From the Sales menu select New Quote, or click the Sales tab, and click the Create new Quote link in the explorer bar, and the New Quote dialog will open.

Begin filling out the quote by selecting the customer's name from the Quote Customer drop-down box, and their billing and shipping address will be filled out for you. If you are creating a quote for a new customer, simply type their name into the Quote Customer field, and fill in their address.

Enter items or services into the quote by clicking anywhere inside the items list to create a new item entry. Click within the Item or Description cell and use the drop-menu to quickly locate an item by its code or description. For new items, enter the details into the quote, and the details will be added to your items list for you, and will be available the next time you want to create a quote, order, or invoice. Enter the quantity, and the totals will update automatically.

Save the quote by clicking Record at the bottom of the screen. For more saving options, including Record and Print, click the triangle on the right side of the Record button.

For more detail about all the fields on the New Quote dialog, view the New Quote reference in the Screen References section of this manual.

To view a list of all quotes, click the View icon in the toolbar and select Quotes. By default, the list displays recorded quotes only. To view all quotes, or just draft quotes, use the drop-menu labeled Display Quotes to select.

For more details about the quotes list, see the Quotes List topic in the Screen References section of this manual.

When a customer has accepted your bid, you can easily turn the quote you gave them into an order or an invoice. First, open the Quotes List by selecting Open Quotes List from the Sales menu, or click the View or convert Quotes link in the explorer bar of the Sales tab. Select the quote from the list, then click either Order or Invoice from the toolbar. This will open a New Order or New Invoice dialog containing all the details from the quote. You can edit any information on the order or invoice, then save.

Once a quote has been converted into an order or invoice, its status in the Quotes List will change to either Ordered or Invoiced.

More information about sales orders can be found in the Sales Orders topic in the Common Tasks section of this manual. More information about invoices can be found in the Invoices topic in the Common Tasks section of this manual.

Import Quotes from a CSV File

You can import a list of quotes you have recorded from another system to integrate your records into Express Accounts. To import a list, open the Quotes list, click the Quote menu and click Import Quotes from CSV. Browse to the CSV file and click Open. The Match CSV Fields dialog will open in Express Accounts. You'll need to match up the columns from the CSV file with headings in Express Accounts. For more information on how to do this, see the help topic Match CSV Fields in the Screen References section of this manual.