Creating an Estimate

An estimate is a preliminary sales document you send to a prospective client with the details of the products or services and their estimated prices. This article explains how to create an estimate, save it and send or print it, and what happens after saving.

How to access

• Direct link: New Estimate.
• From the menu: click Sales, then Estimates, then click New Estimate.

Steps: creating an estimate

1. Open Estimates and click New Estimate.
2. From the Method field, choose Send via Email or Print (Offline). The save button at the bottom of the page changes to Save & Send Email or Save & Print depending on your choice.
3. Choose the Client from the list. To add a client quickly without detailed data, click New.
4. Choose the Order Source if order sources are enabled in your account.
5. In the items table, choose the Item by searching by name or code. To add a product or service quickly, click New Product at the bottom of the list.
6. Enter the Unit Price and Quantity.
7. Add the Discount on the item if needed.
8. Choose the taxes for each item. To edit a tax name or rate, click Tax Settings.
9. To review the estimate before saving, click Preview. To go back to the form, click Edit.
10. Click the save button. The message The estimate has been saved appears, and you move to the estimate page.

Save options

Click the arrow next to the save button to choose another method:

Option	What happens
Save & Send Email	Saves the estimate and opens the step to send it to the client’s email.
Save & Don’t Email	Saves the estimate without sending it.
Save & Print	Saves the estimate and opens printing.
Save & Don’t Print	Saves the estimate without printing it.
Save & Add New	Saves the estimate and opens a new estimate form.
Save as Draft	Saves the estimate as a draft to complete later.

Fields and sections

Field	Description	Required	Shown
Method	Send via Email or Print (Offline). Sets the default save button.	No	Always
Client	The client the estimate is addressed to.	Yes	Always
Order Source	The order source the client came from. It moves automatically to the sales order or invoice when converted.	No	When order sources are enabled
Item	The product or service. The list shows the products you’re allowed to use based on the Invoice All Products permission.	Yes (at least one item)	Always
Description	The item description as the client sees it.	No	Always
Unit Price	The unit selling price. A price below the product’s registered minimum price isn’t accepted.	Yes	Always
Quantity	The required quantity of the item.	Yes	Always
Discount (on the item)	A discount as an amount or percentage on the item.	No	When How to Apply Discounts in Invoicing Settings is set to Discount per Item or Both Invoice Total and per Item
Taxes	The tax applied to the item. VAT is available by default at the rate of the account’s country.	No	Always
Discount (on the total)	A discount on the estimate total.	No	When How to Apply Discounts is set to Invoice Total Discount Only or Both Invoice Total and per Item

Rules and restrictions

• Without the Invoice All Products permission, the user sees in the items only the products they added themselves.
• A user with the Add New Estimates to His Own Clients permission can choose only the clients assigned to them.
• You can’t create an estimate for a suspended client.
• A unit price below the product’s registered minimum price isn’t accepted.
• The number of estimates is subject to your plan’s invoice limit.

Error messages and solutions

Cause	Message	Solution
The user doesn’t have the permission to add estimates.	You are not allowed to access this page	Ask the account owner to add the permission to your role from Roles.
The unit price is below the product’s minimum price.	Product (product name) has a minimum price (minimum price)	Raise the unit price to the minimum or higher.
The selected client is suspended.	Client is suspend	Reactivate the client or choose another client.
Missing or incorrect data in the form, such as not choosing the client or not adding items.	The estimate could not be saved	Review the fields marked in red and complete them, then save again.

What happens after saving the estimate

• The estimate gets an automatic number and appears in Estimates.
• The estimate doesn’t create journal entries, and doesn’t affect the stock or the client balance.
• You can later convert the estimate to an invoice from its page using Convert To Invoice; then the invoice’s effects on the accounts and stock apply.
• The creation is recorded in the account’s activity log.

Statuses and settings that affect it

• Invoice All Products permission: on, all products appear in the items. Off, only the products the user added appear.
• Estimates Settings: from Estimates Settings you can turn off Estimates Module entirely, enable custom estimate statuses, and turn on Apply Offers to Estimates.
• How to Apply Discounts in Invoicing Settings: controls whether the discount appears on the item, on the total, or both.
• Branches: if product sharing between branches isn’t enabled in Branches Settings, only the current branch’s products appear.
• Minimum price: if the product has a minimum price, saving with a lower price is blocked.

FAQs

I added a new user to create estimates, but products don’t appear for them when creating an estimate. Why?

Because the user’s role doesn’t include the Invoice All Products permission, so they see only the products they added themselves, and the new user hasn’t added any products. Open Roles, edit the user’s role, turn on the Invoice All Products permission, then save. The user may need to sign in again. Changing the role applies to all users assigned to it, so if you want to apply it to one user only, create a separate role for them.

Why doesn’t the item discount appear?

Because How to Apply Discounts in Invoicing Settings is set to Invoice Total Discount Only. Change it to Discount per Item or Both Invoice Total and per Item.

Why don’t estimates appear in the menu?

They may be turned off from Estimates Settings, or the user doesn’t have estimate permissions.

Does an estimate affect the stock or the accounts?

No. An estimate doesn’t record entries or deduct from stock. That happens only after it is converted to an invoice.