How to make a quote in QuickBooks

A quote looks much like an invoice, but rather than charging the customer, it sets out the work you're proposing and what they can expect to pay. It's the form QuickBooks uses for a quote, a bid or a proposal.

The customer and the products or services don't have to exist beforehand, because both can be added from the quote itself with + Add new. If a product or service already has a rate saved, that rate appears in the Amount column when you pick it.

If you've quoted something similar before, copying that quote can save typing. Go to All apps, select Sales & Get Paid, then Sales transactions, find the quote and select Duplicate from the dropdown in its Action column. The copy has the same information, and you can choose a different customer for it before you save.

1. Select + New or + Create, then choose Quote.
2. Select Add Customer and choose the customer from the dropdown. For a new customer, select + Add new, enter their details and select Save.
3. In the Product/service field, open the dropdown and add each product or service. For a new one, select + Add new, fill in its details and select Save and close.
4. Check the Amount column, where any saved rate shows, and adjust the quantity or amount as needed.
5. To give the quote a status other than Pending, select Manage, open the Pending dropdown and pick another.
6. To choose what the customer sees, select Manage, expand a section with its dropdown and turn its switches on or off. The form previews each change as you make it.
7. Select Save.
8. To email it, select Review and send, edit the message if you need to and select Send quote.

Saving a quote doesn't touch your accounts. Quotes are non-posting, so nothing reaches your books until the quote is converted to an invoice.

The status follows the customer's answer. If they accept or decline the quote from their email, QuickBooks changes the status for you. You can also set it yourself: go to All apps, select Customer Hub, then Quotes, open the dropdown in the quote's Action column and select Update Status. Choose Accepted or another status and select Ok.

When the work is done, convert the quote instead of retyping it. On the same Quotes list, select Convert to invoice from the Action column dropdown, choose an option in the How much do you want to invoice? window and select Create invoice. Make any edits the invoice needs, then select Save, or Review and send to email it to the customer.

To see where all your quotes stand, go to Reports, select Standard reports and open the Quotes by Customer report for a date range. It lists each quote's customer, number and status, and the invoice number for any that have been converted. The Quotes list can also be sorted by date, number, customer, amount or status.

If the customer doesn't go ahead, change the quote's status to Declined rather than deleting it. Intuit recommends this because it keeps a record of the quote in your accounts.

Delete a quote only if it was made by mistake. Go to All apps, select Customer Hub, then Quotes, open the dropdown in the quote's Action column, select Delete and select Delete again to confirm.