Use this article when the customer-facing PDF you just rendered shows a total, a tax line, a company header, or a body layout that does not match the on-screen estimate or the active Email Template. After this you will have either re-rendered the PDF with the correct content, 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) |
PDF Total estimate is older than the on-screen estimate. | The estimate page totals bar (current value) against the PDF total (saved at render time). The PDF was rendered before the last save or Recalculate. | Save the estimate (or run Recalculate if the calculation is stale), then re-trigger View PDF, Download PDF Summary, or Download PDF Detail. | The newly rendered PDF total matches the Total estimate on the page. |
Tax line is missing from the PDF. | Tax rate (%) in Estimate Setup → Settings → General Settings. The field is blank — a Tax label alone does not render a tax line. | Fill Tax rate (%) with the flat rate (0–100, decimals allowed), save, open Pending Changes, and select Apply Changes. Re-render the PDF. | The PDF shows a tax line with the configured rate. The estimate page totals bar now shows a Subtotal (excl. ...) line and a Total estimate (incl. ...) line, with the Tax label value rendered into the parentheses. |
Tax line label reads Tax instead of GST / VAT / Sales Tax. | Tax label in General Settings. The field is blank — when Tax rate (%) is set and Tax label is empty, the PDF defaults the label to Tax. | Fill Tax label with the localised term and save. Open Pending Changes and select Apply Changes. Re-render the PDF. | The PDF and the in-app Subtotal / Total estimate lines show the configured Tax label. |
Company header on the PDF is outdated (old address, old phone, old logo). | The fields under Email Template in Estimate Setup → Settings → Email Template. Confirm the saved values are current. | Edit the relevant Email Template fields, save, open Pending Changes, and select Apply Changes. Re-render the PDF. | The header on the newly rendered PDF reflects the updated values. Previously downloaded PDFs are unchanged — re-send if needed. |
Multi-product PDF shows per-step rows when the operator wanted a summary (or vice versa). | The action selected on the estimate — Download PDF Summary vs Download PDF Detail. The two actions render different body layouts from the same Email Template. | On the multi-product estimate, select the action that matches the desired layout — Download PDF Summary for one-row-per-product, Download PDF Detail for per-product specification rows. | The PDF body layout matches the selected action. Cross-check with the team's documented standard for which to use when. |
PDF totals differ from the MIS export totals for the same estimate. | The PDF is a customer-facing render of the saved estimate; the export is a structured handoff. They should agree — if they do not, one of them is stale. | Re-trigger the PDF and re-run the export from the estimate after the last save. If the discrepancy persists, the export mapping is misaligned — see Why an export failed. | A freshly rendered PDF and a freshly run export produce the same Total estimate. |
The PDF action does not appear on the estimate's totals bar. | The estimate's calculated state — View PDF, Download PDF Summary, and Download PDF Detail require a successful calculation. | Run Recalculate, then re-open the estimate. If the estimate still cannot calculate, see Troubleshoot: cannot calculate estimate. | The PDF action(s) appear on the totals bar of the calculated estimate. |
Worked example faults
Example 1 — Northgate Press sends a PDF that shows the old quote total after a re-estimate
Northgate Press quotes a stitched book run on the XL105 with Silk 100gsm SRA1. The operator runs View PDF, downloads the file, then notices the quantity is wrong on the estimate. They fix the quantity, Recalculate runs, and the on-screen Total estimate moves from €500.00 to €575.00. The downloaded PDF still shows €500.00.
Diagnosis: Open the estimate page totals bar — Total estimate reads €575.00. Compare with the downloaded PDF — it reads €500.00. The PDF was rendered against the previous saved estimate, before the quantity change and Recalculate.
Fix: Save the estimate at the new quantity if not already saved, then trigger View PDF again. The previously downloaded PDF is now obsolete and should not be sent to the customer — discard it.
Verify: The newly rendered PDF shows Total estimate at €575.00, matching the estimate page. The tax line, if configured, recalculates at the same Tax rate (%) against the new base.
Example 2 — Northgate Press cannot get a GST line to render on the PDF
Northgate Press quotes a stitched book run for an Australian publisher. The estimator has set Tax label to GST in General Settings but the PDF still does not render a tax line. The estimate page totals bar reads Total estimate with no subtotal split.
Diagnosis: Open Estimate Setup → Settings → General Settings. Tax label reads GST. Tax rate (%) is blank. A label alone does not produce a tax line — the rate is required.
Fix: Fill Tax rate (%) with 10, save, open Pending Changes in the sidebar, and select Apply Changes. Re-open the estimate and trigger View PDF.
Verify: The PDF shows a GST line at 10% above the Total estimate. The estimate page totals bar now reads Subtotal (excl. GST) and Total estimate (incl. GST), both using the configured Tax label value.
What if this didn't fix it?
If the PDF renders cleanly, the in-app totals match, but the PDF the customer received still shows the old values, the customer is reading a previously downloaded file rather than a freshly rendered one. Re-render and re-send. If the on-screen estimate and the freshly rendered PDF disagree on the Total estimate even after a clean save and Recalculate, the issue is in the calculation pipeline rather than the letter template. Open a support request and include the estimate ID, the Total estimate value the page shows, the value the PDF shows, the time you ran Recalculate, the time you triggered the PDF, and the active Email Template name. See also Troubleshoot unexpected price breakdown totals when the underlying calculation looks wrong on the breakdown.