choose the Deactivate Customer Portal option.

4. On the confirmation dialogue box, click Yes, Deactivate to shut it down.

5. The brand’s status will read “Customer Portal Deactivated”.
   

   
   
   

Consequences of Deactivating the Customer Portal

• The brand’s customer portal will be inactive.
• Deactivation of the Customer Portal may take 15 minutes.
• Only private tickets can be created for the brand through the agent portal.
• Emails sent to the brand’s support address will only generate private tickets.
• Agents will still be able to access existing public or private tickets via the agent portal and the ticket visibility will not change.
• Customers cannot access any existing or new tickets.
• Customers cannot be notified of ticket updates via email.

The portal will display a message as shown in the image below.

How to Activate the Customer Portal

1. Open Brands in the admin module.

2. Click on the more options icon next to the brand you want to activate its customer portal.

3. Choose the Activate Customer Portal option.

4. On the confirmation dialogue box, click Yes, Activate to complete the process.
   

   
   
   

Troubleshooting and Operational Notes

Deactivation is not reflected immediately

• Wait up to 15 minutes after selecting Yes, Deactivate.
• Confirm the brand shows Customer Portal Deactivated in Admin Center → Brands.

Customers say they replied by email but the ticket did not update

After portal deactivation, customer replies to existing ticket email threads are dropped for that brand.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What does deactivating a Customer Portal do?
Deactivating makes the brand’s Customer Portal inaccessible to customers for login, ticket creation, and ticket viewing. Agents can still manage tickets in the Agent Portal, and emails to the support address create private tickets only.

2. Does deactivating customer portal delete existing tickets?
No. Existing tickets remain accessible to agents in the Agent Portal. Customers cannot access them once the portal is deactivated.

3. Can customers still reply to ticket emails after deactivation?
Customers can reply, but the system drops the update and does not append the reply to the ticket.

4. Does BoldDesk notify customers when the portal is deactivated?
No automatic notification is sent for portal deactivation.

5. Can agents still create tickets for a deactivated customer portal?
Yes, but only private tickets can be created for that brand through the Agent Portal.

6. Will emails to the support address still create tickets?
No, when the brand’s Customer Portal is deactivated, the emails are not delivered.

7. Can we disable the default https://example.bolddesk.com portal domain and keep only a custom domain?
No. Disabling the default BoldDesk portal domain is not supported. If a custom domain is active, the default BoldDesk portal also remains active.

Related Articles

1. How to Manage Multiple Brands
2. Customizing the BoldDesk Customer Portal