# Turn the portal on and choose what customers see

> Decide who can reach your catalog site, which tables and products it shows, and which fields sum up each product.

Source: https://www.speclatch.com/guide/portal-api/turn-on-and-choose-what-shows
Who: Admin. Plan: Growth plan and up.
Last verified: 2026-11-11

The portal is a catalog site for your customers, built from the records you already keep. Before you share its link, decide who can reach it and what it shows, so customers find your published specs and nothing meant for staff. At the end, the portal has an address, lists the tables you chose and sums up each product with the fields you picked.

## What decides whether a value reaches the portal

A value shows on the portal only when four things are true at once:

- The portal is open: its access is *Link only* or *Public*.
- The record's table is ticked under *Tables in the catalog*.
- The record is Published.
- The field is Public.

If any one is false, the value stays inside SpecLatch. Files, documents and curves follow the same rule through their own tiers. That is why most of the work happens earlier, in field tiers and review.

Take the HC 2x1.5-6 close-coupled pump, a Published record in a ticked table. Customers see its *Flow at BEP*, 130 gpm (29.5 m³/h), a Public field, but not its *List price (USD)*, which is Internal. The HC 3x2-6 is still In review, so the portal doesn't list it.

## Before you start

- You need the Admin role.
- Your workspace is on the Growth plan or higher, or in its trial.
- Some records are Published, and the fields customers should see are Public. See [Set a field's confidentiality tier](/guide/confidentiality-review/set-a-field-tier) and [Send a record for review, approve, publish](/guide/confidentiality-review/review-and-publish).

## Open the portal and give it an address

1. Click **Settings** at the bottom of the sidebar, then open **Portal**.
2. Under *Portal access*, pick *Link only* while you try the catalog with a few customers, or *Public* to let search engines list it.
3. Under *Address*, type the part after `/portal/`, such as your company's name in lowercase with dashes, and click **Save address**. If you rename it later, the old address keeps working.
4. Click **Open** to see the catalog as a visitor does, or **Copy link** to share it.

The other settings on this page save on their own, with no Save button.

> **The portal starts open.** A new workspace starts at *Public*, with an empty catalog until a record is published. Pick *Off* to close it while you work: visitors see a page saying the catalog is being updated, and your team can still open it.

## Choose the tables and featured records

1. Under *Tables in the catalog*, untick each table customers shouldn't browse, such as one you keep for internal test results.
2. Under *Featured records*, pick a record from *Add a published record…*. It joins a highlighted row at the top of the catalog, up to eight. Only records of ticked tables are offered.

![Tables in the catalog: five ticked tables, each with its count of published records.](https://www.speclatch.com/guide/portal-api/turn-on-and-choose-what-shows-1.png)

*An unticked table stays internal, with none of its records on the portal.*

Under *Header*, *Contact block* and *Languages*, set the headline and banner, how visitors reach you, and the languages they can switch to.

## Choose the fields that sum up each product

In the catalog list, each product row shows up to four fields beside its name, and the table view up to six. You choose them per table, on each field. A table with none chosen shows its first Public fields.

1. Open **Fields** and pick the table on the left.
2. Click the pencil (**Edit field**) on a Public field, such as *Flow at BEP*.
3. Under *Who sees it*, tick *Headline on the portal*.
4. Click **Save changes**, then do the same for the other fields.

![The Who sees it section for Flow at BEP: the public tier chosen and Headline on the portal ticked.](https://www.speclatch.com/guide/portal-api/turn-on-and-choose-what-shows-2.png)

*Only public fields offer the headline choice.*

The box shows only on Public fields other than links, lookups and long text. When you choose more than fit, the first ones in field order show.

## What happens after

Visitors can browse, search, filter and compare products, and choose their units. Each published product gets a page with its Public specs, images, curves and downloads.

![The Featured panel of the portal: four pumps from different tables, each row with its name, model number and headline specs.](https://www.speclatch.com/guide/portal-api/turn-on-and-choose-what-shows-3.png)

*Each table sums up its products with its own headline fields.*

*Traffic*, on the portal settings, counts the views of the last 30 days, leaving out your own team's visits.