Project Stages: Process & Status

Stages are the big steps of a project — Discovery, Design, Build, Launch — laid out so your client can see where things stand without asking. Each stage can carry a team checklist, to-dos for the client, a client sign-off and photos.

Overview

One list of stages per project drives two tabs:

Tab	What it shows
Process	Every stage as a block with its status and description, the overall progress, and the latest update. The Advance stage button sits in the header for your team.
Status	A stepper of stages with photos, the stage's progress, the client's to-dos, what your team is working on, the sign-off card and the latest update. For your team it opens with the stage manager beside a live preview of the client's view.

Exactly one stage is Current at a time. Stages before it are Done and stages after it are Upcoming. Start and completion dates are recorded automatically when a stage becomes current or done — there are no date fields to fill in.

Turning the Tabs On

Process and Status are off by default.

1. Open the project
2. Click the gear at the end of the tabs row (Manage Tabs)
3. In the Manage Project Tabs window, under Add Tabs, click Add next to Process and/or Status
4. Click Save Changes

Only administrators, editors, system admins and tech admins see the gear.

Clients don't see Process or Status until the project has at least one stage, so you can turn the tabs on and set the stages up before they appear. A tab must also be shared with the client, not just switched on — see the client access line.

Stage Templates

A template is a named list of stages you can apply to any project.

Applying a template

When a project has no stages yet, the tab shows Choose a stage template:

1. Pick a template from Select a template — each option shows its number of stages
2. Click Apply template

Applying copies the template's stages into the project. Rename, reorder, add or remove stages afterwards — editing the project never changes the template, and editing a template never changes projects that already use it.

Starter templates

Two templates are included:

• Website build — Onboarding, Discovery, Design, Development, Review, Launch
• Custom fabrication — Consultation, Design, Materials, Build, Finishing, Delivery

Creating and editing templates

Go to Settings → Project Stages (administrators and editors, with Projects enabled).

1. Click New template, or pick an existing one from Templates
2. Enter a Template name
3. Click Add stage for each stage. Give each a Stage title and, optionally, What happens in this stage
4. Reorder with the up/down arrows and remove a stage with its remove button
5. Click Save template

Delete template removes it from the list. Projects that already applied it keep their stages.

Managing Stages

Click Manage stages (on Status the manager is open by default). The manager lists every stage with its status pill (Done, Current or Upcoming), its checklist progress and a sign-off flag. The header shows how many stages are complete; Expand all and Collapse open and close every row.

Each stage has:

• Stage name
• What happens (optional) — a description for the client, up to 500 characters
• Client update — the latest news for the client, shown on Process and Status, up to 2,000 characters
• A Checklist, Client to-dos and Client sign-off (below)

At the bottom of the manager:

• Add stage — adds a stage called "New stage"
• Replace with template… — swaps all stages for a template's. If the project already has progress, client notes, checklists, to-dos or photos, you're asked to confirm, because they are removed.
• Save stages — nothing is saved until you click it. Unsaved changes shows while you have edits.

The ⋯ menu on each stage (Stage actions) has:

• Make current — makes this the current stage. Save a new stage before using it.
• Move up / Move down
• Delete stage — asks to confirm, and deletes the stage with its checklist and client to-dos when you save

On Status, Close manager hides the manager so you see the full client view; Manage stages brings it back.

If someone else changes the stages while you're editing, you'll see Stages changed while you were editing. Click Reload draft to load their version (your unsaved edits are discarded).

Checklists

Each stage has a team Checklist.

• Type in Add checklist item, press Enter and press Enter (or click Add)
• Click an item's box to cycle it To do → In progress → Done
• Reorder or remove items with Move up, Move down and Remove

Clients see the checklist as the stage's progress ("3 of 5 done"), and items in progress appear under What we're doing. With no checklist, clients see only the stage description.

Client To-dos

Client to-dos are things you need from the client in this stage. There are two kinds:

Kind	The client…
To-do	clicks Mark done
File upload	clicks Upload (or Add file once one is uploaded). Uploading a file completes the to-do.

To add one, pick To-do or File upload, describe it ("What does the client need to do?" / "What should the client upload?") and add it. The pill in the section header shows how many are waiting on the client.

• Files clients upload land in the project's Files tab. Any file type, up to 100 MB each, up to 20 files per to-do.
• Your team can mark a to-do done for the client from the manager (Mark done on the client's behalf) — it's saved with Save stages.
• In the client view, the client's own buttons are greyed out for your team: Your client does this from their portal.

Client Sign-off

Use sign-off when the client must approve a stage before you move on.

1. In the stage, turn on Client sign-off (Require client sign-off)
2. Click Request sign-off. The client is emailed and notified in the portal straight away.

While you wait, the stage shows Awaiting · sent with the date, plus Resend and Cancel.

The client sees Your sign-off is requested — Approve to let us move on to the next stage. — with two buttons:

• Approve stage — the stage shows Approved by with their name and the date
• Request changes — they must write what should change, then Send. The stage shows Changes requested with their message, and you can Request again once you've made the changes.

Advancing a Stage

Click Advance stage — in the Process header, or inside the manager on Status. On the last stage the button reads Complete last stage.

A popover asks Move to the next stage (or Complete the last one) and warns about anything unfinished:

• checklist items not done
• client to-dos still open
• client sign-off still pending, with changes requested, or not requested

Before confirming:

• Notify client — Email + portal notification. On by default.
• Add a note (optional) — appears when Notify client is on. The note replaces the stage's Client update in the message to the client.

Click Advance (or Complete; Advance anyway when there are warnings). The current stage is marked done and the next one becomes current.

Make current in the ⋯ menu also moves the current stage, but never notifies the client.

Stage Photos

Photos appear on the Status tab, per stage.

• Click the + tile (Add photos) and choose one or more images — JPEG, PNG or WebP, up to 20 MB each, up to 50 per stage
• Add a Caption (optional) under any photo
• Remove a photo with its trash icon
• Click a photo to open it full screen. Use the arrows or arrow keys to move between photos, and Esc to close.

Photos are stored privately with the project. They don't appear in the Files tab.

What Clients See

Clients get a read-only view. They can't edit stages, checklists or photos.

Above the tabs, clients also see a Project progress tracker with the current stage, what's next and the one thing you need from them — including Approve and Request changes when you've requested sign-off. Their Projects page shows each project's progress and next step. See Client Progress Tracker & Sign-off.

Process: the current stage and "Step 2 of 6", a block per stage with its status ("Done", "In progress since", "Upcoming") and description, and Latest update with the current stage's Client update.

Status: the stepper (clients can click any stage to look at it), the stage's photos, Stage progress, Your to-dos with their Mark done / Upload buttons, What we're doing, the sign-off card when you've requested sign-off, and the stage's Update.

A client only sees Process at all when Process is shared with them, and only sees Status when Status is shared — each tab still needs to be switched on and shared, per the client access line. Sharing Process without Status gets the client stage progress with no photos, since photos are part of Status specifically.

Notifications

Event	Client email	In-app notification
Advance or complete a stage with Notify client on	Yes	Yes
Advance with Notify client off, or Make current	No	No
Request sign-off / Resend	Yes, always	Yes
Client completes a to-do, uploads a to-do file, approves or requests changes	No	Yes

• Emails go to the client users on the project and end with a View project status link.
• In-app notifications go to every project member except the person who acted.
• Clients can turn stage emails off under Project Stage Updates in their notification preferences. It's on by default.
• To brand the email, assign a template to Project Stage Update (Client) in the email designer.
• Client stage emails and in-app notifications only go out when Process or Status is shared with the client — if neither is shared, only your team is notified.

Adding stage photos doesn't send any email or notification.

Permissions

Action	Who
Turn the Process / Status tabs on	Administrators, editors, system admins, tech admins
Manage stage templates (Settings → Project Stages)	Administrators, editors
Edit stages, checklists, to-dos, sign-off; advance	Administrators and editors on any project; other staff on projects they're assigned to
Upload stage photos	Anyone who can edit stages and is allowed to upload files
View stages	Anyone who can view the project
Mark to-dos done, upload to-do files	Anyone who can view the project
Approve a stage / request changes	Client users only

Client users can never edit stages, even when they are assigned to the project.

Limits

Item	Limit
Stages per project	30
Stage name	120 characters
What happens (description)	500 characters
Client update	2,000 characters
Checklist items per stage	100
Client to-dos per stage	100
Checklist item / to-do text	300 characters
Photos per stage	50, up to 20 MB each
Photo caption	300 characters
Files per to-do	20, up to 100 MB each

Notes & Gotchas

• Replace with template… removes everything attached to the old stages — progress, client notes, checklists, to-dos and photos. You're asked to confirm first.
• Deleting a stage takes effect when you click Save stages, not before.
• The template picker only offers templates; to start with a blank list, apply a template and then edit or remove its stages.
• Clients who have turned off Project Stage Updates still get in-app notifications.

Related Pages

• Client Progress Tracker & Sign-off — what clients see above the tabs and on their projects list
• Managing a Project — tabs, team and the project lead
• Project Calendar
• Project Files & Transfers
• Project Permissions & Access