How to change the status of an estimate

This article explains how to change the status of an estimate you've created in FreeAgent

Why would I need to change the status of an estimate?

For instance, if your client approves the estimate, you can mark it as 'Approved' in FreeAgent. You can also mark an estimate as 'Rejected' if your client's not happy with it. You can take a sent estimate back to draft stage if you need to make any changes to it, or mark an estimate that you've saved a copy of as sent. And finally, you can convert an estimate quickly to an invoice.

This article explains how to do all of these.

Opening the estimate

Navigate to the 'Work' tab at the top of the screen and select 'Estimates' from the drop-down menu.

Select the reference number of the relevant estimate.

Making your changes: Draft, Sent, Approved or Rejected...

You can see that this estimate is marked as 'Sent'.

Select 'Make Draft' if you need to make any changes to it.

After making the relevant changes, select 'Mark as Sent' to change it back to 'Sent'.

Select 'Mark as Approved' to mark the estimate as approved.

Alternatively, select 'Actions' and then choose 'Mark as Rejected' to mark the estimate as rejected by your client.

Converting the estimate to an invoice or a project

To convert the estimate to an invoice, select 'Convert to Invoice'. You can only select this option once an estimate has been marked as 'Sent' .

Selecting 'Convert to Invoice' automatically converts the estimate into a draft invoice and gives it the next invoice number in sequence, which will usually be a different number from the one it had as an estimate.

Once the estimate has been converted into an invoice you will you be able to see it as a transaction in your 'Sales' account.

You're then ready to work with the estimate you have just converted, as a draft invoice. For example, you might want to add more figures to the invoice, or send it to your contact.

You can also convert estimates to projects.

Can I see when changes were made to estimates?

You can indeed. There are two places you can look for this.

On the 'Estimates' screen, select 'View History' to see what's happened in the past to this estimate.

You can also see the history in the section below the estimate.