Quotes
Build itemized quotes for clients, publish them to the client portal, track acceptance, and convert accepted quotes into invoices.
Overview
The Quotes module lets you:
- Create itemized quotes with products from your catalog or free-form line items
- Apply per-item and overall discounts (percentage or fixed amount)
- Set an expiration date so quotes can lapse automatically
- Publish a quote to make it visible in the client portal, optionally emailing the client
- Email or re-email the quote to the client for follow-ups
- Track status as the quote moves from draft to accepted, declined, expired, or converted
- Download or preview the quote as a PDF
- Convert an accepted quote into a draft invoice
Quotes live under Billing in the sidebar, which is available on plans with the usage-based billing feature. The Quotes item requires the quotes.read permission.
Navigate to Quotes
Go to Billing → Quotes (/quotes) to see all quotes in your organization.
Quote list
The list shows the following columns:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
| Quote | Quote number, with the quote name underneath when one is set |
| Client | The client the quote belongs to |
| Status | Current quote status (see below) |
| Total | Quote total in the quote's currency |
| Expires | Expiration date, or - when none is set |
You can search quotes with the Search quotes... box and filter by status using the status dropdown (All Statuses, Draft, Sent, Viewed, Accepted, Declined, Expired, Converted). Results are paginated 25 at a time.
Quote statuses
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| Draft | Being prepared. Drafts are not visible in the client portal. |
| Published | Made active and visible in the client portal (published without sending an email). |
| Sent | Published and emailed to the client. |
| Viewed | A status value that appears in the status filter. No current workflow moves a quote into this status. |
| Accepted | The client (or your team) accepted the quote. |
| Declined | The quote was declined. |
| Expired | Past its expiration date. Shown automatically in the list and detail view when the expiration date has passed and the quote is not already accepted, declined, or converted. |
| Converted | The quote has been converted into an invoice. |
Creating a quote
- Click Create Quote on the Quotes page.
- Select a Client (required).
- Optionally choose a Send To Contact. If you leave it blank, the quote is sent to the client's billing or primary contact.
- Optionally enter a Quote Name (for example, "Website Redesign Proposal").
- Set the Expiration Date (defaults to 30 days out).
- Add Line Items (at least one is required):
- Select a Product from your catalog to auto-fill the description and unit price, or leave it blank for a custom item.
- Enter a Description, Quantity, and Unit Price.
- Optionally set a per-item Discount %.
- Optionally apply an overall Discount in the sidebar — choose Percentage or Fixed Amount.
- Optionally add Notes (terms, conditions, or additional information for the client).
- Click Create Quote.
New quotes are created in Draft status. The form shows a running Subtotal, discount, and Total as you edit.
Quote detail page
Open a quote to see its full detail. The header shows the quote name (or number), the client, and the current status badge.
Summary cards
The detail page surfaces four stat cards: Total, Items, Issued date, and Expires date (shown as "Never" when no expiration is set).
Line items and totals
The Line Items card lists each item's product, description, quantity, unit price, and amount, followed by Subtotal, Tax (when applicable), Discount (when applicable), and Total.
Client and details
The sidebar shows the Client (and the chosen contact, if any), plus a Details card with the quote number, issue date, expiration date, and created date.
Quote actions
Available actions depend on the quote's status:
| Action | When it's available | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Edit | Any status except Converted | Opens the quote editor to change items, discounts, dates, and notes |
| Publish | Draft only | Makes the quote active and visible in the client portal; emails the client when published with email enabled |
| Email Quote | Published (any status except Draft and Converted) | Sends or re-sends the quote email to the client for follow-ups |
| Convert to Invoice | Accepted quotes that have not already been converted | Creates a draft invoice from the quote |
| Delete | Any status except Converted | Permanently deletes the quote |
| Download PDF | Any quote | Downloads the quote as a PDF |
| Preview / Print | Any quote | Opens the quote PDF in a new tab |
A converted quote cannot be edited or deleted, and a quote that has been converted shows a banner linking to the resulting invoice.
Publishing and emailing
Publishing is what makes a quote available to the client portal:
- Open a Draft quote.
- Click Publish. By default this also emails the quote to the client, moving the status to Sent. (Publishing without an email leaves the quote in Published status.)
- Use Email Quote afterward to re-send the quote — for example, as a follow-up.
The client must have an email address (on the client record or the selected contact) for the email to be sent.
Client portal visibility
Once a quote is published, it appears in the client portal under the client's Quotes section. Portal access to quotes is restricted to the Primary and Billing contact types — other portal contact types cannot view quotes.
From the portal, a contact can accept a quote, but only while it is in Sent status and not expired. To accept, the contact draws or types a signature on a signature pad and clicks Accept & Sign Quote. Accepting moves the quote to Accepted, records the acceptance date, and captures the signature.
Acceptance and e-signature
When a client accepts a quote from the portal, they sign it first — this is the first legally-meaningful approval you collect and serves as proof-of-authorization for billable work. Along with the drawn signature, Ascent captures, server-side, the signer's name and email, the date and time, and the client's IP address and browser (user agent). This mirrors the e-signature capture already used for Contracts.
The captured signature (image, signer name, and date) is shown on the quote's portal detail page after acceptance and is included on the quote PDF. The signing event is written to the audit log.
A signature is required to accept a quote from the client portal. When your team marks a quote accepted internally (via the API), no signature is captured — the signature trail comes from the client's own portal acceptance.
Your team is notified of the acceptance either way, and the quote's status changes to Accepted with the acceptance date recorded.
Converting to an invoice
Accepted quotes can be turned into invoices:
- Open an Accepted quote that has not already been converted.
- Click Convert to Invoice.
- You're taken to the newly created invoice.
Conversion copies the quote's line items, amounts, discount, currency, and notes into a new Draft invoice. The invoice's due date is set using your organization's default net terms (30 days when none is configured). The quote's status changes to Converted and links to the invoice.
Tips
- Set an expiration date to create urgency — quotes past their expiration date are flagged as Expired automatically.
- Publish a quote so the client can review it in the portal; use Email Quote for follow-ups without re-publishing.
- Only Primary and Billing portal contacts can see quotes, so make sure the right contact type is set if a client needs portal access.