How to share documents with a client

Client work produces a steady stream of documents: the creative brief, the proposal, a research summary, a project plan, the handover notes at the end. Some of these the client only needs to read. Others need their comments, and a few need them to write sections themselves. Sending them all the same way usually means the wrong level of access for at least some of them.

This page covers how people usually share documents with clients, where the version and permission problems come from, and how to do it from Fabric: choosing whether a client views, comments on or edits each document, keeping their comments attached to the text, and sending a link that shows the latest version.

How people usually share documents with clients

Word files over email remain common, especially with clients in legal, finance and the public sector. Tracked changes do a good job of showing edits. The difficulty is the chain: the client edits version 3 while you’re working on version 4, and someone has to merge the two by hand.

Google Docs fixes the version problem by keeping one live copy. Agencies with many clients describe a different set of chores: setting the right access on each document, checking which client can see which folder, and remembering to remove access at the end of a project. Some clients’ IT policies also limit which outside tools their staff can use.

Notion pages shared with clients work well for living documents such as project hubs. Teams who try it for many clients at once often find guest access takes managing as the client list grows, and files like PDFs and DOCX attachments sit inside pages rather than alongside them.

Step 1: Bring the documents into the client’s space

Create a space for each client and add their documents. Fabric handles DOCX, TXT, Markdown, HTML and JSON files: drag them in, paste them, or click Upload a file. If the client’s documents already live in Google Docs or Notion, a connection can bring them in; Google Drive syncs both ways, so changes made on either side carry across. Connections need a paid plan. Documents the client sends you by email can be forwarded to your Fabric email address, which accepts mail from your verified account address, so their marked-up Word file lands in the same space as your draft.

You can also write directly in Fabric. Notes and docs sit in the same space as the client’s files, so a proposal can be drafted next to the brief and research it refers to. A shared client space shows that client nothing beyond it. How to organize client files has suggestions for laying out a client space.

Step 2: Choose what the client can do with each document

Fabric’s roles are viewer, commenter, editor and admin, set at space and file level. That means one space can hold a contract the client can only read, a brief they can comment on, and a content plan they can edit. Click Share on the document or folder, choose the client’s permission, and send them the shared link. External people can open shared links without signing up, and they can add the item to their own Fabric if they use it.

For most review rounds, commenter is the right level. The client highlights a sentence and adds a comment to it, so feedback sits on the exact wording. You can mark each comment completed as you deal with it, which makes it easy to see what’s left. The roles and permissions page explains each role in more detail.

Step 3: Publish finished documents as a link

When a document is final and only needs reading, publish it. Click Share, open the Publish tab, and click Create link. Name the link and decide whether to collect engagement analytics, allow indexing by search engines, allow visitors to copy it to their Fabric, and allow downloads. Copy the link and send it. Because editing the source in Fabric updates the published version, a typo fixed later appears at the same link.

For the end of a project, publishing the whole deliverables folder gives the client one web page with every document on it. How to send a client one page with all their deliverables covers that handover in more depth. To see whether the client opened it, turn on engagement analytics; link analytics are on the Pro and Team plans and show visits, dates, location and device.

Step 4: Work through the client’s feedback with the AI assistant

After a round of comments, open the client’s folder and ask the AI assistant to summarize what the client asked for across the documents in it. The assistant is limited to that folder when you open it there, and it cites the documents it drew from. It can also edit documents directly, with accept or reject on each change, which helps when the same correction needs making in several places.

Answers can be saved as notes, so a summary of the client’s feedback can go back to them as a short note confirming what will change in the next version.

Frequently asked questions

What’s the best way to share documents with clients?

Share each document at the level the client needs: viewer, commenter or editor. For finished documents, publish a link with downloads allowed so they can keep a copy.

Can clients comment on documents without editing them?

Yes. Give them commenter permission. They can highlight text and add a comment without changing the document.

Does my client need an account to open a shared document?

No. Anyone you send a shared link to can open it without signing up for Fabric.

How do I stop clients seeing other clients’ documents?

Create a separate space for each client and share only that space. The client sees only the space you shared.

Can I share Google Docs with a client from Fabric?

Yes, once Google Drive is connected. The connection syncs both ways and needs a paid plan.

What happens to the link if I update the document?

For a published link, editing the source in Fabric updates the published version, so the link stays the same.

Can I password protect a document I share with a client?

Yes. Right-click it and choose Add password protection. This is on the Pro and Team plans; see pricing.

Can I see whether a client has read the proposal?

Yes, if you publish it with engagement analytics turned on. You see visits with dates, location and device; to know which person opened it, send each person their own named link. Analytics need a Pro or Team plan.

Which document formats can I share?

Fabric handles DOCX, TXT, Markdown, HTML and JSON files, plus PDFs, and Google Docs and Notion through connections.