Customize Your Proposal Settings

Your proposals pulls information from several different places in Clear Estimates. Your company info, customer's contact detail, legal language / boilerplate, report display settings, payment schedules, etc can be all be edited from specific areas in the software. This guide walks through where each piece lives and how to update it.

Company Info ("Submitted By")

The Submitted By section on your proposal reflects your company's details. To update your company name, logo, or contact info:

1. Go to Tools > Options
2. This opens the Company Data page, where you can edit your company name, logo, and contact details
3. Click Save in the bottom right to apply your changes. 

For a full walkthrough, see the guide below:

Edit Your Company Info

Customer Info ("Submitted To") 

The Submitted To section reflects your customer's profile. To edit it:

1. Open the Customers tool and click Edit within the customer's profile (or, click the customer's name in the top left of the Projects page to open their profile). 
2. Update the contact details as needed
3. Click Save (bottom right) to apply your changes.

Here's a full walkthrough on editing customer details: 

Customers Tool Overview

Legal Language (Boilerplate) 

Every proposal can include standard legal language (boilerplate) — at the top and bottom of the proposal. 

Legal language at the top of the proposal is an example of Intro boilerplate.The language that appears at the bottom of a proposal is considered Outro boilerplate. 

To manage boilerplate:

1. Go to Reports > Boilerplate
2. Scroll to the Boilerplate Information box in the bottom left.
3. Click into any heading to edit its language using the text box on the right
4. Use the Intro and Outro tabs to switch between language shown at the top vs. bottom of the proposal
5. Click Add Heading to create a new blank boilerplate entry
6. Use the P / F / S checkboxes to control which proposal styles include that boilerplate — Preliminary, Formal, and Subcontractor. For an e-signature proposal, make sure the F (Formal Proposal) box is checked.

Here's a quick guide on editing your boilerplate language: 

How to Edit Your Boilerplate Language

Report Settings  

Go to Tools > Options > Report Settings > Formal Proposal to adjust your Formal Proposal settings. 

From here, you can:

• Choose whether to sub-divide components, or show the full project as a single list. 
• Toggle component subtotals on or off
• Hide line items within components, showing only a title and subtotal
• Show or hide the Component ID (e.g., "C00," "C01")
• Show or hide the Alternate list
• Show or hide Alternate line item details
• Include line item costs (show the total cost of each line item). 
• Adjust the Report Title
• Include or hide Acorn Finance options on the proposal
• Show or hide your company logo, total project cost, or submitted to / by sections

From Tools > Options > Report Settings > General, you can modify font / size / color of the proposal text. 

Be sure to click Save after any changes you make on the settings pages. 

Payment Schedules  

To adjust the payment schedule on a specific proposal:

1. Go to Reports > Formal
2. From the Payment Schedule dropdown, select a different schedule, or remove it entirely. 
3. Edit the schedule for this project from the Schedule Editor: 

To create default payment schedules that can be reused across projects, go to Tools > Options > Payment Schedule Editor. 

For a full walkthrough, see below:

Add a Payment Schedule to Your Estimate.

Misc Items (Taxes & Discounts) 

Sales tax, discounts, and other miscellaneous costs are configured at the bottom of the Projects page under Misc Items. 

For a quick guide on setting up taxes / discounts, click here:

Include Taxes & Discounts.

Project Description / Scope of Work / Parts

Project-specific descriptions and scope of work can be edited in the description box at the top left of the Projects page.

Editing Parts in Your Estimate

The parts that make up your estimate can be added, edited, and adjusted directly on the Projects page. Use the Pencil to open any part and adjust costs / descriptions / report text. 

Here's a quick guide on editing the parts in your estimate / proposal: 

Editing Your Estimate