A quote is the PDF version of a budget or proposal that you send to a client for approval. It contains your agency’s and the client’s billing details, the scope and pricing of the work, and optional terms or disclaimers. Every quote gets a unique number, which the client can use as a reference in their purchase order. The client can approve, reject or download the quote directly from the link you send them.
Understanding the four types of cost estimates in Allfred
1️⃣ Proposal – A budget in proposal status that isn’t linked to a project yet. These are often used for tenders or pre-approval discussions with clients. You can find them in Budgets → Proposals, where you can convert them into projects with one click.
2️⃣ Budgets – These are detailed budgets linked to specific projects. They can either be assigned to a project (meaning they define its structure) or unassigned (e.g., drafts or past versions).
3️⃣ Quotes – A PDF version of a budget sent to a client for approval. Quotes allow you to define how the offer is displayed and structured. Once created, all quotes are stored in a dedicated list of Quotes and can be sent directly to the client from Allfred.
4️⃣ Templates – Predefined budget templates saved under the "Templates" brand. These can be used to quickly generate new budgets for different projects.
How to create a quote
Go to Quotes → Budgets, or open a project and go to its Budgets tab.
Hover over a budget and click + Quote. If a quote already exists, click its quote number to open it.
The quote opens with a preview on the left and the quote settings on the right.
Adjust the settings (see below) and click Preview to refresh the preview.
Click Save. The quote gets an automatically generated quote number, which is also shown in the budget detail.
Click Download to save it as a PDF, or Send to send it to the client.
💡 Tick Save settings for workspace to use the same settings for all future quotes.
Quote settings
Quote options
Date, Valid for (number of days) and Language of the quote
Show VAT in title page: show the total amount including VAT on the title page
Hide title page: start the quote directly with the budget, without a title page
Add billing plan: include the billing plan in the quote
Show disclaimer: add your terms or notes in the Disclaimer field. Use
</br>for line breaks, and you can include links.Show client and brand, Show project name and code: see the table below
Use client name from billing address: show the client’s name as it appears in their billing address
Show client and brand and Show project name and code work together with Hide title page:
Setting | Enabled | Disabled |
Show project name and code | project code + project name | project code only |
Show client and brand | client + brand | brand only (or the chosen billing entity of the brand) |
Agency work options
Show positions: show positions in columns, in rows, or don’t show them
View: Summary or Detailed view of budget items. Summary view works only when positions are shown in columns.
Show item descriptions
Show VAT in items
Show hours
Show discount
Expenses options
Show commission
Show quantity
Show unit
Show discount
Show item descriptions
Show VAT in items
Legal entity and billing
Legal entity: your agency’s legal entity shown on the quote
Client’s billing entity and Agency bank account: available if the client or your agency has more than one
Admins can change the agency’s legal entity details in Workspace Settings → Companies.
Unsupported setting combinations
⚠️ Due to formatting limitations, the following settings can’t be used together:
Positions in rows + Show item descriptions
Positions in rows + Summary view
Positions in columns + Show item descriptions
Customizing quote colors
You can change the color of the stripe on the title page and the color of section headers (main rows). Contact [email protected] to set it up.
How to send a quote to a client
Open the quote and click Send, or use the Send icon in the list of quotes.
Enter the main recipient’s email. This person can approve or reject the quote.
(Optional) Add CC recipients. They can view the quote but can’t approve or reject it.
Fill in the email subject and content.
Click Send.
The client receives an email with a link to the quote, where they can approve, reject or download it.
When the client responds, you get a notification. An approved quote updates the Client approval column in the list of quotes, and the Client approved checkbox is ticked in the list of budgets.
List of quotes
All quotes are listed in Quotes → Quotes. A new quote is added every time you generate one, so a single budget can have several quotes.
Column | Description |
Number | unique, automatically generated quote number |
Brand | the brand of the quote (a quote created from a proposal may have no brand) |
Project | the project name (“Temporary project” for proposals) |
Account manager | the user who created the quote |
Budget no. | the budget the quote was created from. Click it to open the budget. |
Price | total amount excluding VAT |
Date | date the quote was created |
Sent to client | date the quote was sent to the client |
Client approval | date and person who approved the quote, or “Manually approved” |
Use the icons at the end of each row to edit ✏️, delete 🗑️, download ⬇️ or send ➤ the quote. Click Filters to filter by brand, project, internal approval, client approval or date.
💡 Use the column icon (|||) in the table header to choose which columns are displayed.
How to approve a quote manually
If the client approved the quote outside Allfred, for example by email:
Hover over the quote’s row in the list.
Click Approve manually in the Client approval column.
The column then shows “Manually approved” with the date. A quote that hasn’t been sent or approved yet has the status Draft in its detail.
FAQ
What’s the difference between a budget and a quote?
A budget is where you plan and price the work. A quote is the PDF version of a budget that you send to the client. One budget can have several quotes.
Can I create one quote from several budgets?
Yes. In the project’s Budgets tab, select the budgets with the checkboxes and click Create quote. More about multiple budgets in one project
The client approved the quote by email. How do I mark it as approved?
Hover over the quote in the list of quotes and click Approve manually.
Who can approve or reject a quote I send?
Only the main recipient. CC recipients can only view it.