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How to Unlock a Report

Want to let your clients and agents view their report before they pay or sign an agreement

Megan Lefebvre avatar
Written by Megan Lefebvre
Updated today

What does Unlocking a Report do?

Spectora requires agreements and payments to be completed prior to a client or agent being able to access their report even if the report is published. Unlocking a report will allow a client or agent to gain access to their report before meeting these requirements like signing agreements and paying for the inspection.


Why would I want to Unlock a Report?

This feature could be useful for a variety of situations, such as:

  • When you are waiting for a 'Bank Transfer' or ACH payment to finish processing

  • When a payment is still pending

  • When you are receiving payment at a later time

  • If a partial payment has been made and there is still an outstanding balance

  • When payment has been made, but agreements have not yet been signed

  • If agreements will be signed at a later time


How to Unlock a Report that is Unpaid:

By default, all inspections require payment in full to be completed before a report can be viewed by a client or agent.


While there are no settings available to apply this as a default for every report, you can manually unlock individual reports by not requiring payment for each.

💡 Quick tip: Click on the video above to expand it in another window.

  1. ​Open the 'Inspection Details' page and navigate to the reports section.

  2. Click "Locked."

  3. Click "Do not require payment for this inspection."

Note: You can re-lock the report again if needed, by clicking the "unlocked" option and selecting "require payment for this inspection."


How to Unlock a Report with an Unsigned Agreement:

If Agreements have not been signed, the report will remain locked even if you unlock it without payment being made.

We do not have a way to unlock or not require signed agreements so the only way to unlock a report with an unsigned agreement is by deleting the agreement.

💡 Quick tip: Click on the video above to expand it in another window.

  1. ​Open the 'Inspection Details' page and navigate to the agreements section.

  2. Click the three dots next to the agreement.

  3. Click "Delete."

You can always add the agreement back to the inspection again if you want them to sign it at a later point, but this will re-lock the report!


Frequently Asked Questions

  • My client paid via ACH/bank transfer and needs to view the report. The payment is still processing, can I unlock the report?

    • Yes, you can unlock the report while the payment is still processing. Unlocking it won't interrupt the payment process.

    • 🔴 Please be aware, If you unlock the report before the payment has finished processing, this does open up the possibility that the payment could fail and allow the client access to the report.

  • My client paid via ACH/bank transfer but the report is still locked. What gives?

    • You may have the setting "Mark inspections as paid only when ACH payments settle" enabled under Settings > Payments. This option keeps your reports locked until the payment has settled successfully and ensures that you've received your payment before your clients and agents can see their reports.

    • You can easily disable this setting if you'd prefer. Click here to see how.

  • What happens if an ACH payment fails after unlocking the report?

    • The report remains unlocked on the inspection. This is because unlocking the report tells the system that no payment is required for the inspection.

  • Can I email a report that has not been paid yet?

    • Absolutely! Just be sure to follow the steps to unlock it first so they will be able to view it.

  • Can I lock a report if the client has paid and signed their agreements?

    • There is not a way to lock a report that has been paid and signed. If this report should not be visible, you will need to un-publish it.


If you have any questions or feedback, write into our chat bubble or email support@spectora.com!

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