---
title: "Connect to your computers"
description: "Connect to a computer you have been given access to, give colleagues access to their computers, and set your organization's rules for remote sessions."
url: "https://support.outpostplatform.com/portal-guide/remote-access/"
product: "depot"
type: "how-to"
status: "draft"
ai_summary: "Client portal users. Remote access lists the devices you can reach, how each connects (Any time, With a notice, Ask first) and whether it is recorded; Connect, then Start the session. An idle session pauses; the person who started it can Resume after signing in again. Owners give a person or group access to a device, site, device group or tag, and set the remote access rules."
source: "https://gitlab.com/outpostplatform/docs/-/edit/main/src/content/docs/portal-guide/remote-access.md"
license: "CC BY 4.0"
---

# Connect to your computers

Remote access lets you use one of your organization's computers from
wherever you are, through the portal. You can connect only to computers you
have been given access to, and only in the ways your organization and your IT
provider allow. This page covers connecting, giving access, and the rules.

## Before you begin

- Your IT provider has turned on remote access for your organization. If not,
  **Remote access** says **Remote access is off**.
- Connecting needs **Use remote access** and access to the computer. Giving
  access and changing the rules needs **Grant remote access**. The **IT
  contact** role can connect. The **Owner** role can do all three.
- Remote access opens in your browser, even when you use the portal in
  Microsoft Teams.

## How a connection works

Each computer you can reach says how the connection works:

| Shown | What happens |
| --- | --- |
| **Any time** | Connects without asking, even when nobody is at the device. |
| **With a notice** | Connects straight away. The person at the device sees a banner while it lasts. |
| **Ask first** | The person at the device is asked, and nothing happens until they say yes. |

The person at the device sees your name, your organization, and that the
connection comes from the client portal.

**Recorded** means the session is saved as a video that your IT provider
keeps, so you can ask them later what happened on screen.

## Connect

1. Select **Remote access**. It lists the computers you can connect to, and
   whether each is **Online** or **Offline**.
2. Select **Connect** beside the computer.
3. Select **Start the session**. You may be asked to confirm it's you first.

The session ends when you close it, when your access ends, or when an owner
removes it.

### If a session pauses

A session pauses when nobody has used the mouse or keyboard on it for a
while. The viewer warns you shortly before. To keep it going, turn on
**Control** and move the mouse over the screen.

When your IT provider requires it, a paused session asks you to sign in again
before it carries on. Select **Resume**, confirm it's you, and the session
picks up where it left off. Only the person who started the session can
resume it, and only while they still have access to the computer.

## Give someone access

1. Select **Remote access grants**, or **Who can connect** on **Remote
   access**, then select **Give access**.
2. Under **Who**, choose **A person** or **A group**, then choose them. Only
   people and groups with a role that includes remote access can be chosen.
3. Under **Which computers**, choose **One device**, **Every device at a
   site**, **Every device in a device group**, **Every device with a tag**, or
   **The devices assigned to them**, then choose which. The last reaches the
   devices your IT provider records as the person's, through their linked
   user. See [Manage your team](/portal-guide/manage-your-team/).
4. Under **How they connect**, choose a way. Only the ways your organization
   and your IT provider allow are offered.
5. Optionally, turn on **Record these sessions**.
6. Set **Starts** and **Ends**. Leave **Ends** empty to keep it until you end
   it, unless your IT provider sets a longest time.
7. Optionally, add a **Note** saying why.
8. Select **Give access**.

Access to a site, device group, or tag follows the computers in it, so a new
computer at the site is included.

To take access away, select **End access** beside it. A session in progress
stops with it. Access that is about to end shows **Expires soon**.

## Set your organization's rules

1. On **Remote access grants** (the **Who can connect** page), select
   **Rules**. The rules page has a **Who can connect** button to go back.
2. Under **Ways of connecting allowed**, tick the ways anyone may connect.
   Ways your IT provider does not allow are marked so.
3. Under **Defaults for new access**, choose the way new access starts with.
4. Optionally, turn on **Record every session**, or **Always ask the person at
   the device first**, which overrides the ways above.
5. Select **Save rules**.

Sessions already running follow the new rules within seconds.

## Next steps

- [Check the activity log](/portal-guide/activity-log/)
- [Manage your team](/portal-guide/manage-your-team/)