Quotes
For: Anyone sending a price offer to a customer before there's an order
A Quote is an offer — items, quantities, prices, tax, and terms — that you send a customer before anything is confirmed. The customer can accept it, reject it, or you can cancel it. Once accepted, convert it to a Sales Order or an Invoice from the quote itself, carrying the details forward instead of re-entering them.
What this module does
1. Creating a quote
Pick Division, then Branch, then Warehouse — the rest of the form stays locked until those three are set. A scratch quote can pre-fill those three from Settings → Organization defaults. A few checks run automatically the moment you save.
Customer and Shipping Address: The address has to be one of that customer's own addresses. You can't pick an address that belongs to someone else.
Quote Number: Auto-generated unless you turn that off under Quote Configuration on the form (prefix and next number). That same drawer stores Terms & Conditions, which pre-fill every new quote. Locked after save. This is not Settings → Quotation config, which is the reusable list of rejection reasons.
Price List: Optional. When you pick one, item rates come from that list instead of the item's default selling price.
Currency and exchange rate: Currency comes from the customer. If it differs from the company base (set under Settings → Currencies), an Exchange Rate field appears and you set it on this quote.
Items, discounts, charges, and tax: Line items with quantity and rate. Document discount follows Settings → Discounts — Enable Discount, then Discount Applies On Item Level or Transaction Level. Extra lines such as freight come from Settings → Additional charges assigned to Quotation. GST (CGST / SGST / IGST) is calculated from customer state vs company state. Round-off is available on the totals.
Credit limit: If the customer has a credit limit that covers quotes (Restriction Document includes Quote), the total can't push them over it. Defaults live under Settings → Credit limits until the customer overrides them. You'll be told the limit, current usage, and how much room is left if it would.
Overdue invoices: If Restriction Payment Terms Document includes Quote (on the customer, or the company default under Settings → Credit limits), you can't create a quote while that customer has an Overdue invoice. Pay it, or remove Quote from that list.
Stock check: If Inventory Config has this on for quotes, save is blocked when the warehouse doesn't have enough. Stock is not reserved — a quote is still only an offer.
Save vs Save & Sent: Save creates a Draft. Save & Sent is only on create — saves and marks it Sent in one step.
Warning: You can't create a quote at all until your company has a primary bank account set up. Mark one under Banking → Banks with Make this primary. Those bank details print on the quote PDF, even if this particular quote never becomes an invoice.
Note: A quote does not post to the ledger. Nothing hits Accounts Receivable or Sales until you convert it and save the Sales Order or Invoice.
2. Viewing, searching, and exporting
The list and the detail page cover different needs.
Finding a quote: Status tabs across the top, plus filters for date range, status, customer, added by, division, and branch. Search by quote number, subject, reference, or customer name. If you also use ABSS CRM, a Created From filter separates Books quotes from CRM ones.
Export: Download the current list (respecting filters) as a spreadsheet from More Actions.
Opening one: Basic Info shows items, customer, shipping address, and the company bank details as they print. Document Flow shows what this quote became — Sales Order, Delivery Challan, Invoice, Payment Received. History is a running log, and you can add comments there if you have edit permission.
Converted To: If the quote became a Sales Order or Invoice, that document's number, date, total, and status are shown on the quote.
3. Editing a quote
Only a Draft quote can be edited. Once it's moved past Draft, it's locked.
What stays locked: Division, Branch, Warehouse, Customer, and Quote Number cannot be changed on edit.
What gets re-checked: The shipping address still has to belong to the customer, the credit limit still can't be exceeded, and stock is re-checked if that setting is on.
Attachments: New files join the existing ones. Nothing gets replaced unless you remove it yourself.
Note: The overdue-invoice check only runs when a quote is first created, not when you edit it afterward.
4. Sending, printing, and downloading
"Sending" here means marking the quote as Sent. It does not email the customer.
Mark as Sent: Status changes to Sent, and who did it and when is added to History. Same result as Save & Sent on create.
Getting it to the customer: Use Download (PDF) or Print on the detail page. Those are how the offer actually leaves the app.
5. Changing a quote's status
Mark Quotation As only offers the moves below. A couple of backend-allowed moves are not on this menu.
| From | Mark As offers |
|---|---|
| Draft | Sent, Cancelled |
| Sent | Accepted, Rejected, Draft, Cancelled |
| Accepted | Completed, Sent, Draft, Cancelled |
| Rejected | Draft, Cancelled |
| Expired | Cancelled |
| Completed | Cancelled |
| Cancelled | Draft, Sent |
Note: Expired is a real status, and an Expiry Date can be stored on the quote, but the Mark As menu never offers Expired, and nothing auto-expires the quote when that date passes. A Cancelled quote isn't a dead end — it can be brought back to Draft or Sent.
Rejecting with a reason: You pick or type a reason. New reasons are saved to Quotation Config so they show up next time.
Completed without converting: From Accepted you can mark Completed yourself. Converting to a Sales Order or Invoice also moves it to Completed — but only after that document is actually saved.
Cancelling: Blocked while a non-cancelled Sales Order or Invoice exists from this quote. You'll see which one.
6. Converting to a Sales Order or Invoice
Only an Accepted quote can be converted. The buttons sit on the quote itself.
From the quote: Convert To Sales Order or Convert To Invoice opens the new document with customer, items, amounts, charges, and notes already filled. The quote stays Accepted until you save that document.
One conversion, ever: Saving the Sales Order or Invoice moves the quote to Completed. A Completed quote can't be converted again — one quote becomes one order or one invoice, never both.
7. Duplicating a quote
From the list or the detail page, Duplicate Document opens Add Quote with the same customer, items, and amounts.
What is left off: A new quote number, today's dates, Draft status, and no attachments. You save it as a fresh quote.
8. Deleting a quote
Delete is stricter than cancel.
Blocked when: Any Sales Order or Invoice exists from this quote — including cancelled ones. You'll be shown which document is holding it.
Business rules
| Topic | Rule |
|---|---|
| No ledger posting | A quote never posts to the general ledger. Only the Sales Order or Invoice created from it does |
| Subscription gate | Only creating a quote is limited by your plan. Editing, sending, changing status, converting, duplicating, and deleting are not |
| A primary bank account is required to create a quote | If your company hasn't set up a primary bank account yet, you can't create a quote at all — mark one under Banking → Banks with Make this primary. The bank details print on the PDF |
| Quote number | Auto-generated with a QUO prefix unless you turn that off under Quote Configuration on the form. That same drawer also stores Terms & Conditions, which pre-fill every new quote. Locked after the quote is saved |
| Division, Branch, Warehouse, Customer | All four are required to create. After save they are locked — edit a Draft to change items and amounts, not the customer or location |
| Currency | Taken from the customer at creation. An exchange rate field appears when that currency differs from the company base; you can set the rate then. The customer itself can't be changed later, so the currency stays put |
| Expiry Date | Optional, but if set it must be after the Quote Date. Nothing auto-moves the quote to Expired when that date passes — Expired is not on the Mark As menu |
| Stock check | If Inventory Config has stock check on for quotes, save is blocked when the warehouse doesn't have enough. The quote does not reserve or deduct stock |
| Editing skips the overdue-invoice check | That check only runs when you first create a quote. Editing a Draft re-checks the shipping address, the credit limit, and stock, but not overdue invoices |
| A quote converts only once | Saving a Sales Order or Invoice from the quote moves it to Completed. Completed can't be converted again. One quote becomes exactly one order or one invoice, never both |
| Credit limit and overdue restrictions aren't quote-specific | Settings → Credit limits holds the company defaults. Restriction Document is the amount check (Quote, Sales Order, Delivery Challan, Invoice). Restriction Payment Terms Document is the overdue check — if Quote is listed, you cannot create a quote while that customer has an Overdue invoice. A customer can override those defaults on their own Branches tab |
| Cancelling vs deleting | Cancel is blocked while a non-cancelled Sales Order or Invoice exists from the quote. Delete is stricter — blocked if any Sales Order or Invoice exists from it, including cancelled ones |
| Attachments | Up to 3 files, 5 MB each. Editing a Draft adds new files to the existing ones; nothing is replaced unless you remove it |