How are you tracking open estimates versus sold estimates

Thanks for visiting the Community today, @SteveBSME. You can use the Job costing tools to track the expenses for a job and compare the expenses to your revenue. 

This way, you can:

• Set up a customer's job for each of your jobs. 
• Assign all your expenses to jobs. 
• Enter your estimate in QuickBooks Desktop. 
• Create appropriate invoices. 
• Run job costing reports to identify which job is profitable and which is not.

For more insights, visit this article to get some pointers about this feature: Tracking job costs in QuickBooks Desktop.

For future reference, learn more about how to customize customer, job, and sales reports in QuickBooks. 

Should you have any other questions in mind, leave a comment below. I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Thank you for your response.  I am looking on how to track estimates for sales.  Not for job costing.  This way we can see which estimates to follow up with customers to see if they are ready to buy those.   IS there a way to track this?  Or a plug in to a CRM, or similar?

Thanks for coming back to us, @SteveBSME.

In QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT), we can create an estimate to track your sales. Once an estimate is saved in QuickBooks, it will be turned into a sales order or invoice if the customer decides to accept your quote.

Here's how:

1. Go to the Customers menu.

2. Choose to Create Estimates.

3. Select the customer or Customer:Job.

4. Enter the Estimate details.

5. Click Save and Close.

Once done, you can now create an invoice. The available estimates for the customer will show on the pop-up window so you can add them to the transaction. I'll guide you how:

1. Open the estimate.

2. In the estimate screen, click Create Invoice.

3. In the Create Progress Invoice Based on Estimate, choose any of the following:
• Create invoice for the entire estimate(100%).
• Create invoice for a percentage of the entire estimate.
• Create invoice for selected items or for different percentages of each item.

4. Click OK.

5. Review the details on the Invoice page.

6. Select Save and Close.

I've added this link about customizing customer, job, and sales reports in QBDT: Customize customer, job, and sales report.

Please know that you can always get back to us if you have other questions. I'm always here to help. Take care.

please read and hear my question;

How do we manage estimates?  And report those out to use in sales, production, and then close;

estimate = quote

Quote:  Quoting in process 

Quote:  Quoted and not Purchased

Quote:  Quoted and Purchased

Quote: Quoted and Purchased and Working

Quote: Quoted and Purchased and Working and Progressive Invoicing

Quote: Quoted and Purchased and Work Done and Progressive Invoicing 100%

Quote: Quoted and Purchase and work done and paid and closed

Thanks for getting back to this thread and adding a clarification to concern, @SteveBSME.

For now, there is no option for us to track the estimate's status the way that you want.

Although, you can run filter your transaction list to view your open and closed estimates in QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT). This way, you can identify which transactions are active and which are not. 

Here's how:

1. Click the Customers menu and select Customer Center.
2. Go to the Transactions tab, then click Estimates.
3. By default, the list will show all of your estimates. You can filter the drop-down list to see which are open.

Additionally, you can look for a third-party app in the Desktop App Center.

I'm also including our Help articles for related references in managing your account and transactions.

Let me know if you need further assistance with this. I'm always around to provide answers and clarifications to your questions. Have a great day ahead and take care.

What do you mean by open estimate? 

Hi SteveBSME,

Thank you for reaching back out to us! Open Estimate means that there isn't an invoice associated with the estimate as yet. Once you use the drop-down filter, you can find the Open Estimate option, as seen in the picture below.

Please let me know if you need further clarification. I will be around to assist! I hope you have a great day!

Hi SashaMC,

I followed your instructions to filter the Transactions by Open Estimate and ALL of my estimates are showing as Open. The majority of these estimates have invoices that were created directly from the estimate. But are still marked as Open. What can I do to ensure the Estimates that have been Invoiced are marked as Closed or Not Active? I am using QB Premier Contractor 2020.

Thanks,

Daphne

Hey there, @DanielsFence. 

Thanks for chiming in on this thread. I can help you get these estimates squared away. 

All you need to do is go to the open estimate and choose to make it inactive. This will remove it from being "Open." 

Review this article for more details: How do I close an estimate?

Don't hesitate to reach back out if you have any other questions. I'm only a post away. Take care! 

Candice,

Clarification please:

Wouldn't QB Premier Contractor edition automatically make the estimate inactive once a Sales Order or Invoice is generated from the Estimate screen? Is that a setting feature?

I am having the same issue where all our estimates are showing as active even though they have been invoiced. Going back an inactivating them one at a time seems inefficient when if we've created a Sales Order or and Invoice that should trigger it.  Thanks.

Stephanie

Thanks for turning to the Community about your concern, Sean P.

I can help provide clarifications on how QuickBooks Desktop (QBDT) handles sales transactions.

Currently, you’ll have to manually select the Make As Inactive menu after generating a sales order or invoices. I can see that a lot of customers have the same needs like yours to make the program automatically deactivate it once the mentioned sales transactions are created. I suggest sending feedback about this feature directly to our product engineers for inclusion in future updates. Ideas like this will guide them on which area they’ll have to improve in the product.

Here’s how:

1. In your company file, go to the Help menu at the top bar to choose Send Feedback Online and Product Suggestions.
2. In the QuickBooks Feedback window, click the Type of Feedback drop-down to select Product Suggestion.
3. Tap the Product Area drop-down and choose the specific process.
4. Input your product suggestions in Here is my suggestion box.
5. Fill in the remaining fields.
6. Click Send Feedback.

This reference provides information on the different ways you can track customer transactions in the desktop program: Get started with customer transaction workflows. It includes links on how to manage invoices, sales receipts, estimates, payments, and other customer-related activities.

Let me know in the comment section below if you have additional questions about estimates and other sales transactions. I’ll get back to answer them for you. Wishing your business continued success.

Hey mate,

You can edit the estimate status pretty quickly in the Sales>All Sales>Quotes/Estimate screen.

Not ideal but best I can find.

I am managing my estimate by inserting a custom field on the document and inserting in there the status/action required/%likelihood of winning.

You can then order your reports by that custom field.

Again, not ideal.

Has this been worked on at all? Are there any ways to change/update estimate status as previously described in this thread? 

Hi there, @kmthompson. I'll share some valuable insights about changing your estimate status. 

To close an open estimate, you can manually make it inactive. Here's how to pull up an estimate.

1. Click the Customers menu and select Customer Center.
2. Go to the Transactions tab, then click Estimates.
3. By default, the list will show all of your estimates. You can filter the drop-down list to see which are open.

On the other hand, here's how you can close your estimate.

1. On that report, double-click the inactive estimate.
2. Click the Delete option on the upper left.
3. Select Save & Close once done.
4. Refresh the report to see the changes.

An estimate is a part of the Accounts Receivable workflow. See this article for other workflows available in QBDT: Get started with customer transaction workflows in QuickBooks Desktop. 

Don't hesitate to revisit us with all of your QuickBooks-related concerns and questions. The Community is always here to help you succeed.

I'm having the same issue!  Changing the status in bulk or having them automatically change once they are invoiced seems like a pretty basic option that should have been addressed years ago.

Is there a report to run that lists all open estimates? I want to see which estimates we need to follow up on.

Hello, Daniel. 

To view all open estimates for a specific customer, we can run the Transaction List by Customer report and customize it accordingly. This will give us a detailed overview of all the transactions associated with that customer, including any open estimates that are yet to be invoiced. This Report can be further customized to display specific columns and filters to ensure we get the exact information we need.

Here's how to pull up all open estimates: 

1. Click Reports, then go to Customers & Receivables.
2. Select Transaction List by Customer.
3. Tap Customize Report, then go to the Filters tab.
4. In the Search Filters field, enter and select Transaction Type.
5. Under Transaction Type, tap Estimate.
6. In the Search Filters field, enter and select Posting Status.
7. Under Posting Status, choose Non-posting.
8. In the Search Filters field, enter and select Paid Status.
9. Under Paid Status, hit Open.

These step-by-step instructions can help you quickly navigate QuickBooks Desktop and run the desired Report. To learn more about modifying your reports, check out this article: Create, access, and modify memorized reports.

If there is anything else I can do to help you get the report showing open estimates, please post a response below. I'm always available to assist in case you need it. Have a good one.

Thank you so much for the quick response. I ran the report and it is showing all estimates - even those that have been marked as inactive. This is what I'm trying to avoid. I need to see which estimates are still open or "active". How can I do this? 

I'm here to join you and provide additional options to help you access the information you need, Daniel.

There's another method of running a report that lists all active and open estimates. I'd be delighted to share these steps with you:

1. Go to the Customer Center and proceed to the Transactions tab.
2. Select Estimates.
3. Click Run Reports, then select View as a Report.

Once you've opened the report, let's customize it so that you can view only the active estimates. Here's how you can do it:

1. Click Customize Report.
2. Under the Display tab, scroll-down to the Columns section.
3. Look for and check Estimate Active.
4. Proceed to the Filters tab, then look for and select Estimate Active.
5. Choose Yes.
6. Click OK.

Let me also share these articles for additional guidance when creating and running estimate reports in QuickBooks:

• Some Sales Orders or Estimates May Be Incorrectly Marked as Closed
• Customize Customer, Job, and Sales Reports in QuickBooks Desktop

If you require further assistance when running reports, feel free to reply back to us. The Community is always available to provide help and support whenever you need it. Don't hesitate to reach out anytime!

quiero saber como hacer para tener estimados enviados vrs estimado ganados

- We need to start tracking Estimates produced versus Accepted

we create first a estimate  and when the client accepted whe create the invoice as normal

Hey Specialist Marine,

Love to see you here in the QuickBooks Community! I am happy to help point you in the right direction. My colleague, jenop2 above shared the steps so you can view all open estimates. 

If there is something else you need let us know below, and we will do our best to help. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day. 

SteveBSME, I believe only you and I understand your question.  I am looking for the same thing.  As a manager, we want a report (not a series of transactions) that shows how many estimates resulted in sales.  To further clarify, we want to figure out WHY our estimates did not result in sales.  We do not want to delete reports etc.  Just a report of all Estimates vs Sales FROM THE SAME Estimates.