Help& answers.

Getting started

What is Portara?

Portara gives your browser a home page you build yourself. Add cards for bookmarks, weather, clocks, sticky notes, stocks, your calendar, news, and more, then arrange them how you like. Most people open their browser to check the same handful of things, so Portara puts all of them on one page. Set it as your home page, or pin it as a tab you keep open all day.

How do I sign in?

Go to portara.me/login. Sign in with your Google account, or enter your email address and click the magic link we send you. There is no password to remember either way.

Is there a browser extension?

It’s coming soon, and you don’t need it. Portara works as a regular website at portara.me: sign in, then set it as your home page or pin the tab. See The browser extension for what it will add.

Your start page

What are cards?

Cards are the building blocks. Each one does one job: a clock, a forecast, a list of bookmarks, a sticky note, a stock watchlist. You arrange them on a grid and size them to fit. Your layout saves automatically, so it’s the same every time you open a tab.

How do I add cards?

Click ✎ Edit next to the search bar, then + Add Card. Pick a type in the card picker and it drops onto your grid. ⊞ Presets, next to it, lays out a whole page for you. Click ✓ Done when you’re finished.

How do I move and resize cards?

In edit mode, drag a card to move it. The − and + buttons along the bottom of each card change its width and height. On a phone, cards stack in a single column.

Can I create more than one page?

Yes, on Pro. One page for work, one for a trip, one for home. Use the page tabs along the top to switch, and the + tab to add a page. Double-click a tab to rename it; in edit mode, a tab’s × deletes the page. The free plan includes one page.

Customizing your look

How do I change my wallpaper?

Open Settings (the gear icon at the top), then the Appearance tab, and choose Change wallpaper. You can set any image on any plan. Pro adds full Unsplash search and daily rotation, so the wallpaper changes every morning.

How do I change how the cards look?

In the same Appearance tab, pick a card style (Glass, Frosted, Solid, Minimal, Vivid, Fluent, or Inked) and a light or dark theme. Both work on every plan. Pro adds fine-tune sliders for blur, surface opacity, border opacity, shadow, and corners. Changes apply as you make them.

Can one page look different from the rest?

Yes, on Pro. A page can override the wallpaper and card style you set for everything else, so an evening page can be dark while a work page stays clear. Cards also have options of their own, such as calendar faces, paper for sticky notes, and layouts for feeds. Open them from the card’s header.

The browser extension

When is the extension coming?

Soon. It isn’t available yet, and we’ll announce it on the What’s new page when it is.

What will it do?

Every new tab will open your Portara page instead of the browser default. It will also power the Top Sites and Recently Closed cards, which need it to work, and let the Bookmarks card read your browser bookmarks directly. It’s built for Chrome, Edge, Brave, Arc, Vivaldi, and Opera.

What can I do until then?

Set portara.me as your home page and startup page. In Chrome, that’s Settings → On startup → Open a specific page. Or pin it: right-click the tab and choose Pin tab. Many people keep Portara pinned all day for stocks, feeds, notes, and tasks.

Can I bring in my bookmarks now?

Yes, on Pro. Export your bookmarks from Chrome or Firefox as an HTML file, then use Import HTML in the Bookmarks card’s settings. On the free plan you can add bookmarks by hand.

Account and billing

What’s included in the free plan?

A fully working start page: 14 card types, 1 page with up to 5 cards, any card style and wallpaper, and cloud sync across devices. Pro adds the other 11 card types, including stocks, sports, astronomy, and the AI news digest, plus unlimited pages and the full style kit. See the Pro page for every limit.

How do I upgrade to Pro?

Open Settings, go to the Account tab, and click Upgrade to Pro. Pro is $34 a year. Once checkout is complete, your account upgrades. If Pro features don’t appear right away, reload the page.

How do I cancel?

Settings → Account → Manage billing opens your billing portal, where you can cancel anytime. You keep Pro until the end of the period you’ve paid for. There are no partial refunds, and you won’t be charged again.

How do I delete my account?

In Settings → Account, scroll to the bottom and choose Delete account. Deleting is permanent: all cards, pages, settings, and data are removed and can’t be recovered. If you have an active Pro subscription, cancel it from the billing portal first.

Privacy and storage

Cloud Mode or Local Mode?

There are two ways to store your data. Switch anytime in Settings → Data → Storage mode.

• Cloud Mode (default). Your layout, notes, card content, and settings are saved to Portara’s servers and synced across devices. Sign in on your laptop and your phone and you get the same pages.
• Local Mode (Pro). Everything stays in this browser. Nothing is sent to our servers.

What’s the catch with Local Mode?

It’s good for privacy, with three trade-offs worth knowing:

• No sync. Your pages exist in that one browser only.
• Clearing browser data wipes everything. Clear your site data and your layout, notes, and settings are gone for good. There’s no cloud copy to restore from.
• No recovery. A new computer or a reinstall means starting over.

On one device and focused on privacy? Local Mode fits. Moving between devices, or want a safety net? Stay with Cloud Mode.

Does Portara sell my data?

No. We don’t sell, rent, or share your personal data with third parties for advertising or marketing. The details are in our Privacy Policy.

Backing up your data

Can I export my data?

Yes. Settings → Data → Download Backup. Your browser saves portara-export-YYYY-MM-DD.json, one file with your pages, cards, card settings, and settings.

How do I restore from a backup?

In the same Data tab, drop the file on the Import box or click browse. Portara asks you to confirm before anything changes, then restores and reloads.

Important: importing is a full restore, not a merge. The file replaces all your current pages, cards, and settings, and there’s no undo, so check that you picked the right file.

Is there something lighter than a full backup?

Layout snapshots, also in the Data tab, save a layout you can go back to later: 2 slots on Free, 10 on Pro. Portara also takes one automatically before you apply a preset, import, or clear a page.

When should I export?

Before any big change: reorganizing pages, deleting cards, switching devices, or trying a setup you might want to roll back.

Still need help?

If something isn’t working or isn’t covered here, the easiest route is the in-app support form: open Settings with the gear icon, then the Help tab (the speech bubble). Fill it out and we’ll get back to you.

You can also email hello@portara.me. We’re a small team, so replies might not be instant, but we read everything.