Quote statuses and actions reference
Look up what a quote's status means, which buttons it offers, what happens to stock it has allocated, and why an action was refused. For the walkthroughs, start at Quotes.
Statuses
The status chip sits next to the quote number at the top of the quote. Click it to see the quote's path through the statuses and a hint for the next step. On the Quotes list the same status shows in the Status column.
| Status | Chip | What it means | What happens to allocated stock |
|---|---|---|---|
| Draft | Grey, outlined | You're still preparing the quote. It hasn't been sent. | Nothing is allocated yet. With Allocation on, the caption reads Allocated when sent. |
| Sent | Blue | You sent the quote, by email or with Mark as sent without emailing, and you're waiting for the customer's answer. | With Allocation on, the lines are allocated when you send. |
| Viewed | Cyan | The customer opened the quote from its link or in the customer portal. Your own Preview customer page and PDF downloads don't count. | Stays allocated. |
| Accepted | Green | The customer accepted, or you recorded their acceptance. A quote you've ordered only part of stays Accepted and shows a Partly ordered (X of Y lines) chip. | Stays allocated until each line is on a sales order. Optional lines the customer didn't choose are released when they accept. |
| Ordered | Green | Every line the customer took is on a sales order. | Released. Ordered lines hand their demand to the sales order. |
| Declined | Red | The customer declined, or you recorded their decline. | Released. |
| Expired | Red | The quote passed its Valid Until date without an answer, or you expired it. | Released. |
| Revised | Orange | You reopened the quote to change it. It's editable again, like a draft. | Revising doesn't release stock. A quote revised from Sent or Viewed keeps what it holds, and sending the revision allocates its lines again. A quote revised from Declined or Expired holds nothing until you send it. |
A quote template isn't a quote, so it has no status. It shows a purple Template chip instead, and it never holds stock.
Archived quotes
Archiving isn't a status. An archived quote keeps its status but is hidden from the default Active view of the list. While it's archived:
- Any stock it holds is released. The Allocation caption reads Archived: stock released. Unarchive to allocate it again.
- The customer can no longer accept or decline it from its link.
- The automatic expiry and the expiry reminder email skip it.
- Send is greyed out with the tooltip This quote is archived. Unarchive it from the Quotes list before sending it.
When you unarchive a Sent, Viewed or Accepted quote with Allocation on, its lines are allocated again, unless its Valid Until date has already passed.
For how allocation works across SKU.io, see How allocations work.
Actions by status
The quote page shows one primary button for the next step, an Edit button while the quote is editable, an Export menu with Download PDF, and a More menu for everything else.
| Status | Primary button | In the More menu |
|---|---|---|
| Draft | Send | Duplicate, Save as template, Request Approval |
| Revised | Send | Duplicate, Save as template, Request Approval |
| Sent | Accept | Duplicate, Save as template, Revise, Decline, Expire |
| Viewed | Accept | Duplicate, Save as template, Revise, Decline, Expire |
| Accepted | Create Sales Order, or Order remaining lines once you've ordered part of it | Duplicate, Save as template |
| Ordered | None | Duplicate, Save as template |
| Declined | None | Duplicate, Save as template, Revise |
| Expired | None | Duplicate, Save as template, Revise |
| Template | Use template | Duplicate, Rename template |
Download PDF is available in every status.
A few things to know about these actions:
- Accept, Revise and Expire run as soon as you click them. There's no confirmation step. Decline opens a Decline Quote dialog with an optional reason.
- An Accepted quote can't be revised, declined or expired. It's a commitment the customer made, and it never expires on its own.
- Request Approval is offered on every draft and revision. Sending is only blocked when the quote's total discount is more than 20% of its subtotal. See Approve a discounted quote.
- Archive, Unarchive and Delete aren't on the quote page. Use the bulk actions on the Quotes list.
- If your role is missing the permission for an action, the button or menu item is greyed out and its tooltip names the permission to ask for. See Quote permissions and alerts reference.
What you can change in each status
Once a quote is sent, its content is locked so the customer's copy and yours stay the same. To change a sent quote, Revise it.
| You can change… | In these statuses |
|---|---|
| Details card fields, lines, optional and pick-one choices, shipping, and Request Approval | Draft and Revised only |
| The Allocation switch | Every status except Ordered, Declined and Expired |
| Documents (attach, rename, remove) and Comments | Every status |
If you try to change a locked quote, SKU.io refuses with Quote Q-… is not editable in status sent. The last word is the quote's current status.
Refusal messages
When SKU.io refuses an action, it shows one of these messages. Q-… stands for the quote number. Where a message names a status, the status appears in lower case, for example from status declined.
Status changes
| Action | Message | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Send | Quote Q-… is archived. Unarchive it before sending it. | The quote is archived. |
| Send | Quote Q-… is awaiting discount approval and cannot be sent. | A discount approval request is still open. |
| Send | Quote Q-… requires discount approval before it can be sent. | The discount is more than 20% and hasn't been approved, or it went up after it was approved. |
| Send | Quote Q-… can't be sent: customer … has no email address. Add one to the customer or enter a recipient. | Nobody to email. |
| Send | Quote Q-… can't be sent: it has no customer to email. Choose a customer or enter a recipient. | No customer and no recipient. |
| Send | Quote Q-… was not sent — the email could not be delivered (…). It has not been marked as sent. | The email failed. The quote stays editable, and the failure is shown on its Activity timeline. |
| Accept | Quote Q-… cannot be accepted from status …. | Only Sent and Viewed quotes can be accepted. |
| Accept | Quote Q-… has expired and can no longer be accepted. | Its Valid Until date passed, but the automatic expiry hasn't run yet. |
| Decline | Quote Q-… cannot be declined from status …. | Only Sent and Viewed quotes can be declined. |
| Expire | Quote Q-… cannot be expired from status …. | Only Sent and Viewed quotes can be expired. |
| Revise | Quote Q-… cannot be revised from status …. | Accepted and Ordered quotes can't be revised. |
| Allocation switch | Quote Q-… allocation cannot change in status …. | The quote is Ordered, Declined or Expired. |
| Create Sales Order | Quote Q-… must be accepted before a sales order can be created from it. | The quote isn't Accepted. |
| Create Sales Order | Quote Q-… has no lines available to create a sales order. | Every line the customer took is already on an order. |
| Any change to the quote | Quote Q-… is not editable in status …. | The quote has been sent. Revise it first. |
| Delete | Quote Q-… was accepted and is kept as the record of that deal — archive it instead of deleting it. | The quote was accepted or ordered. The status in the message varies. |
| Delete | Quote Q-… has a deposit recorded against it — archive it instead of deleting it. | A deposit was paid on the quote. |
Discount approval
| Action | Message | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Request Approval | Quote Q-… already has a pending approval. | A request is already open. |
| Approve or Reject | You can't approve your own discount request. Ask another approver. | You requested this approval. On the quote, your Approve and Reject buttons are greyed out with the same tooltip. |
Details, lines and templates
| Action | Message | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Choosing a Ship To or Bill To | Choose a customer before picking the quote's ship-to address. | The quote has no customer. The message says bill-to for the billing address. |
| Choosing a Ship To or Bill To | The ship-to address isn't in …'s address book. Pick one of their addresses or add it to the customer first. | The address belongs to another customer. |
| Saving the Details card | Enter an amount of 0 or more | The Order Disc. or Deposit amount is blank or negative. |
| Saving the Details card | A percentage discount cannot be more than 100% or A percentage deposit cannot be more than 100% | The percentage is over 100. |
| Saving a lead time | Lead time must be a whole number of days. | The lead time isn't a whole number from 0 to 3650. |
| Saving a pick-one group | Name the pick-one group this line belongs to. | The group name is blank. |
| Save as template | A quote template needs a name. | The template name is blank. |
| Send, accept, decline, expire, revise, order or pay a template | "…" is a quote template and cannot be sent. Create a quote from it first. | Templates are starting points, never offers. The action word changes with what you tried. |
Deposits
A deposit you set on a quote is shown as Deposit Due. There's no button for recording the payment itself: it's recorded through the API (see Actions only available through the API). These are the refusals for recording a deposit payment:
| Message | Why |
|---|---|
| A deposit on quote Q-… must be greater than zero. | The amount is zero or less. |
| Quote Q-… cannot take a deposit in status …. | Only Sent, Viewed and Accepted quotes take a deposit. |
| Quote Q-… has been ordered — record the payment on its sales order instead. | The quote is Ordered. |
| Quote Q-… already has a sales order — record the payment on that order instead. | Part of the quote is already ordered. Deposits move to the first sales order only. |
| "…" is a quote template and cannot be paid. Create a quote from it first. | The quote is a template. |
Actions only available through the API
These quote actions have no button in SKU.io. You can run them through the SKU.io API, documented at developer.sku.io:
- Quote KPIs for a date range or for one sales rep. The KPI cards on the Quotes list always cover every quote.
- Choosing which optional and pick-one lines are included on the customer's behalf.
- Recording a signed acceptance on the customer's behalf, with the signer's name. Accept on the quote page records the acceptance without a signature.
- Recording a deposit payment.
- A portal quote request built from the buyer's cart.
Next steps
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