Create a new estimate

1 Hover over the Work tab

Then select Estimates on the drop-down menu.

2Select Add New Estimate

It's the green button at the top right of the screen.

Or, you can quickly start setting up a new estimate by selecting New Estimate from the Quick Links menu on the Overview screen.

Or, if this estimate is part of a client project, you can choose Estimate from the Add New menu on that project's screen. This is the only way to create estimates for projects with a status of anything other than Active.

3 Choose to create an estimate, a quote or a proposal

First, choose from the drop-down menu whether this is an estimate, a quote or a proposal. This will change the text on the final page. For this article I'll create an estimate.

4 Select a contact and project

Choose which client this estimate is for. If it's a new client, you'll need to enter them as a contact first, by selecting the "Add a new Contact" link. If you need to enter an address for the contact, you can also create new contacts either by manually entering them, importing them from an email package, or importing them from Basecamp.

I can't see the contact.

If the contact is hidden, you won't see his/her name on this list.

If you're producing this estimate as part of a project, choose which project it's for. If it's for a new project, you can either set that project up before you create your estimate, or, if you prefer, you can finish creating the estimate first and then create a new project from the estimate.

Give the estimate a reference number. By default FreeAgent picks the next number in sequence, and uses a different sequence from your invoices.

5 Date, currency and additional information

Enter the estimate date, and which currency you want to issue the estimate in.

You can chose to include VAT in your totals by selecting yes or no from the drop down list.
If you chose not to include VAT on your estimate total, when the estimate is converted to an invoice, the VAT values will be displayed as usual.

Then put any additional information into the big box, for example a note for the client such as "As discussed". This information will be displayed on the estimate, so don't put here anything that you don't want your client to see!

If you want the same information to appear on every estimate, you can set up default text.

6 More Options...

Underneath these details, you'll find More Options. Select the More Options drop-down arrow to look at these.

You can put in a discount percentage here that will apply across the whole estimate.

You can use a different individual contact name for the client on this estimate, for example if your usual contact is the purchase ledger clerk and you want to send the estimate to the finance manager, you would put in the finance manager's name here.

You can also tick the "Use Letterheaded Paper" box, which will, as explained here, omit your logo and company address details from the estimate.

You can show the project name on the estimate if appropriate, and you can also tag this estimate as non-EC (including the UK), or as a sale of goods or services to a customer in the wider EU.

Select Create New Estimate to save your changes and create the new estimate, or Cancel to close this screen and abandon the estimate.