Your Church Portal is your public website, and one of the best things about it is how little there is to manage: it's always live, and sharing it is as simple as copying a link. This guide covers how your changes go live, how to preview your site, how to share it, and how to put it on your own custom domain.
All of this happens in Portal Studio. For the full tour of every tab, see Customizing Your Church Portal (Church Portal Studio).
Your site is always live
There's no separate "publish" step and no draft mode to worry about. Your portal is live from the start.
Each section of Portal Studio has its own Save button, and the page editor has its own Save too. Whenever you save, your changes go live on your public portal immediately. That's it — save, and it's published.
💡 Tip: Because saving publishes right away, it's a good habit to preview your work before you save, or to check the live site right after — see below.
Previewing your site
You have two ways to see how things look:
Live preview while you edit. Some sections — including Navigation, Giving, and Calendar — show a live preview right in the editor as you make changes, so you can see the effect before you save.
View your real site. To open your actual public portal, click View Portal. You'll find it in the Portal Studio sidebar and on the Overview tab. Your public portal opens in a new tab, exactly as your visitors see it.
Sharing your site
Your portal has its own web address, and you can share it anywhere.
Go to the Overview tab (your portal URL is also shown in the sidebar).
Click Copy URL to copy your portal address.
Paste and share it — link to it from your existing website, add it to emails and newsletters, or post it on social media.
Anyone with the link can open your portal, browse your pages, view your events, and give online.
Using your own domain
Want a custom web address like yourchurch.org instead of the standard Gracely URL? That's the Custom Domain add-on. It's $19/month and includes free automatic SSL, so your site stays secure.
You set it up in Church Settings → Custom Domain. To learn more and get started, see:
Still need help? Start a chat with us.