How to track portal opens

eCourtDate records an open when a client taps a portal link in a text or email your agency sent. You review that activity on the message itself, and you review open rates for the whole agency on the **Metrics** page.

### Overview

- **What it is:** Open tracking on outbound text and email messages that carry a portal link. Each message keeps the most recent open, with the time, the IP address, and the device the client used.
- **Why it matters:** Knowing that a client opened the link tells you the message reached someone and was acted on, which supports follow-up decisions and documentation.
- **Who uses it:** Case managers, pretrial officers, court clerks, and administrators who need to confirm that a client engaged with a portal link.
- **Expected outcomes:** An **OPENED** badge on messages that recorded an open, a **Last Opened** card on the message record, and an **Open Rate** figure on **Metrics**.

### Prerequisites

- Access to the **Dashboard** > **Messages** tab
- Access to the **Dashboard** > **Metrics** tab to review open rates
- At least one outbound text or email message that includes a portal link
- An understanding that voice calls report no open signal, so only text and email record opens

### How-To Steps

#### Find messages that recorded an open

1. Go to **Dashboard** > **Messages**.
2. Enter a date range in **From Date** and **To Date** in the **Search Messages** card.
3. Select a delivery status in **Status**, or leave it blank to see every message.
4. Click **Search**.
5. Scan the **Status** column for the **OPENED** badge, which marks each message that recorded an open.
6. Click a row to expand it.
7. Click **Edit Message** in the expanded row to open the full message record.

#### Review the open on a message record

1. Read the **Status** line in the message details card. The short description under the badge explains what that status means.
2. Scroll to the **Last Opened** card, which appears only after an open is recorded and shows how long ago the client opened the link.
3. Click the location link (it reads **Near** followed by the city) to open the **IP Lookup** page for that IP address.
4. Read the **ISP** line under the location for the network the client used.
5. Read the device line at the bottom of the card for the platform (Mobile or Desktop), the browser, and the operating system.

#### Check opens from a client record

1. Go to **Clients** and open the client record.
2. Scroll to the message feed on the right side of the record.
3. Look for the **OPENED** badge, which shows how long ago that message was opened.
4. Click the message text to jump to its full record.

#### Review open rates for your agency

1. Go to **Dashboard** > **Metrics**.
2. Set **From Date** and **To Date**.
3. Select a **Channel**, or leave it on **All**.
4. Read the **Open Rate** card, which compares opens against messages delivered to text and email.
5. Compare the **Opened** and **Open Rate** columns in the channel table and the type table.
6. Click **Export CSV** to download the delivery, open, and failure figures for the current filters.
7. Read the **How these numbers are calculated** card at the bottom of the page for the exact formulas.

### What to Expect

Opens are recorded automatically, with no setup on your part and no action from the client. A message that has been opened shows an **OPENED** badge everywhere the message appears, including the **Messages** list, the client message feed, and the **Dashboard** feed. The message record keeps the most recent open only, so it tells you that a client opened the link and when they last did, not how many times they visited. Reload the message record to pick up an open that arrived after you loaded the page.

On **Metrics**, a message counts as opened whenever it was ever opened, including after the reporting window closed, so re-running an earlier date range later can report a higher open rate than it did at the time. Opens come from tracking pixels and link clicks, which undercount recipients who block images or read without tapping a link.

### Best Practices

- Check the **Last Opened** card before you follow up, so your outreach reflects what the client already saw.
- Narrow the **Messages** list with **From Date**, **To Date**, and **Status** instead of scrolling the full list.
- Treat the location as approximate. Open the **IP Lookup** page when you need the detail behind it.
- Compare **Open Rate** by channel on **Metrics** before you change how your agency sends portal links.
- Leave voice out of any open comparison, since a phone call reports no open signal.

### Frequently Asked Questions

**Q: Where do I see whether a client opened the portal link I sent?**

A: Open the message record from **Dashboard** > **Messages** and look for the **Last Opened** card. In the list itself, an opened message carries an **OPENED** badge in the **Status** column.

**Q: Can I see every time a client opened the link?**

A: No. The message record shows the most recent open only. The **OPENED** badge confirms that at least one open was recorded.

**Q: What does the opened status mean on a message?**

A: The description under the **Status** badge reads that the recipient clicked a trackable link in the message, and that for email this can also mean the recipient opened the email.

**Q: Why do voice messages show no open count on Metrics?**

A: A voice call reports no open signal, so **Metrics** leaves voice out of the **Open Rate** rather than counting those calls as unopened. The **Opened** column stays empty for voice rows.

### Troubleshooting

**Issue:** No **Last Opened** card appears on a message the client says they opened.

**Symptoms:** The message record shows a **Status** badge, and no **Last Opened** card appears below the message details.

**Solution:** The card renders only after an open is recorded for that message. Reload the record to fetch the latest open. Confirm the message went out over text or email, because a voice call never records one, and confirm the message actually contained a portal link.

**Issue:** The **Open Rate** on **Metrics** reads higher than 100 percent.

**Symptoms:** The **Open Rate** card or a row in the channel table reports a rate above 100 percent.

**Solution:** This is expected. A message whose status advances to opened is no longer counted under delivered, and **Open Rate** divides opens by delivered messages. The **How these numbers are calculated** card on the same page explains the formula.

**Issue:** The **Last Opened** card shows a time but no location or device.

**Symptoms:** The card shows how long ago the message was opened, with no **Near** link, no **ISP** line, and no device line.

**Solution:** The location link renders only when the IP address resolves to a city, and the device line renders only when a browser identifier was captured with the open. When neither is present, the timestamp is all that was recorded for that visit.

### Related Articles

- [How to Track Geolocation on Portal Visits](/how-to-track-geolocation-on-portal-visits)
- [How to Search for Outbound Messages Using Filters](/how-to-search-for-outbound-messages-using-filters)
- [How to Create Web Portals](/how-to-create-web-portals)
- [How to Manage Clients](/how-to-manage-clients)