This article walks you through the steps to set up a Feedback Portal for the first time. It covers the decisions that matter most at the start - access model, categories, and your first form. Deeper configuration topics such as custom fields, workflow statuses, companies, and integrations are covered in their own articles.
Before you start
Who can create a portal: Only the Workspace Owner can create a new Feedback Portal. Each portal connects to a single Workspace. If you manage multiple Workspaces, confirm which one should receive incoming feedback before you begin.
Roles to be aware of: There are two distinct role layers in the Craft.io feedback ecosystem:
Workspace roles - control who can review submissions and connect feedback to the backlog in the Workspace (core app)
Portal roles - control who can administer the portal itself, including managing forms, categories, users, and settings
A Workspace user does not automatically have portal administrative permissions - these must be configured separately for each part of the Craft.io platform (e.g. Workspace and Feedback Portal).
Step 1: Create your portal
Follow these steps:
Click Feedback in the top navigation bar
Select Create Portal
Enter your company name and portal name
Choose your subdomain URL - this is the address your customers will use to submit feedback
Upload a company logo (optional)
Click Create
Choose a portal name that reflects its audience - for example, "Product Feedback," "Customer Requests," or "Partner Ideas." You can update the portal name, logo, and subdomain at any time from Portal Settings → General Settings.
Step 2: Choose your access model
This is the most important decision you will make during setup. It determines who can access your portal and what they can see.
Public Access (default)
Anyone with the portal URL can submit feedback
Users must create an account to submit
All submissions are visible to all portal users
Best for: open beta programs, broad customer communities, general product feedback
Restricted Access
Only invited users can access the portal
Submissions can be scoped by company or email domain
Company-level visibility controls are available
Best for: B2B environments, enterprise customers, internal feedback collection, multi-account segmentation
📝 All portals default to Public. If you need company-level visibility controls or want to limit who can submit, switch to Restricted before inviting users. You can change the access model at any time from Portal Settings → General Settings - if you switch from Public to Restricted after users have already joined, you will need to review visibility settings for any existing submissions.
Step 3: Add categories
Categories classify feedback at the point of submission. They help your team filter and triage what comes in.
Follow these steps:
Go to Portal Settings → Categories and Labels
Click Add Category
Name each category to reflect submission types
Common starting categories: Feature Request, Bug, UX/UI Feedback, Internal Suggestion.
Keep categories simple and focused on submission type - not your product hierarchy. You can always add more later.
Step 4: Create your first form
Forms control what submitters see when they post feedback. Teams that start with too many required fields tend to see lower submission rates - one focused form with the minimum viable fields is enough to get started. You can build in more structure as your process matures.
Follow these steps:
Go to Portal Settings → Forms
Click Add form
Name the form
Assign form categories (one at minimum)
Add the fields you want to collect (and make them required, if preferable)
Arrange the field order
Click Create Form to save your changes
A title, description, and category selection is enough to begin. Fields can be reordered or removed at any time.
💡 If you are not sure which questions to include, look for Guru Questions in the field library - best-practice prompts designed for problem framing, context gathering, and impact clarification.
Step 5: Invite your internal team
From Portal Settings → Users → Administrative Users, invite the internal users who will manage and triage feedback. Assign each user a role:
Admin - full portal configuration access
Editor - can triage, promote, and connect feedback; no settings access
Contributor - can submit feedback on behalf of customers; no management access. Use this role for sales or customer success team members who log feedback from calls and account conversations.
Step 6: Share your portal
Once your portal is configured, share it with your customers or internal submitters.
Public portal - share the portal URL directly. Any user with the link can create an account and submit.
Restricted portal - invite users by email from Portal Settings → Users, or share a company-specific invite link generated from Portal Settings → Companies. Read this article to learn more about how Companies work in the Feedback Portal
What comes next
Your portal is now live. The articles below cover the next layer of configuration:
Create forms in your feedback portal
Configure workflow and customer-facing statuses
Set up Companies for account-level visibility
Connect Salesforce, Slack, or Microsoft Teams
Need more guidance? Our live support team (bottom-right corner of your screen) replies to ANY question!