A quotation is the priced quote you give a customer before they commit to buy. It records what you are offering, to whom, at what price, and until when the offer holds, so the customer can review the numbers and you have a document to work from when the order is confirmed. A sales rep, a salesperson, or the owner usually raises quotations.
A quotation is non-binding and optional: on its own it posts nothing, with no ledger entry, no customer balance, and no stock movement. You do not need one to sell, because you can go straight to a Sales Order or an Invoice. Raise one when you want to put a formal price in front of a customer first, and to track which quotes turned into orders.
When the customer accepts, the quotation feeds the rest of the sales chain. You convert it into a Sales Order to confirm the order, or straight into an Invoice to bill it. Either conversion pulls the quotation's lines forward, and the quotation tracks how much of it has been converted.
Find quotations under Sales → Quotations.
Before you start
- The customer you are quoting must exist in Customers. Picking the customer pulls in its billing and shipping addresses, its default sales rep, and its pricing (any wholesale price or default discount).
- Each line quotes a product. At least one product line is required to save.
- A location can be set on the header and per line. The header location, if you set one, prefills each line.
- A sales rep and a branch can be attributed to the quote for reporting. Both are optional unless your template marks them required.
- You need the Create Quotations permission, granted per user under Permissions. List Quotations lets you open the screen, and Edit, Delete, View, and Print Quotations cover the rest. To convert a quotation you also need Create Sales Orders or Create Invoices. See Users, seats & permissions.
A quotation is optional and posts nothing
Nothing in your accounts moves when you save a quotation, and you never have to raise one: you can sell straight from a Sales Order or an Invoice with no quote behind it. The customer balance shown on the form is for reference only; the quote does not add to it. Revenue, the receivable, and any stock issue happen only when you invoice.
Raise a quotation
Open a new quotation
Go to Sales → Quotations and select New Quotation. The quotation form opens full screen.
Check the template
The Template picker sits in the toolbar at the top of the form. ZyncLedger pre-selects your default quotation template, so you can usually leave it. The template decides which fields the form shows and how the printed quote looks; switch it here if you keep more than one layout. See Print templates for how these are set up.
Choose the customer
Select the Customer (required). ZyncLedger fills the Billing Address and Shipping Address from the customer's record, sets the Sales Rep to the customer's default, and prices the lines you add from the customer's pricing (any wholesale price or default discount). You can edit either address on the quote; both are optional. The customer's current Balance shows below the field for reference.
Set the quotation date
Enter the Quotation Date (required). This is the date of the quote.
Set the transaction number
The Quotation Number identifies the quote. How you fill it depends on the number mode for quotations:
- Automatic (the default): the field shows Auto-generated and ZyncLedger assigns the next number when you save. Leave it alone.
- Manual: you type the number yourself. It is required and must be unique across all transactions.
See Document numbering to change the mode or set up a multi-series numbering scheme.
Add the quote details (optional)
Fill any of these that help:
Field What it does Quotation Reference Your own reference for the quote, such as an enquiry or RFQ number. Valid Until The date the offer holds until. It must be on or after the quotation date. Location The location the quote is for. It prefills the location on each line, which you can still change per line. Branch The branch to attribute the quote to, for reporting. Sales Rep The rep to credit for the quote. Prefilled from the customer's default. Add the quotation lines
For each item you are quoting, fill a row in the items table:
Column What it does Product (required) The item you are quoting. Selecting it fills the description, price, and any tax and discount defaults, and sets the quantity to 1. Description The line text, prefilled from the product. Edit it for this quote if needed. Location The location this line is quoted from. Defaults from the header location. Quantity (required) How many units you are quoting. Must be greater than zero. Price (required) The unit selling price. Prefilled from the customer's price for the product; use the lookup beside the field to pull a recent or agreed price for this product and customer. Discount % / Discount Amount A line discount, entered either way. The amount cannot exceed the line's subtotal. Tax % / Tax Amount A tax to add to the line, entered either way. Tax Inclusive Whether the price already includes the tax (Inclusive) or the tax is added on top (Exclusive). Total The line value, calculated for you. A blank row waits at the bottom of the table, so a new line appears as you start filling the last one. To remove a line, select the trash icon at the end of its row. The Summary on the right totals the Total Items, Total Qty, Total Amount, Total Discount, Total Tax, and Final Amount as you type.
Add quotation notes (optional)
Use Notes at the foot of the form for terms, validity wording, or any message to the customer. If you keep standard wording, pick it from the note selector to autofill; a note marked default fills in on its own for a new quote.
Save
Select Save to save the quote, Save & New to save and start another, Save & Close to save and close the form, or Save & Print to save and print this one. The quote saves with a status of Open.
What it records (and what it does not post)
Saving a quotation stores the quote and its lines. It does not post to the ledger, does not change the customer's balance, and does not move any stock. There is no accounting effect at this stage by design: a quotation is a priced offer, not a sale.
The quote feeds the rest of the sales chain:
- When the customer accepts, you convert the quotation into a Sales Order to confirm the order, or straight into an Invoice to bill it (see below). The revenue, the receivable, and any stock issue are booked by the Invoice, not the quote.
- Each conversion fills in the converted quantity on the matching line and moves the quote's status forward automatically.
Quotation status
A quotation shows one status, and ZyncLedger sets it for you as the quote is converted. You never set it by hand.
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Open | The quote is raised and nothing has been converted yet. This is the status of every new quote. |
| Partial | Some of the quoted quantity has been converted to a sales order or an invoice, but not all of it. |
| Closed | Every line has been fully converted. |
| Deleted | The quote has been deleted (see below). It is kept for the record but its amounts are zeroed. |
Convert a quotation into a sales order or invoice
When the customer accepts, convert the quote from the quotations list:
Select the quotations to convert
On the Quotations list, tick the checkbox on each quote you are converting. Select more than one only if they are for the same customer.
Create the sales order or invoice
Select Create Sales Order to confirm the order, or Create Invoice to bill it directly. The chosen form opens pre-filled with the customer and the outstanding lines from the quotes you picked. Adjust the quantities if needed, then save. See Sales Order and Invoice for the full steps.
You do not have to convert a quote in one go. Convert part now and the rest later, and the status tracks the progress. A line that has been converted is locked on the quote: you cannot reduce its quantity below what has been converted, change its product, or change its location.
Tips & gotchas
Quotation, sales order, or straight to an invoice?
Raise a quotation to put a price in front of a customer before they commit. Use a Sales Order to confirm an accepted order and reserve the stock before you deliver. Go straight to an Invoice when the sale is already agreed and you are billing it now. Each stage is optional; you can start at whichever one fits the deal.
Duplicate an existing quote
To reuse a quote, open its row menu on the list and select Copy to Quotation. ZyncLedger opens a new quote pre-filled from the old one, with a fresh number and the converted quantities reset. This needs the Copy to Quotation permission.
You can only delete an open, unconverted quote
Deleting a quotation sets its status to Deleted and zeroes its amounts; the record is kept so its history and number stay intact. You can delete a quote only while it is Open. ZyncLedger blocks the deletion if any line has been converted to a sales order or an invoice (reverse those first), or if the quote's date falls in a period closed by the Ledger close date.
Related
- Customers are the parties you quote, and carry the addresses, default sales rep, and pricing that prefill the quote.
- Products & Items are the lines you quote.
- Warehouses & Locations are where lines are quoted from.
- Sales Reps are credited on the quote for reporting.
- Sales Order confirms an accepted quote and can reserve stock. It is one of the two next steps after a quotation.
- Invoice bills the customer and books the revenue, the receivable, and any stock issue. You can invoice a quote directly.
- Document numbering controls the quote's transaction number.
