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Create and send quotes

by Intuit•54• Updated 2 days ago

Learn how to set up quotes in QuickBooks Online.

Create a quote when you want to give your customer a quote, bid, or proposal for work you plan to do. The form looks similar to an invoice, but instead of charging your customer, you’re giving them info about your proposal and what they can expect to pay. Then, when the work is done and you're ready to invoice your customer, you can convert the quote to an invoice so you don't have to enter it twice.

  1. Select + New or + Create.
  2. Select Estimate.
  3. Select + Add customer. Then select a customer from the â–Ľ dropdown. Or, to add a new customer, select +Add new, enter the customer info, and select Save and close.
  4. Select the ▼ dropdown in the Product or service field and add the products or services to the estimate. Or, to add a new product or service, select + Add new, enter the info for your product or service and select Save. 
  5. If you saved a rate for your product or service, it automatically displays in the Amount column. Add or adjust the quantity or amount as needed. 
  6. The default status of a new estimate is “Pending”. If you need to edit the status, select ⚙ Manage, then select the Pending ▼ dropdown and choose a different status.
  7. To customise the estimate, select âš™ Manage. Then select the dropdownâ–Ľ on the section you need to customise to expand the details. Choose what info displays on your form, then turn the switches on or off in each section.
    Note: As you make changes, a preview displays on the form.
  8. When you're ready, select Save.
  9. To email the estimate to your customer, select Review and send. Then edit the email message, if necessary, and select Send estimate.

Step 1: Create a quote

As you’re creating a quote, you can customise it to display only what you want your customer to see. Here’s how to create and customise a new quote:

  1. Select + New or + Create.
  2. Select Quote.
  3. Select Add customer. Then select a customer from the â–Ľ dropdown. Or, to add a new customer, select + Add new, enter the customer info, and select Save.
  4. Select the ▼ dropdown in the Product or service field and add the products or services to the quote. Or, to add a new product or service, select + Add new, enter the info for your product or service and select Save and close. 
  5. If you saved a rate for your product or service, it automatically displays in the Amount column. Add or adjust the quantity or amount as needed. 
  6. The default status of a new quote is "Pending". If you need to edit the status, select ⚙ Manage, if not already selected, then select the Pending ▼ dropdown and select a different status. 
  7. To customise the quote, select âš™ Manage, if not already selected, and select the dropdownâ–Ľ on the section you need to customise. Then, select what info displays on your form by turning the switches on or off in each section. As you make changes, a preview displays on the form.
  8. When you're ready, select Save.
  9. To email the quote to your customer, select Review and send. Then edit the email message, if necessary, and select Send quote.

Step 2: Update a quote's status

When you email your customer a quote and they accept or decline the quote directly from the email, QuickBooks automatically updates the status of the quote for you. 

Or, here’s how to manually update the status of the quote:

  1. Follow this link to complete the steps in product Open this link in a new window
  2. Find the quote.
  3. In the Action column, select the dropdown▼ and then Update Status.
  4. Select Accepted or another status. Then select OK.

Tip: Quotes are non-posting transactions. They won’t affect your books until you convert the quote to an invoice.

Step 3: Convert a quote to an invoice

  1. Follow this link to complete the steps in product Open this link in a new window
  2.  Find the quote.
  3.  In the Action column, select Convert to invoice.
  4.  Make any necessary edits to the invoice.
  5.  If you need to customise any invoice fields, select ⚙ Manage and select the dropdown▼ on the section you need to customise. Then turn the switches on or off to change what displays on the invoice. As you make changes, a preview displays on the form.
  6.  When you're ready, select Save to save the invoice, or select Review and send to email the invoice to your customer.

Review open quotes

  1. Follow this link to complete the steps in product Open this link in a new window
  2. Find your quote. Tip: You can sort how quotes are displayed by selecting the date, number, customer, total, or status column headers.

You can also run a report to get more details:

  1. Follow this link to complete the steps in product Open this link in a new window
  2. Look for and open the Quotes by Customer report.
  3. Select your date range.

This gives you the customer name, the quote number, the status, and the amount.

Delete a quote

If your customer decides they don't want you to do the work, it's better to change the quote status to “Declined” rather than delete it. (See Step 2: Update a quote's status.) This keeps a record of the quote on your accounts for good bookkeeping.

But if you created a quote by mistake, you can simply delete it:

  1. Follow this link to complete the steps in product Open this link in a new window
  2. Find the quote.
  3. In the Action column, select the dropdown ▼ and then select Delete.
  4. Select Delete to confirm.
Have any other questions for our team?

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