Use this article when an adjustment you tried to make on a quote did not save, the totals on the quote do not match what you expected after saving, or the adjustment controls themselves are missing. After this you will have either applied the correct fix and confirmed the quote total, or you will have ruled the symptom in for a support request with the data the team needs.
Symptom table
Symptom | Check (where to look) | Fix (action) | Verify (what you'll see) |
Apply changes stays disabled in the Manually adjust price dialog. | The Amount field and the Reason (mandatory) field in the open dialog. | Fill Amount with a value in the quote's currency, and fill Reason (mandatory) with a one-line note. Both are required. | Apply changes becomes active. Selecting it closes the dialog and the new value appears on the quote's Total estimate line. |
The dialog returns Reduction cannot exceed total estimate value. | The Adjustment type (Reduce) and the Amount value compared with the Original estimate: shown at the top of the dialog. | Lower the Amount to a value below the Original estimate:, or switch Adjustment type to Set to and enter the target final price directly. | The error clears. Apply changes activates once Amount and Reason (mandatory) are valid. |
Total estimate on the quote does not match the Amount you typed in Set to. | The price breakdown rebate row and the tax line on the quote totals. | Confirm whether a rebate or a tax rate is configured for this quote — both apply after the adjustment, so the displayed Total estimate can differ from the Amount you typed. Verify rebate via Override the rebate on a single quote; verify tax in Configure tax on quote letters. | The Total estimate equals (your Amount ± rebate-gross-up ± tax) — i.e., the new total after the rebate and tax pass over the adjusted base. |
Per-bucket markup fields are locked in View and edit. | The headline pricing-model line on the quote totals (Gross profit percentage, VA percentage, or VA per press hour) — look for "(User adjusted)" suffix. | Reset the headline pricing-model override on the quote, then re-open See price breakdown → View and edit. The bucket markup fields unlock. | The markup fields accept input. Editing a bucket recalculates the option total and the Total estimate. |
View and edit is not visible on the price breakdown row. | The quote calculation state — confirm the option has calculated successfully and you opened the row's actions, not the option header. | Recalculate the quote via Recalculate, then re-open See price breakdown and look for View and edit at the row level on the calculated option. | View and edit appears as a row action on every calculated option. Selecting it opens the pricing-and-imposition view. |
The price-adjustment control is missing on the quote totals bar. | The quote's locked state on the export status and the user's role. | If the quote is locked (already exported or in a read-only state), unlock or reopen it before adjusting. If the role lacks quote-edit permission, ask an admin via Estimator permissions reference. | The price-adjustment control reappears on the totals bar when both the quote is editable and the user has quote-edit permission. |
The adjustment saved but the exported file shows the calculated total, not the adjusted total. | The export was generated before the adjustment was applied — compare the export timestamp with the adjustment save time. | Re-run the export from the estimate page after Apply changes. The export reads the current saved quote at the moment of export. | The new export shows the adjusted Total estimate as the final number; the price breakdown attached to the export shows the adjustment row with Reason for adjustment. |
Worked example faults
Example 1 — Northgate Press tries to discount a Stitched Book by €600 and the dialog refuses
Northgate Press quotes a stitched book run on the XL105 with Silk 100gsm SRA1. Estimator's automated Total estimate comes back at €500.00. The estimator wants to drop €600 off as a concession on a strategic deal — they choose Adjustment type: Reduce, enter Amount: 600, and Apply changes stays disabled.
Diagnosis: The Manually adjust price dialog shows the error Reduction cannot exceed total estimate value under Amount. The Reduce option cannot drop the total below zero — €600 against €500.00 is outside the allowed range.
Fix: Switch Adjustment type from Reduce to Set to and enter Amount: 0 if the deal really is at zero (a free job for a key account), or Set to: 50 if the agreed price is a token €50. Fill Reason (mandatory) with the account-level rationale — for example, Sample run for the regional publisher account, strategic deal approved by sales lead.
Verify: Apply changes activates and saves the adjustment. Total estimate on the totals bar shows the Set to value. The price breakdown tags the line as manually adjusted with the reason attached, and the headline pricing-model line — Gross profit percentage in this category — recalculates against the new total to show how aggressive the concession was on margin.
Example 2 — Northgate Press cannot move the substrate markup on a one-off rush job
Northgate Press quotes a Stitched Book run for a rush deliver-tomorrow job on Silk 100gsm SRA1. The estimator wants to lift the labor markup by 10% to recover the rush cost but leave the substrate markup at default. They open See price breakdown → View and edit on the option row. The Substrate, Other Material, Labor, Machine, Outwork, and Delivery markup fields are all greyed out and cannot be edited.
Diagnosis: The headline pricing-model line at the top of the totals shows Gross profit percentage (User adjusted) — the team has already forced Gross profit percentage to 40% on this quote in a prior step. While the headline override is active, the per-bucket markup fields are locked because the two layers are not designed to be edited together.
Fix: Open the headline pricing-model control on the quote and reset the override. The headline value returns to Gross profit percentage (Calculated). Re-open See price breakdown → View and edit. The bucket markup fields unlock. Edit Labor to the new percentage and Apply changes.
Verify: The labor markup field accepts input, the labor line in the breakdown recalculates, the option total and the Total estimate move, and the headline pricing-model line is recomputed against the new mix. The substrate, machine, outwork, and delivery markups stay at their rule-derived defaults.
What if this didn't fix it?
If the dialog opens cleanly, Amount and Reason (mandatory) are filled, Apply changes saves, but the Total estimate on the totals bar reverts to the calculated value on the next refresh of the page, the issue is in the quote save path rather than setup. Open a support request and include the estimate ID, the Original estimate: value, the Adjustment type and Amount you saved, the Reason for adjustment you saved, and the moment the page refreshed. If the export downstream of the adjustment also reverts to the calculated value, capture the export timestamp and include it. See also Why an export failed when the export downstream does not match the saved quote.