Sending quotes and approvals
Put a quote in front of your client and record the decision, from sent to invoiced.
Available on all plans.
Admins, and members with access to quotes.
The quote lifecycle
Every quote carries a status, and the buttons in the quote header change to match it.
- Draft: you are still building it. Only your team can see it, and the header shows Mark as Sent.
- Sent: live in your client's portal, awaiting a decision. The header shows Mark Approved and Revert to draft.
- Approved: your client said yes. The header shows Convert to Invoice and Reopen.
- Declined: your client passed. The header shows Reopen.
- Expired: an e-signature request lapsed before it was signed. The header shows Reopen.
Send to Client, Send for e-signature, Generate PDF, and Delete are available in every status, with these exceptions: Send to Client disappears once a quote is approved (convert it to an invoice instead) and greys out once the Valid until date has passed (extend it first), and a quote cannot be deleted once an invoice has been created from it until you remove or unlink that invoice.
Send the quote
- Open the quote and give the line items and total a final look.
- Open the ⋯ menu in the quote header and click Send to Client.
That is the whole send. Your client's primary contact gets an email with a link straight to the quote in their portal, where they can approve or decline it, and the quote moves to Sent. Sending again on a quote that is already sent reads Resend to Client and emails the same link without changing anything else.
Change a quote you have already sent
A sent quote is locked, so the numbers never change under your client while they are deciding. To fix a price, a line item, the title, or the terms, click Revert to draft in the quote header and confirm. The quote leaves your client's portal and their link stops working, and everything is editable again. Click Send to Client when it is ready to go back; that emails the revised quote and makes their link work again. If the Valid until date has passed while you were editing, extend it first: sending is blocked past that date in every status, drafts included. (Mark as Sent only flips the status, so save it for quotes you delivered outside OneTool.)
What your client does
Your client signs in to their portal with a one-time code sent to their email. On a sent quote they review the pricing, sign by typing or drawing, and click Approve quote. If it is not right, Decline this quote lets them pick a reason and add a note.
Each portal approval is recorded with the signature and an audit trail, which you can review on the quote's Approval Audit tab. For the full client-side walkthrough, see What your clients see and Approving quotes and paying invoices.
Record the decision yourself
Clients do not always click buttons. If yours approves over the phone or on paper, record it so the quote can move on.
- Open the sent quote.
- Click Mark Approved.
If a declined or expired quote comes back around, click Reopen to pick it back up and send it again.
Convert to an invoice
Once a quote is approved, billing is one click. Convert to Invoice creates an invoice with the same line items and totals, ready to review and send. See Creating an invoice.
Frequently asked questions
Related resources
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