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A client comments on a deliverable, not on a project or an invoice. Every deliverable card in the portal carries its own thread. Only comments marked client-visible appear there. Your internal notes on the same task stay internal.

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Where comments appear

One thread per deliverable, shown below the deliverable’s details and above the attachments row.

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What a comment shows

Each comment displays:
  • The author’s avatar – their photo, or up to two letters of their initials
  • An author line in the shape Priya Raman · 3 Mar 2026
  • The comment body
A client’s own comments show You instead of their name.
Only the date is shown, never the time of day. Comments are listed oldest first.

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Internal notes stay internal

This is the rule that makes the thread safe to use:
A comment reaches the portal only if it is explicitly marked client-visible. An internal note on the same task is never sent to the client’s browser – it is filtered out on the server, not hidden with styling.
You can therefore keep a working conversation with your team and a client conversation on the same task, without two places to look.

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Who gets named

Naming a colleague is a choice you make when you post a client-visible comment. Nobody is exposed by working on the task.

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How a client posts a comment

1

Open the deliverable

From the portal home, click a project, then find the deliverable.
2

Write the comment

Type in the box below the thread. Its placeholder reads Write a comment….
3

Post it

Click Post comment. The button stays disabled until there is something to post.
An empty comment is refused with Write something before posting. A failure shows Couldn't post your comment. Please try again. A client can never post an internal comment. The portal fixes the visibility to client-visible and stamps the author, so neither can be faked. An empty thread reads No comments yet with the text Start the conversation – post a comment below.

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Mentions

An @handle inside a client-visible comment renders as the person’s name and face. Only handles in comments the client is already allowed to read are resolved. An unresolved handle appears exactly as it was typed.
The portal has no mention picker. A client can type an @handle, but there is no autocomplete for them. Mentions are mainly something your team writes and the client reads.

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How your team is notified

Clients often send three short messages in a row. TimeTracker groups them so your inbox does not.
A deleted comment drops out of a pending email too. The thread is re-read at the moment the email is built, so a comment removed in the meantime never goes out.
If the Client portal app is switched off between a comment being posted and the email being sent, that email is suppressed. Approving a scope change also notifies your owners and admins. Approving a plain deliverable does not raise that separate event.

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Example

Ruth Castillo opens Website Redesign at Northwind Studio and finds the deliverable “Homepage wireframes”. She posts three comments in two minutes:
  1. “The hero image feels too dark.”
  2. “Also can we try the logo left-aligned?”
  3. “Sorry – and the CTA should say Order now.”
Priya Raman gets one email covering all three, about five minutes later. Priya replies in the portal thread. Ruth sees Priya’s name and photo on the reply. Ruth is not emailed about her own three messages.

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Permissions

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Common questions

No. Internal comments are filtered out on the server using an exact match on visibility, so a comment with no visibility set can never read as client-visible either.
There is no edit or delete control in the portal comment thread.
Not to the comment itself. The deliverable card has a separate Upload file button.
That is the grouping working as designed. A burst of messages becomes one email so a conversation does not flood your inbox.
No. There is no comment thread on an invoice in the portal.
They see the date, not the time.

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Troubleshooting

Portal projects

Deliverables, approvals and uploads.

What clients can see

What is stripped from a comment before it is sent.

Comments and mentions

How comments work for your team.

Email notifications

How TimeTracker emails your team.

Client portal overview

The portal end to end.

Portal permissions

Who can manage portal access.