Quote a job, get it accepted, and convert it to an invoice
Build a quote for a one-off job, price a required line and an optional add-on separately, attach terms and a note, then record the client's yes and watch Convert to Invoice turn it into a real bill.
What you will have
- Start a quote from a contact and see the client get set automatically.
- Price a required line and an optional line, and see how each affects the total differently.
- Attach Terms & Conditions and a Quote Notes block to the quote.
- Read the four stat cards on the Quotes list and know what each one counts.
- Record a client's acceptance that happened outside the portal.
- Convert the accepted quote into an invoice and see exactly what carried over.
Why it works this way
A required line and an optional line are priced the same way but behave differently everywhere after that. A required line always counts toward the total. An optional one sits below it as "Optional items (up to)", a plus amount that never touches the total on its own - only a client actually picking it, or an operator recording that they did, makes it real money.
Recording acceptance is not a workaround for a broken Send - it is its own documented door, built for a yes that happened on the phone, over email, or before this quote ever existed in the portal. It carries the same terms-acknowledgment requirement a client would hit on the accept page, just typed in by whoever took the call instead of ticked by the client themselves.
Convert to Invoice only ever carries across the lines that were actually agreed to. Record Acceptance has no way to say which optional items a client wanted, so nothing optional survives a conversion recorded this way - the invoice this walkthrough produced is priced at the required line alone, even though the quote itself still shows $650 of optional work sitting above it.
A quote's own source label reads Manual here because nobody built it from a ticket or an existing estimate. The invoice it becomes carries a different source of its own - Quote - which is how a converted invoice is told apart from a plan invoice (Core) or one entered by hand (Manual) later on.
Steps
Open Billing > Quotes > New Quote and search for a contact.
Searching "Bluebird" surfaces Priya Shah at Bluebird Dental. Picking her sets the quote's client automatically - Create Quote is the only thing left to click, and there's a Custom Customer option right below for a one-off buyer who isn't in the system at all.
Open Billing > Quotes > New Quote and search for a contact. Add a required line and an optional line.
AV Cabling and Mounts is a normal line at $3,200 - it counts toward the subtotal like any other. Extended 3-Year Warranty at $650 was added through Add optional item instead of Add Item, which drops it into its own Optional Items section below the required lines and ticks its Optional box automatically. The totals block below both makes the difference plain: Subtotal $3,200, Optional items (up to) +$650, Total still $3,200 - the optional line is priced but not yet owed.
Add a required line and an optional line. Add Terms & Conditions.
A payment-terms paragraph typed here travels with the quote. Insert saved terms and Save for reuse sit right above the box for a terms library shared across the instance, though this quote's terms were typed fresh rather than pulled from one.
Add Terms & Conditions. Add a Quote Notes block.
Notes sits in its own card below Terms & Conditions, for anything meant to reach the client alongside the pricing rather than stay internal.
Add a Quote Notes block. Save, then read the Quotes list stat cards.
Pending reads 1, with "(1 in draft)" underneath - this quote hasn't been answered yet. Pipeline reads $8,050.00, the pre-tax total of every open quote, ours and one already-Sent quote for another client combined. Accepted (30d) reads 2, $6,400.00 in the last 30 days - two other quotes this instance has already accepted this month - and Expiring Soon reads 0, since nothing Sent is close to its expiry date.
Save, then read the Quotes list stat cards. Record the client's acceptance directly.
Priya Shah said yes by phone rather than through a portal accept link, so Actions > Mark Accepted opens Record Acceptance: a name, an optional email, and a checkbox for "The client acknowledged the terms above" that has to be ticked before the button unlocks - the same acknowledgment a client would tick for themselves on a real accept page. Recording it here unlocks Convert to Invoice exactly the way a real client accept would.
Record the client's acceptance directly. See the quote flip to Accepted.
The status badge reads Accepted, a banner says the quote is accepted and cannot be edited, and Convert to Invoice replaces whatever action buttons were there before. Quote Details now fills in Accepted By, Accepted On and Terms Acknowledged alongside the fields that were already there.
Note: Record Acceptance never asks which optional items the client wanted, so none convert - only the required line carries into the invoice.See the quote flip to Accepted. Click Convert to Invoice and open the result.
The new invoice landed as Invoice 7, Outstanding at $3,200.00, source Quote - one line, AV Cabling and Mounts, matching the quote's required line exactly. The $650 optional warranty line never appears; nothing in the invoice points back to the quote it came from beyond that shared Quote source label.
Click Convert to Invoice and open the result.
Other ways to do this
A real Send, accepted by the client
Send Quote emails the client a public accept link. On the accept page they tick any optional items they want (the total updates as they tick), tick a terms-acknowledgment box if the quote carries terms, then Accept Quote.
A comparison quote
Compare, in a Draft or Sent quote's actions menu, spins off a second option (a Budget alternative, say) that the client chooses between - accepting one declines the rest.
Elise
Ask her directly to quote a job or convert an accepted one - same underlying action, not a lookalike shortcut.
If it did not work
- If Convert to Invoice is missing, check the quote is actually Accepted first - it only appears once something (a real client accept, or a recorded acceptance) has moved the quote out of Draft or Sent.
- If an optional line didn't make it onto the converted invoice, that's expected unless a client (or whoever recorded their acceptance on their behalf) actually picked it - an unpicked optional line stays priced on the quote and nowhere else.
- If Record Acceptance stays greyed out, check the terms-acknowledgment checkbox - the button unlocks only once it's ticked, the same as a client's own accept page would require.
Questions this page answers
How do I turn a quote into an invoice?
Open an accepted quote and click Convert to Invoice. The lines, amounts and prices come across. If the client ticked optional items, only the ones they ticked come over. Tax follows the client's own setup on their Billing > Tax tab. That means a QuickBooks tax code when an accounting system is connected, and your local rate when none is. So there is no single fixed rate. The new invoice's Source reads Quote. If the quote was tied to a ticket, it reads Ticket instead. The quote keeps the trail. Its Timeline reads Converted to Invoice, with the date and a link straight to the invoice it became, whether you pressed the button or the quote converted itself when the client accepted. The invoice does not link back to the quote; the audit log holds that side.
How do I create a new quote?
Open the Quotes tab and click New Quote. You can also start from a client's Billing tab. Search for the contact you are quoting. The client is set from that contact. Click Create Quote, then add your lines in the quote editor. To give the client a choice, use Compare in the quote's actions menu: that puts two or more quotes side by side on one link and the client picks whole. To offer extras on this quote, tick a line as Optional.
What do the four cards at the top of Quotes mean?
Pending counts quotes still in Draft or Sent. Nobody has answered them yet. Pipeline adds up what those open quotes are worth. It uses the taxed total when there is one, and the pre-tax amount when there is not. Accepted (30d) counts quotes accepted or converted in the last 30 days, valued the same way. Expiring Soon counts Sent quotes whose Expires date lands in the next 14 days.
What is on this page?
This is one quote. The top row shows its status. Quote Details holds the number, the client, the dates and when it expires. Under that you build the lines, with a cost, a markup and a price on each one. Terms & Conditions and Quote Notes sit below the lines. Timeline shows when it was created, sent and answered.
What is an optional line?
A line can be marked Optional with the tick box at the end of its row. Optional lines are left out of the subtotal. They are listed under it as an amount the total could go up by. The client picks the ones they want on the accept page. Only the ones they tick come across when the quote becomes an invoice. The tick box is not there on a quote in a compare group.
How do optional line items work on a quote?
On a plain quote you can tick a line as Optional. Optional lines stay out of the quote total. They show on their own line as Optional items (up to), with a plus amount. Tax is still worked out with them counted in, so the client sees a real number if they take them. You cannot use optional lines on a quote that is in a comparison group: the client picks one of those quotes whole. On the accept page the client ticks the optional items they want. The total updates as they tick. They agree to exactly the items they picked.
What does the terms checkbox do in Record Acceptance?
Record Acceptance is how you log a yes that happened outside the portal. That covers a phone call, an email, or a quote that was already accepted before you imported it. If the quote carries terms, you must tick a box saying the client acknowledged the terms above. You cannot submit until you do. That tick is your word that the client really agreed. It stands in for the box they would have ticked themselves.
What does Convert to Invoice do?
It is the primary button on an accepted quote. It makes a new invoice from the lines and prices on this quote. Only the optional lines the client ticked come across. Tax follows the client's own tax setup, not a fixed rate. The quote's Timeline then reads Converted to Invoice, with the date and a link to the invoice it made. The same row appears on a quote that converted itself when the client accepted. The invoice does not link back to the quote; the audit log holds that side.
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