Before you invite clients, make SwiftChecklist look and behave like your firm. A client receiving their first portal link should see your name, your logo, and your communication style — not the name of the software you are using.
Step 1: Set your firm name and logo
Navigate to Settings → Workspace → Branding.
Firm name: This appears in the portal header, in client emails, and in the browser tab when clients open their portal. Use the same name you use on your letterhead and website.
Logo: Upload a PNG or SVG file. Recommended minimum size is 200 x 60 pixels. If your logo has a transparent background, it will display cleanly on both light and dark portal themes. If the logo looks small or blurry in the preview, upload a higher-resolution version.
Brand colors: Set your primary brand color (used for buttons and highlighted steps) and your accent color (used for status indicators and links). If you are unsure which hex values to use, use your website's color picker or contact your web designer.
After saving, open the portal preview to confirm the branding looks correct at the client's screen size.
Step 2: Configure your email sender settings
Navigate to Settings → Workspace → Email.
Sender name: This is the "from" name clients see in their inbox. Examples: "Smith & Associates", "Meridian Accounting", or "Your Name at [Firm]." Avoid using "SwiftChecklist" or any generic software name here.
Reply-to email: This is where client replies go when they hit reply in their email client. It should route to a monitored inbox — either your personal work email or a shared team inbox that someone checks daily.
Email footer: Add your firm's physical address, phone number, and unsubscribe information if required by your jurisdiction's email regulations.
Test your configuration: Use the "Send test email" button after saving to confirm that the sender name, reply-to address, and footer all appear correctly. Check from both a desktop email client and a mobile device.
Step 3: Set up your team
Navigate to Settings → Team.
Add team members who will be creating checklists, reviewing submissions, or managing client communications. Each team member can be assigned one of the following roles:
Admin: Full access to all settings, billing, integrations, and all client records. Assign this role to firm partners, practice managers, or whoever is responsible for the SwiftChecklist account.
Member: Can create and manage checklist templates, create and manage checklist instances, review and approve submissions, and communicate with clients. Cannot access billing settings or make workspace-level configuration changes.
Reviewer: Can view and comment on checklist submissions and approve or request changes. Cannot create or edit templates. Useful for attorneys, accountants, or consultants who need to review intake packages but do not manage the workflow setup.
When adding a team member, specify which notifications they should receive. At minimum, ensure that at least one person is set to receive notifications when a checklist is completed or when a client uploads a required document.
Step 4: Set default notification preferences
Navigate to Settings → Notifications.
Configure when your team receives email notifications. The most important notifications to enable:
- Checklist completed: Sent when a client checks off the final required step
- Document uploaded: Sent when a client uploads a file to a specific request
- Signature completed: Sent when an engagement agreement or document is signed
- Payment received: Sent when a payment step is completed
- Checklist stalled: Sent when a client has not interacted with their portal for [X] days (configurable)
For small teams, sending all notifications to one inbox is manageable. For larger teams, consider routing specific notification types to the team member responsible for that step — for example, routing payment notifications to your billing coordinator and document notifications to the reviewer.
Step 5: Verify your domain (recommended)
Navigate to Settings → Workspace → Email → Domain verification.
If your firm has its own domain, verifying it allows client emails to be sent from your domain rather than a shared SwiftChecklist sending domain. This improves email deliverability and makes your communications look more professional.
To verify your domain, you will add a DNS record to your domain registrar. Instructions are specific to each registrar (GoDaddy, Namecheap, Cloudflare, Google Domains) and are provided in the verification UI.
Domain verification typically takes between 15 minutes and 48 hours to propagate, depending on your registrar's TTL settings.
Step 6: Configure your portal URL (optional)
Navigate to Settings → Workspace → Portal URL.
By default, your client portal is accessible at a subdomain of swiftchecklist.com. If you want the portal to appear at a subdomain of your firm's domain (e.g., onboarding.yourfirm.com), you can configure a custom domain here.
Custom domain setup requires you to add a CNAME record to your DNS. Instructions are provided in the UI.
What to do next
With workspace setup complete, you are ready to build your first client checklist.
Continue to Build your first checklist to create the template, then return to Launch checklist for a final review before your first real client invite.