> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://harnesscalendar.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# The student portal
> One-stop-shop for your parents and student
The portal is a private page where the families you teach sign in to see their lessons, see what they owe, and pay invoices. You never sign in to it. You control everything from inside Harness, using the contact and billing records you already keep.
## What families see, and what controls it
A person sees only what you have linked to their email. Three settings decide it.
| What they see | You control it with |
| ------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Upcoming and past lessons: date, time, place, and attendance | The student's **Lesson Schedule** or **Lesson Details** setting |
| Lesson notes | **Lesson Details** only |
| Balances, invoices, and online payment | **Billing recipients** on the account |
The email on the contact is the key. A contact with an email can sign in; a contact with none cannot.
## Give a family access
Go to **Students → a student → Contacts → Add Contact**. Enter their **First Name**, **Last Name**, **Email**, and **Relationship to Student**. The email is required for the portal.
In the same dialog, tick **Lesson Details** or **Lesson Schedule** to share lessons. To share invoices, open the billing account and add the contact under **Billing recipients** (**Finances → Accounts → an account → Edit**).
Leave **Email this contact a portal invite** ticked, or send it later from the contact's menu with **Send portal invite**. The email points them to the portal. They sign in there with their email and a six-digit code. You never do this for them.
The email is the only switch. Changing it moves access to the new address. Removing the contact, or its lesson and billing links, removes what that person can see. There is no separate on or off toggle.
## Preview what a family sees
Open the contact's menu on the **Contacts** tab and choose **View portal**. It shows that person's exact portal, read-only. If it reads **No portal access**, the contact has no email on file.
## FAQ
No. Any contact with an email can sign in. The invite is a courtesy that points them to the page. Use **Send portal invite** again any time they lose it.
Yes. Add them as a **Billing recipient** on the account without ticking either lesson setting. A grandparent who only pays sees billing and nothing else.
They sign in once with their email and see every student and account that email is linked to, grouped by studio.
A family with the **Lesson Schedule** setting can mark an upcoming lesson **can't make it**. If they give less notice than your late-cancellation window, the lesson rate is charged to their next invoice automatically. Set that window in [Invoicing defaults](/docs/settings/invoicing-defaults#late-cancellations).