Scope
This reference describes the controls on the everyday-quote workspace — the form fields and totals-panel actions an estimator uses to build, calculate, refine, and save a single-product quote. It does not cover the multi-product tender workspace, the AI Configurator setup chat, or the underlying Estimate Setup records (each of those has its own reference article).
Quote workspace controls
Control | What it does | When to use it | What depends on it |
Create new estimate | Opens a blank quote with the spec form on the left and the totals panel on the right. | At the start of every new RFQ. | Every downstream step in the quote workflow — saved quotes, exports, and quote-letter PDFs all start here. |
Product category | Picks the category whose configured fields drive the form. | Always — pick before filling in any other field, because changing the category resets the form. | The fields the form shows, the price model that runs, the substrates and presses that are eligible, and the finishing options available under Additional Options. |
Calculate | Runs the route selection and cost calculation against the current spec. Shows priced options in the totals panel. | After the first complete spec, before any review or send action. | Every read-only review surface — the price breakdown, the route in Issue analysis, and any export — needs a calculated state. |
Recalculate | Re-runs the calculation after spec edits. | After any change to quantity, size, substrate, colours, finishing, or Additional Options on a quote that has already calculated once. | The selected option and the price breakdown lines refresh with the new inputs; a stale quote will keep the old route until you click this. |
Additional Options | Lists the finishing operations the category exposes as optional add-ons. | When the customer asks for an operation that is not in the base spec — shrink-wrap, drilling, eyelets, poly-bag, and similar. | The cost lines for those operations appear on the price breakdown after recalculation. |
Add Custom Cost | Adds a one-off line to a chosen cost bucket (material, labor, machine, delivery, or outwork). | For genuinely one-off charges — a single proof run, a courier surcharge, a one-time hand-finishing job. | The chosen bucket on the price breakdown gains a new line. The line stays on this quote only. |
See price breakdown | Opens the Estimation breakdown modal with the step-by-step cost makeup. | Before sending any quote, to confirm each cost line matches shop reality. | The validation step in the quote workflow; reviewers cannot diagnose a wrong total without this surface. |
View estimation path | Opens the Issue analysis dialog with assigned machines and excluded machines per step. | When the route on the quote does not match the route you expected, or before sending high-value quotes. | The route-review workflow; this is the only surface that names why an alternative press was skipped. |
Quote-time vs setup-time changes
Change | Where it belongs | Why it matters |
Quantity, finished size, version count | On the quote (spec form) | These are per-RFQ inputs — they have no shop-wide meaning. |
Selecting an option from Additional Options | On the quote (spec form) | The add-ons are configured upstream; the quote only picks from what already exists. |
Manual price adjustment or rebate override | On the quote (totals panel) | Per-quote concessions stay scoped to one quote so they cannot leak to others. |
Add Custom Cost for a one-off charge | On the quote (price breakdown) | One-off charges should not pollute the cost basis used by other quotes. |
Adding a new substrate, press, or finishing machine | In Estimate Setup | A new record changes the cost basis of every future quote that uses it. |
Changing a markup template or pricing rule | In Estimate Setup | Pricing rules apply across many quotes; one estimator's quote should not silently change the rule for everyone. |
Adding a finishing operation that the category does not expose | In Estimate Setup (Products) | The category controls which operations the quote form offers — quote-time edits cannot create a new operation. |
Validation tolerance — what to check before sending
Check | What to read | When the result is sendable |
Total against reference price | The total in the totals panel against an MIS quote or historical quote for the same spec. | Inside your business's agreed tolerance band for that quantity. |
Step costs in Estimation breakdown | Substrate, make-ready, run, finishing, markup, delivery lines. | Each line matches the rate, speed, and configured value for the assigned machine or substrate. |
Production route | Assigned machines per step in Issue analysis. | Press, finishing, and binding records are the ones the shop would actually run; Excluded machines has no surprise entry. |
Quantity curve | Run several quantities (for example 250, 1,000, 5,000). | The curve smooths the way your pricing rules expect — no step changes or anomalies at break points. |