Create and manage sales quotes

To easily track what prices you quote to prospective customers, you can produce sales quotes. Keep in mind that quotes don’t affect account balances. Once the customer accepts the quote, you can convert it to a sales invoice which automatically updates your ledgers with the values of the original quote.

You can also enter default quote settings such as terms and conditions and the default number of days until the quote expires. You should check your default settings before issuing your first quote.

Create a new quote

Note: The details of the product or service appears on the next available line. If necessary, you can change this information, for example, the quantity or unit price. If you need to create a new product or service record, click Create item. Enter the relevant information and Save.

1. From Sales, click Quotes & Estimates.
2. Click New Quote.

3. Enter the following information:

   • Customer. Choose the customer from the list. If you do not see the customer on the list, click Add a customer from the drop-down list to add them.
   • Quote Date. Enter the date of the quote.
   • Good Thru Date. The date the quote expires, which by default is 30 days from the quote date. You can enter another date or leave it blank if you don’t want it to expire. You can also change the default number of expiration days in the Default number of days field when you enter Terms and Conditions for quotes in Invoice and Form settings.
   • Reference. Enter a reference, for example, a job number.

   • Main Address. If there’s a main address in the customer’s record, this appears automatically. If the customer’s country is different from your business address, then both countries show on the quote. If the countries are the same, these won’t show.

     If there is no address on their record, enter the address here.

   • Delivery Address. By default, the delivery address is the same as the invoice address. If you don’t want to use this address, open the Delivery Address drop-down list and choose the required address. If the address doesn’t exist, choose Custom and enter the relevant information.

4. Enter the following information:

   • Description. Enter a description for the quote. You can enter up to 2000 characters.
   • Ledger Account. Choose the ledger account for the quote.
   • Item Code. If necessary, enter a code, for example a part number or stock code.
   • Qty/Hrs. Enter the quantity of items included in this quote.
   • Price/Rate. Enter the net value of the item.
   • Discount. If you want to enter a discount as a fixed amount, enter the value in the Amount box and leave the percentage as zero. If you want to enter a discount as a percentage, leave the value in the Amount box as zero and enter the percentage in the % box.

   • Tax Rate. Choose the tax rate.

     Tip: Tip: If you don’t see the option to choose a tax rate, check you’ve entered your tax rates correctly in Settings > Financial Settings.

   • Tax Amount. This calculates automatically based on the quantity, unit price and tax rate.
   • Total. This is the total gross value of this item line.

5. Enter any notes and terms and conditions.

6. If you want to attach a file such as a sales brochure, image or supporting documentation, select Attachment and then Upload files and then browse to the file.

7. Choose one of the following options:

   • Save. To save the quote.

   • Save & Email. To save and email the quote. The Email Quote window appears. If the customer has an email address in their record, it appears in the To box. You can enter additional email addresses separated by a semicolon.

     Accounting quotes are hosted on the web, which means that your customers receive a hyperlink to their sales quote in the email. After clicking the hyperlink, they can review the sales quote, save it as a PDF, or print it from their web browser. Optionally, you can select Include PDF attachment if you want to include a PDF of the quote with the email.

     Optionally, edit the Subject line, default email text in the Message field, or select Also print a copy to print the sales quote.

   • Save & Print. To save and print the quote. The quote opens in a new window or tab and you can choose to save or print the quote from your browser file menu.
   • Save & New. To save the current quote and then enter a new one.

To save the quote as draft select the Save as draft check box before saving the quote. You can use this option if you’re not ready to send the quote to your customer yet. When you’re ready to send it, simply open the draft quote, make any changes as necessary, clear the check box and then click Save.

If you chose to email or print the quote, Yes displays in the Issued column on the Quotes and Estimates page and the quote is pending until your customer either accepts or declines it. Once they’ve done this, you can convert the quote to an invoice or mark it as Declined.

Track sales quotes

To help you manage and keep track of the sales quotes you create, you can view details such as when you created the quote, if you emailed or printed it and if you converted the quote to an invoice.

Note: You can only view the document timeline in sales quotes created after 01/03/2019.

1. Go to Sales and then select Sales Estimates & Quotes.
2. Select an existing quote created after 01/03/2019.
3. Hover over the following options to view the details:

Status	Details
Created	Shows the date and time you created the quote.
Sent	Sent as PDF. Shows as manually submitted. If you then email the quote, it will change to emailed. Emailed. Shows the customer’s email address or addresses and the date and time you sent the email for all email addresses in the To and CC lines of the email. * Green. Shows when at least one of the emails have sent. * Red. If one email fails to deliver. You may need to refresh this page to update this status.
Viewed	Shows the email address and date when the customer viewed the email. If tracking is important, you can clear the Include attachment check box in the email window. If your customer’s email provider doesn’t confirm when they view emails, the Viewed status doesn’t update. This means your customer may have viewed the sales quote even if the status hasn’t changed. To use the Viewed status, you must email the quote when you create the quote or when you click into the individual quote. It is not possible to track the viewed status if you email it from the Sales Estimates & Quotes page.
Status	Invoiced. Shows the date and time you created an invoice from the quote. Expired. If the quote expires, it shows the expiry date and time. Declined. Shows the date and time the customer declined your quote.

To edit a quote

If you need to edit the quote, you should do so before converting it to an invoice. If you have already converted the quote, you must void the invoice before you can edit the quote.

1. From Sales, click Quotes & Estimates.
2. Click the required quote.
3. Click Edit and make the changes as required.
4. Click Save.

The sales quote now shows the new values. If the quote was previously declined, it’s now pending.

Convert a quote to an invoice

1. From Sales, click Quotes & Estimates.
2. Click the required quote to open it.
3. Click Create Invoice. The quote is converted to an invoice and displays on the New Invoice page.
4. If necessary, change the details. For example, if the customer wants to change the quantity of items ordered.

The status of the quote shows as Invoiced and the invoice appears on the invoice list. The sales quote list shows the invoice number created from the quote. You can link directly to the invoice from within the quote by clicking the invoice number link. The invoice also has a link to show which quote it was created from. If you void the invoice, the link is removed.

Mark a quote Declined

Note: You cannot decline a draft quote. If the quote is a draft, you must first open the quote, clear the Save as draft check box and then save it.

1. From Sales, click Quotes & Estimates.
2. Click the required quote.
3. On the right, click Mark as Declined.

The quote remains on the list but the status shows as Declined. If the customer changes their mind and decides to accept the quote, you can reactivate it by opening the quote and clicking Save. This changes the status to Pending and you can then convert it to an invoice if required.