Getting in and getting set up

How you log in, accept an invite, set up your account, reset a password or change your email, review work through a secure share link without a full account, and hand an account over to a new owner.

What it is

This page covers everything about getting into Handshake and getting your account ready to use. Most people arrive through an invitation from whoever set them up - the platform team invites partners, a partner invites their clients, and a client (or partner) invites the people who run each seat. From there you create a sign-in, and an onboarding wizard walks you through the details we need before you start.

It also covers the everyday access tasks: Signing back in, resetting a forgotten password, changing the email you log in with, and a special share link that lets a client review and approve work without ever creating an account.

Why it exists

Outbound runs under a real person's name and reputation, so we are careful about who gets in and how. Invitations mean accounts are only ever created for people who were actually asked to join, sign-ins are remembered so you are not typing passwords all day, and the share link lets you bring a busy client into the loop for a quick approval without making them sign up for anything.

Who can see it

Everyone uses some part of this page. Logging in, password reset and email change apply to all user types (admin, partner, client, seat). Invitations and the onboarding wizard depend on your level - a client goes through a longer setup than a teammate joining an existing organisation. The share link is aimed at clients (and their colleagues) who need to approve something but do not have a login.

How it works

Creating your own account

You do not need an invitation to start. The signup page gives you two ways in:

Continue with Google or Continue with LinkedIn - the quickest route. You come back with your email already confirmed, so there is no code to type and no password to keep.
Sign up with email - enter your work email and we send you a 6-digit code. Type or paste the code in and it verifies itself; there is no button to hunt for. If that address already has a Handshake account, the screen says so and offers to sign you in instead.

Both routes finish on the same short form: your name, your company name, your company website (optional - we use it to set your account up faster), a password if you chose the email route, and the tick to accept the Terms and Conditions. Press Create account and you land straight in the platform.

If you open the signup page when you are already signed in, Handshake sends you to your own home view instead, because you already have an account.

Logging in

There is one sign-in page for everyone. Older addresses like /partner/login, /client/login and /seat/login all lead to the same place, so you never need to remember which one is "yours".

On the sign-in screen ("Welcome back") you have three ways in:

Continue with Google
Continue with LinkedIn
Sign in with email and password - reveals an Email and Password box and a Sign In button. A Forgot password? link sits next to it.

When you sign in, Handshake sends you straight to your own home view - a partner lands on their dashboard, a client on theirs, an account user on theirs. You do not have to pick.

Your sign-in is remembered securely between visits, so moving around the app is instant and you are not asked to log in again on every page. If your account is not active yet, or has been paused, you will see a short message telling you to contact support rather than a confusing error.

Accepting an invite

When someone invites you, you get an email with a link. Opening it shows a short "join" screen with the organisation's name and the email you were invited under (you cannot change it - the invite is tied to that address). You then choose how to create your sign-in, the same three options as the login page:

Continue with Google or Continue with LinkedIn - quickest, no password to manage.
Create account with password - enter a password (at least 8 characters) twice to confirm it.

Once your sign-in is created you see a brief "Account Created!" confirmation and are taken to your dashboard automatically. This single-screen flow is what teammates joining an existing partner organisation, admins, and people invited to run an account all see.

If the link says Invalid Invitation, it has either expired or already been used. Ask whoever invited you to send a fresh one - there is also a Log in button in case you already finished setting up and just need to sign in.

The client onboarding wizard

A brand-new client company invited by a partner goes through a short wizard instead of the single screen, because there is a bit more to capture. A progress bar across the top shows where you are, and you can go Back at any point.

Company Details. Your legally registered company name and, where an agreement is involved, your registration number, country of registration and registered address. Enter these exactly as they appear on official documents - they go onto the agreement.
Agreement. A plain summary of what you are signing up to - the partner you are working with, any onboarding fee, and pricing. You read the agreement, tick to accept it, and add the signatory's full name and role. Your email is shown but locked to the invited address.
Payment (only if there is a fee or a card is needed). Card details are entered through Stripe; as the screen notes, card details never touch our servers. If there is no fee now, this simply saves a card for future billing.
Create Your Account. The same sign-in choice as everywhere else - Google, LinkedIn, or email and password.

A "You're all set!" screen confirms you are done and sends you to your dashboard. See Platform structure for how clients and accounts fit together, and Billing and agreements for the agreement and fees.

Resetting your password

If you forget your password, click Forgot password? on the sign-in screen (or go to the "Forgot your password?" page). Enter your email and press Send Reset Link. For your security, the screen always says the same thing - "If an account exists with this email, a password reset link has been sent" - so nobody can use it to find out who has an account.

The email contains a link to a Create a new password screen. Enter your new password twice (at least 8 characters, with an uppercase letter, a lowercase letter and a number), press Reset Password, and you are signed in and sent to your dashboard. Reset links are single-use and expire; if yours has, you will be offered the chance to Request a new reset link.

Changing the email you log in with

You start an email change from your account settings. For safety, the change only takes effect after you click a confirmation link sent to your address. That link opens a Confirm email change screen that finishes the switch and confirms your new login email. The link is single-use, so if it has already been used or has expired you will be told to request a new change from settings. After confirming, sign in with the new address.

Sometimes a client needs to look over an audience and approve it, but does not have - or does not want - a Handshake login. For that, the account owner can send a share link. It is protected so that only the right people can open it, using a one-time code sent to their email.

How it works for the person opening the link:

Verify your email. The link opens a "Verify your email" screen. Enter your email and press Continue. If the share was limited to specific people, only those addresses are accepted - and, as with password reset, the screen never reveals who is on the list.
Enter the code. Handshake emails a 6-digit code. Type it into the six boxes (you can paste it and it submits itself). The code is good for about 10 minutes. If you mistype it, the screen tells you how many tries you have left, and after a few wrong attempts you simply request a new code with Resend code. Change email lets you start over with a different address.
Review and approve. Once verified you see the audience exactly as the owner laid it out, and you stay signed in to that link for up to 7 days (or until the owner ends or expires the share). From here you can approve the contacts and approve the brief for the planned outreach, editing the brief first if you want to. Every approval is recorded.

This is the simplest way to get a client's sign-off. See Audiences for what an audience and a brief actually contain.

Handing a seat over to a new owner

If the person who owns a seat changes - someone leaves, or a client wants a colleague to take over - you do not rebuild anything. The current owner starts a handover from seat settings by giving the new owner's email, and Handshake sends that person a one-time ownership handover link.

When the new owner opens it, the seat - with all its campaigns, audiences and contacts - moves to them, and they are signed in straight away without needing a second email. If they do not have a password yet, they are invited to Set password (at least 8 characters, with an uppercase letter, a lowercase letter and a number) or to skip it and use Google or LinkedIn instead. A confirmation tells them the seat is now theirs.

The handover link is single-use and expires, so if it no longer works the new owner just asks for a fresh one. After the transfer the previous owner no longer has access to that seat (they keep any other seats they own). See Seats and account safety for what a seat holds.

Limits and what to watch out for

Invites are tied to one email and are single-use. You cannot accept an invite under a different address, and once used the link stops working. Expired or used links show "Invalid Invitation" - ask for a new one.
Passwords need at least 8 characters. Password reset and handover also ask for an uppercase letter, a lowercase letter and a number. Or skip passwords entirely and use Google or LinkedIn.
Password reset and email-change links are single-use and time-limited. If a link has expired or was already clicked, request a new one rather than reusing the email.
Forgot-password and share-link screens never confirm whether an email has an account. They give the same neutral message either way, so they cannot be used to discover who is on the platform. Signup is the one deliberate exception: if you try to create an account with an address that already has one, it tells you so and offers to sign you in, rather than leaving you waiting for a code that was never sent.
Share-link codes expire in about 10 minutes and allow only a few wrong attempts before you must request a new one. Code requests are rate-limited, so wait a moment if you are asked to. Verified access lasts up to 7 days, or ends sooner if the owner revokes or expires the share.
Ownership handover is a real transfer, not sharing. Once it completes, the old owner loses access to that seat. Make sure you are handing it to the right person before you start.
Email change takes effect only after you click the confirmation link - changing it in settings alone does not switch your login until then.