July 14, 2026

Can my clients review and approve designs directly?

Yes. Clients open links with no login to approve or decline items, pin comments on renders, e-sign proposals, and message you. Everything they do is recorded in MONA.

Quick answer: yes. MONA gives your clients links that need no login or account. On them, clients approve or decline items, pin comments on renders, sign proposals electronically, and message you. Every answer is recorded in your workspace, and the project’s Portal tab brings it all together on one client page.

This replaces the approvals that used to live in text threads and email chains. Your client sees only what you chose to share, and you see exactly who approved what and when.

What can clients do?

Approve or decline items. On an approval list they enter their name, tap Approve or Decline on each item, and can add a note for you. They can tap Change to revise an answer.
Comment on renders. On a render review link they drop pins on the exact spot they mean, comment, reply, and attach reference images.
Sign proposals. They review every item, keep or remove lines, and sign electronically through MONA Contracts.
Sign contracts. Your design services agreement, letter of agreement or change order goes out as a Contracts envelope.
Message you. Client message threads stay attached to the project instead of scattered across channels.
Open one portal. The client portal gathers messages, approvals, proposals, invoices, a gallery, documents, the schedule and your Slides presentations on one page.

How do I send an approval list?

Open the project and click the Portal tab (it used to be called Client).
Scroll to the approval lists and click New approval list.
Type a List name, for example "Living Room Phase 1", and click Create.
Click Add from schedule to pick lines from your FF&E schedule (spec sheet), or Add a room to add every line in a room.
Click Share, choose Anyone with the link can view, and click Copy link. The list now shows Shared.
Send the link, or turn on Approvals in the project’s client portal so the list appears there too.

The list header shows the running tally: approved, declined and pending. Export CSV gives you Approved items only or All items, so ordering starts from recorded decisions.

How do I get comments pinned on renders?

In your Library, click Select and tick the renders.
Click Share for notes in the selection bar.
Add a Review name (optional) and click Create & copy link.
Send the link. Your client enters their name, then clicks on an image to drop a pin and comment. "Can the thing by the window be darker" becomes a pin on the thing by the window.

How do clients sign proposals?

Since October 14, 2026, proposals sign through MONA Contracts (e-signature) by default:

You click Send to client on the proposal.
Your client opens their link, reviews every item, and clicks Approve & sign.
They tick the consent box, adopt a signature (Choose a style or Draw), click Adopt and sign, then Finish.
You get an email and a signed PDF, and the items they kept move to Approved on the schedule.

Prefer one click with no signature? Go to Settings, then Finance, find Client acceptance, and pick Approve button under Proposals. The choice is locked in per proposal when you send it. Proposals sent before October 14 keep the typed-name approval they were sent with.

Full walkthrough: How do I send a design proposal for my client to sign in MONA?. For a standalone agreement, see How do I send a contract for e-signature in MONA?. MONA Contracts works as a DocuSign alternative for these, so you do not need a separate e-signature tool.

How do I put everything in one client portal?

Open the project and click Portal. In the Client portal card, turn on the sections you want (Messages is on by default), click Preview as client, then switch on Share with client and click Copy. A section shows an item only when that item is also shared on its own, so turning on Approvals never exposes a list you have not shared.

Put decks in the portal. Design services agreements, fee proposals and budget estimates built in Slides can live in the portal’s Presentations section. Click Add presentations in the Portal tab and pick the decks; MONA turns on each deck’s share link and the section for you. Or open a deck, click Share, and switch on Show in your project’s client portal. Removing a deck from the portal leaves the deck and its link as they are.

Details: How do I give my clients a portal in MONA?.

How large can files be?

Client portal documents can be up to 100 MB each. Contracts accept a PDF up to 100 MB; over 15 MB, photos are compressed when you send it, while the text, pages and page sizes stay exactly the same, so signature fields land where you placed them. For a very large deck, share it through the portal’s Presentations section instead.

What stays private?

Everything starts private. A client sees only what you explicitly shared, and portal sections are opt-in one by one. Links are unlisted: anyone who has a link can open it, so share links as deliberately as you would a document link, and switch off Share with client if a portal link goes somewhere it should not.

What it does not do (yet)

There is no client login or per-person access list. Everyone with a link sees the same page.
The portal itself sends no email. You send its link; proposals, contracts and invoices send their own emails.
Proposals do not send automatic reminders. Standalone contracts on the Contracts page do.

Want a hand?

If you want to set up your first approval list, proposal or portal on a real project, book a 30-minute setup call at calendly.com/mona-justin/30min.

Frequently asked questions

Do clients need to create an account?

No. Every client surface works from a link in any browser. At most they type their name so their answers and comments are attributed to them.

How does my client sign a proposal?

By default proposals sign through MONA Contracts. Your client reviews the items, clicks Approve & sign, ticks the consent box, adopts a signature, and clicks Finish. You get a signed PDF. You can switch to a one-click Approve button in Settings, Finance, under Client acceptance.

Is the signature legally binding?

Each signer ticks a consent box agreeing to sign electronically and that their electronic signature is the legal equivalent of a handwritten one. MONA records the time, IP address and browser for each signature. For a specific contract, check with your attorney.