# Overview

> What Connect is, who it is for, and what you can do with a shared project.

Connect is the GIMLabs **client portal** - a read-only window onto a project that
a consultant or contractor has shared with you. You can browse the ground data,
view photos, follow lab testing and export what you need, all without being able
to change a thing.

It is built for **external contacts** - clients, stakeholders and reviewers - who
need to see and pull a project's data without a full GIMLabs account, and without
any risk to the underlying records.

<Callout type="note" title="Runs in your browser">
  Connect is a web app at
  [connect.gimlabs.io](https://connect.gimlabs.io). You sign in with a **Connect
  account**, which you set up from an invitation. See
  [Getting access](/connect/getting-access).
</Callout>

## What you can do

<Cards>
  <Card title="Explore the data" href="/connect/exploring-data">
    Browse the project's tables in a clean grid, with geology and hole status when
    they are shared with you.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Export what you need" href="/connect/exporting">
    Download data as CSV or AGS, and PDF logs, where your access allows.
  </Card>
</Cards>

## Read-only by design

Connect never lets you change the project's data - there are no edit controls
anywhere. You can browse and export, but the records stay exactly as the project
team prepared them.

## What you see is set by the project team

The company that invited you decides which project (or projects) you can see, and
what you can do - whether you can export, see photos, view geology, and so on. So
your Connect may show more or less than another contact's. If you need something
you cannot see, contact the person who invited you.

<Callout type="note" title="Setting up access (for administrators)">
  If you are the GIMLabs customer sharing a project, you invite contacts and set
  their permissions from **Manage** - see
  [Sharing with clients](/manage/sharing-with-clients).
</Callout>