Why accounting firms use external sharing
After most client meetings, there's someone who needs to see what was discussed but isn't part of your Vinyl workspace — the client themselves, a director who couldn't make it, or a third party like a solicitor or financial planner. External sharing gets meeting content to those people instantly, without creating accounts or managing ongoing access.
Common situations where accounting and bookkeeping firms use this:
Post-advisory follow-up — After an annual review or tax planning session, send the client a summary of what was discussed and what they've agreed to action. It replaces the follow-up email you'd normally have to write, and gives them something to refer back to.
Client who couldn't attend — A business owner or director missed the meeting. Send them the recording or summary so they're fully up to speed without needing to schedule a catch-up call.
Third-party sharing — Share relevant meeting content with a solicitor, financial planner, or other adviser involved in the client's situation — without giving them access to your whole Vinyl workspace.
Compliance and record-keeping — Give clients a copy of their meeting record for their own files. Particularly useful for advisory, restructuring, or tax planning sessions where clients want a documented record of the advice given.
What is external sharing?
External sharing sends a read-only link to a specific email address. The recipient views the meeting in their browser — no Vinyl account is created and no login is required.
This is different from Copy Meeting Link, which generates a URL that anyone with the link can open. External sharing is targeted: you specify exactly who receives it, you can see who has access, and you can revoke it at any time. It's the better option when sharing with clients or third parties where you want control over who can see the meeting.
External sharing replaces the old guest user system. No new guest accounts are created when you share a meeting externally.
How to share a meeting externally
Open the meeting in Vinyl.
Click the Share button in the top-right corner of the meeting page.
Enter the recipient's email address.
Click Send link.
The recipient receives an email with a link to view the meeting in their browser. No account is created and no login is required.
What the recipient sees
The recipient gets a read-only view of the meeting. They can't edit anything, leave comments, or access any other meetings in your workspace. What they can see — summary, transcript, recording, or a combination — depends on your share settings.
For most client-facing shares, the summary and action items are sufficient. If you're sharing for compliance purposes and want the client to have a full transcript, update your share settings before sending.
Revoking access
You can revoke a recipient's access at any time. Open the meeting's Share settings, find the recipient, and remove them. Their link stops working immediately.
This is useful when a client relationship ends, a contact changes roles, or you need to update who has access to a particular meeting.
What if the link stops working?
Sometimes a link stops working before the recipient opens it — for example, if their firm's email security scanner followed the link automatically, or if they clicked it twice. This is called a "burned" link and is common with larger accounting and legal firms that have aggressive email scanning in place.
If this happens, the recipient can fix it themselves: they'll see an Email me a new link button on the page. Clicking it sends a fresh link to their inbox without any action needed from you — no need for the client to call or email you to ask for a resend.
What happened to guest users?
Vinyl no longer creates new guest accounts when you share a meeting. External recipients access meetings via browser link only — cleaner for them, and less overhead for you.
If your workspace has existing legacy guest accounts from before this change, they'll still appear under Settings → Team where you can revoke their access. No new guest accounts will be created going forward.
Control what the recipient can see
You can control whether recipients see the summary, transcript, recording, or a combination. See Control what you share in public meeting links for details.