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14.1. Change how long customer portal password reset links stay valid

Updated: 6 Oct 2026, 11:14 AM EDT

Applies to: HelpSpot 5.8.7 and later · HelpSpot Cloud and self-hosted · Customer portal only

When a customer asks to reset their portal password, HelpSpot emails them a link. The link stops working after a set time. By default that's 10 minutes, which can be too short for customers who don't see the email straight away — for example, if they're in a different time zone or the email is delayed by a spam filter.

You can choose how long the link stays valid:

Change the lifetime

  1. Go to Admin > Settings > Portal.
  2. Under Portal Authentication Settings, find Password Reset Link Lifetime and choose a value from the dropdown.
  3. Click Save.

The setting applies to all your portals, including secondary portals. It takes effect immediately, and also applies to reset links that have already been sent but not yet used.

Choosing a value

A longer window is more convenient, but anyone who can open the customer's email can use the link until it expires. Pick the shortest window that works for your customers. If customers are only occasionally missing the link, 30 minutes or 1 hour is usually enough; save 24 hours for cases where customers routinely can't act on the same day.

What customers see

The reset email tells the customer how long the link is valid for, matching the setting you chose. The email text comes from HelpSpot's language file, so it follows your installation's language and any language customizations.

If a link has expired, the customer can request a new one from the portal's password reset page.

HelpSpot 5.8.6 and earlier: the link lifetime is fixed at 10 minutes and can't be changed, and the reset email may not state the expiry correctly.

Staff passwords aren't affected

This setting only applies to customer portal accounts. Password resets for HelpSpot staff accounts are separate and don't use it.

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