---
schema_version: "1"
id: 6ad3ef027517fffe00d2278ccc9f189fcaea73c17f380eb625c3816f638c2252
title: Prepare to Set Up Your Portal
collection: admin
version: current
locale: en-us
portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/service/264-0-0/preparation_for.md
canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.preparation_for.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5
source_site: help.salesforce.com
content_type: documentation
content_hash: 967830a2806e0f72dcd6939fe31aa7502bc9328868a87fbd68ee7b5c40f3b414
description: Before you set up your portal, build your public solutions, determine which information to show and collect, and designate your portal's location.
products:
  - Service Cloud
release: "264"
---
# Prepare to Set Up Your Portal

Before you set up your portal, build your public solutions, determine which information to show and collect, and designate your portal's location.

### Required Editions

<table class="slds-table slds-table_bordered slds-max-medium-table_stacked slds-m-bottom_small edition"><colgroup><col></colgroup><tbody><tr class=""><td class="slds-cell-wrap" style="vertical-align:top;"><a href="https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.legacy_editions.htm&amp;language=en_US" target="_blank">View supported editions</a></td></tr></tbody></table>

![Note](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-service-support_legacy-264-0-0-production-enus/081af4ec-6c06-4d4b-9443-cb3516bbc46d/images/icon_note.png)

Note Starting with Spring '12, the Self-Service portal isn't available for new Salesforce orgs. Existing orgs continue to have access to the Self-Service portal.

Before setting up your [Self-Service portal](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.customize_selfservice.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Self-Service provides an online support channel for your customers, allowing them to resolve their inquiries without contacting a customer service rep."):

- Build your public solutions.
    
    Review and mark your solutions as Visible in Self-Service Portal. Only solutions marked Visible in Self-Service Portal can appear in the Self-Service portal or the Customer Portal. For your Self-Service portal only, identify the top five solutions you want to feature on the Home Page.Review and mark your solutions as Visible in Self-Service Portal. Only solutions marked Visible in Self-Service Portal can appear in the Self-Service portal or the Customer Portal. For your Self-Service portal only, identify the top five solutions you want to feature on the Home Page.
- Determine the information to show and collect.
    
    Decide which case fields are available when users view their cases. You must also decide which fields are required when users submit cases online and which picklist values users can select when they solve their own cases with suggested solutions.
- Designate the portal's location
    
    Choose where to add your portal's login URL on your corporate website. To locate the login URL for your Self-Service portal, see Generating Login HTML.
- Customize your portal communication templates
    
    Decide which email templates to send to users to communicate a variety of information, such as reset passwords, notifications when public comments are added to cases, and case auto-responses with suggested solutions.
- Customize and distribute the portal tip sheet
    
    Download the [Using the Self-Service Portal and Customer Portal](https://resources.docs.salesforce.com/rel1/doc/en-us/static/misc/salesforce_using_ssp.doc) tip sheet and edit it to match your portal's branding and features, such as suggested solutions and the ability to attach files to submitted cases. Then distribute the document to your customers who want to learn how to answer their own inquiries using your portal.

#### See Also

- [Set Up Your Self-Service Portal](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.customize_selfservice.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Self-Service provides an online support channel for your customers, allowing them to resolve their inquiries without contacting a customer service rep.")
- [Customize the Self-Service Style Sheet](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.customize_the_style_sheet.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Select a predefined color theme, or download a sample Self-Service color theme so you can customize it.")