When a client clicks a public share link — a proposal, an itinerary, or an invoice — they don't always land straight on the document. If they have a portal account on file, Trips shows a friendly splash first that says "Welcome — your {proposal/invoice} is ready" with two buttons: Sign in to your portal or Continue without signing in. This article explains when the splash appears, why, and the per-token skip behavior that keeps it from getting in the way.
When the splash appears
The decision runs in order — first match wins:
The visitor is already signed into the portal in this browser. No splash.
The visitor already clicked Continue without signing in on this specific share link in the last 7 days. No splash.
The intended recipient has no portal account on file. No splash. (No CTA the visitor could act on, so we don't show one.)
Otherwise — show the splash.
The 7-day per-token skip
When a visitor clicks Continue without signing in, Trips stamps a signed cookie that suppresses the splash for that specific share link for the next 7 days. The cookie name is keyed off the token (a SHA-1 hash of it), so each share decides independently — skipping the splash on one proposal does not auto-skip the splash on the next invoice they receive.
That detail matters: clients who pick "continue without signing in" on a sneak-peek itinerary still see the prompt on the actual booking confirmation that follows, giving them a fresh nudge toward the portal when it counts.
Why this exists
Two opposing pulls. Some agencies want share links to "just work" — the client clicks, they see the document, no friction. Others want the client routed through the portal so they engage with the full surface (messages, files, future itineraries, the dashboard).
The splash compromises: clients with portal accounts get a soft nudge toward signing in (where the experience is richer), but can always continue to the document with one click. Clients without portal accounts get zero friction. And the skip cookie means even a determined-to-skip client only sees the prompt once per share link, not on every reload.
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