How to Manage Estimates: Edit, Print, Delete

Once an estimate exists, the Estimate Summary page is where you review it, change its status, edit line items and pricing, download or print it, convert it to a job, or delete it. This article covers those day-to-day actions. To build a new estimate, see Create an Estimate.

Before you start

An operator account with access to the Leads & Estimates menu. Estimates are reached from Leads & Estimates > Estimates, from a lead’s Estimates tab, or from a customer’s summary.
To convert an estimate to a job, it must be Accepted and linked to a customer (not just a lead).

Estimate statuses

An estimate always has one of six statuses, shown as a colored badge:

Status	Meaning
Draft	Being prepared; not yet sent.
Sent	Delivered to the customer.
Viewed	The customer has opened it.
Accepted	The customer agreed — ready to convert to a job.
Declined	The customer said no.
Expired	Past its expiry date.

You set status manually in most cases. When a customer approves or declines through the Customer Portal, the status flips automatically (to Accepted or Declined) and the estimate becomes locked. See Estimate Approval in the Customer Portal. The portal hides Draft estimates and refuses to let a customer approve one, so move the status past Draft when the customer should see it. (A Draft a customer signed on site in the crew app is the exception: it stays visible so they can pay its deposit.)

Accepting in the office when a deposit is required

If you set an estimate to Accepted yourself and its deposit is Required to accept, you’re warned first: “This estimate requires a deposit. Accepting it here will not ask the customer for the deposit online. Accept it anyway, or cancel and send it to the customer to accept and pay?” An office accept never collects the deposit. Cancel and send the estimate if you want the customer to pay it online.

Steps

Open an estimate

Estimates list (Leads & Estimates > Estimates): a grid of every estimate with customer, lead, job, status, amount, and date columns. Click View on any row, or Print for a print view; Excel/PDF/CSV export is in the toolbar. Chips across the top filter it: Open (the default: Draft, Sent and Viewed, plus accepted estimates not yet turned into a job), Pending, Expiring in the next few days, To convert (accepted estimates with no job yet), Accepted, Declined, Expired and All. The dashboard’s Accepted estimates to convert card opens the To convert chip.
Lead Summary → Estimates tab or Customer Summary — the estimates attached to that record, each with a View link.

Change the status

There are two ways, depending on whether the estimate is editable:

Editable estimate — the Basic Information card in the sidebar shows a Status dropdown. Pick a new status and click Save Changes.
Locked estimate (already converted, declined, or portal-signed) — use the Quick Update button next to the status badge. It opens a small dialog to change status without touching anything else.

Note: an estimate the customer has e-signed in the portal can’t have its status changed manually — you must void the acceptance first (covered in the portal article).

Edit an estimate

An estimate is fully editable while it’s Draft, or while it hasn’t been converted to a job and isn’t Declined. When editable, the summary page lets you change line items, quantities, rates, tax, deposit terms, notes, the change log, season, and job site — then click Save Changes (or Save in the header).

Line items stay editable until the estimate is converted to a job. Use Add Line / Delete Line and the per-row Delete button; totals recalculate as you type.
Once an estimate is converted to a job, line items become read-only.
Once an estimate is e-signed in the portal, the whole estimate is locked (a contract record) until the acceptance is voided.

Email, download or print an estimate

Send saved estimate: in the Estimate Summary header. Emails the estimate PDF to the customer or lead on file, after a confirmation (“Send the saved estimate to the recipient on file? Save any edits first.”). You’ll see “Estimate emailed to [address].” Save your edits before sending; unsaved changes are not in the PDF.
More → Download PDF: generates a PDF (Estimate-####.pdf) with your company logo, address, the customer, line items, totals, and client notes. An estimate for a lead names the lead. When the estimate asks for a deposit, the PDF says so, for example “A deposit of $250.00 (25% of the total) is required to accept this estimate.”
More → Proposal packet: builds a multi-page proposal from the estimate. See Proposal Packets.
Print — on the Estimates list, opens a branded print-friendly view in a new tab that you can send to a printer or “print to PDF” from the browser.

All of them use the same company branding (logo, business name, address) that your document settings define.

Convert an accepted estimate to a job

When the estimate is Accepted and linked to a customer, the header shows Convert to Job:

Click Convert to Job and confirm in the dialog (it shows the estimate name, customer, and total).
A new job is created and linked back to the estimate, with every line, including free-text lines and fractional quantities as quoted. If the customer has no job site yet, one is created from their address. You’re taken to the job summary.
From a converted estimate you’ll then see Continue to job and Review billing in the header.

Special cases:

If the estimate is Accepted but only linked to a lead (no customer yet), the button reads Create customer and continue: clicking it creates the customer from the lead and returns you here so you can then convert to a job.
If the estimate isn’t Accepted, or has no customer/lead attached, the Convert button is disabled with a tooltip explaining why.
If the estimate was e-signed with options in the portal, the job receives only the lines the customer actually chose (see the options and portal articles).

Void a customer’s acceptance

An estimate the customer signed in the portal is locked. Void acceptance on its Accepted selections card removes the signature and selections so you can edit and re-send it. Voiding puts back the totals you originally proposed. It is refused while:

the estimate has already been turned into a job: “This estimate has already been turned into a job. Delete that job first, then void the acceptance.”
the customer has paid the deposit: “The customer already paid the deposit on this acceptance. Refund it in Stripe first, then void.”

Delete an estimate

Click Delete in the header and confirm. Delete is not offered on an Accepted estimate.

If the estimate is linked to a job, that link is removed first (the job itself is kept).
A portal-signed estimate can’t be deleted — you’ll be told to void the acceptance first.

Creating, editing and deleting estimates is kept in an audit trail with who made each change. Contact support if you need that history.

What happens next

The normal path from here is Accepted → Convert to Job → schedule the work → invoice it from the job (Review billing takes you to the job’s Financials tab). Declined or Expired estimates can be left as a record, edited into a new version, or deleted.

Tips & best practices

Update status as you go so the Estimates list stays an accurate pipeline. Portal-driven estimates keep their own status automatically.
Send the customer a real document. Use Send saved estimate, Download PDF or the portal rather than reading numbers over the phone; the PDF carries your branding and the client notes.
Revise with a new version, not silent edits. Once an estimate has been sent, bump the version and log the change so you have a paper trail.
Convert promptly. An Accepted estimate isn’t scheduled work until it’s converted to a job. Check the To convert chip so accepted estimates don’t sit.

Troubleshooting

Convert to Job is disabled: the estimate must be Accepted and linked to a customer. If it’s attached to a lead, use Create customer and continue first; if it’s unassigned, attach a customer and set status to Accepted.
“There is no email address on file for this estimate’s customer or lead.”: add an email to the customer or lead, then send again.
“Email sending is not configured on this server yet.”: use Download PDF and attach it to your own email.
Can’t void the acceptance: delete the job made from it first, or refund a paid deposit in Stripe first (see above).
I can’t edit the estimate — it has either been converted to a job (line items lock) or e-signed in the portal (fully locked). To edit a signed estimate, void the acceptance first.
Status dropdown won’t change a signed estimate — manual status changes are blocked on portal-signed estimates; void the acceptance to unlock it.
Can’t delete the estimate — it’s portal-signed; void the acceptance first, then delete.
Download PDF is missing my logo/address — set them in your company document/branding settings; the estimate PDF pulls from there.

Create an Estimate — build a new estimate
Options-Based Proposals — Required / Recommended / Optional lines and e-signed acceptance
Deposits on Estimate Acceptance — collecting a deposit when the customer accepts
Estimate Approval in the Customer Portal — online approve/decline and how it appears to you
Leads Overview — the lead pipeline and lead-to-customer conversion

How to Manage Estimates: Status, Editing, Printing, and Deleting (Leads & Estimates)