BLOCKS: Estimates Block

What is the Estimates Block?

The Estimates Block puts Estimates on a Dashboard. Your Staff see the Estimates they are already allowed to see, with anything still waiting on an answer kept in view, and your Clients see the Estimates sent to them and can approve one without leaving the Dashboard.

The Block lists exactly what the Estimates page would list for the person looking at it, so nobody sees an Estimate in the Block that they could not open from the menu.

How do I add the Estimates Block?

Edit a Dashboard, add a Block, and choose Estimates from the gallery, where it is described as "Track and approve Estimates from the dashboard". It is placed deliberately and is never on by default.

The Block's options open as soon as you add it, and you can reopen them at any time:

Block Title: The heading shown on the Block. It starts as "Estimates". Block Icon and Icon Color set the mark beside it.

Show # Results: How many rows appear before Show More: 5, 10, 15 or 20. It starts at 5.

Block Height: Fixed, Auto, or a height you set in pixels.

Date Range: How far back the Block looks: the last 7, 14 or 30 days. It starts at 30.

Default Filters: Which statuses the Block opens on. It starts on Open.

Default Order: Most Recent, Amount (High to Low), or Title (A-Z). It starts on Most Recent.

TIP: You can place more than one Estimates Block, and each keeps its own settings. Whatever a viewer changes for themselves, the date range, the status filter and the sort, is remembered for that Block on that device, and never changes what anyone else sees.

What does the Block show my Staff?

Each row leads with the Target the Estimate was written for, the CRM Company and the Contact, beside their avatar. Then comes the Estimate number, Valid Until and its date, the Estimate title, Viewed and the date your Client looked at it, the status, and the amount on the right.

Two extra marks appear when they apply. A Draft that has not gone out yet wears Not Sent Yet and carries no validity date. An Open Estimate whose Valid Until date has passed wears Expired.

The amount reads --- when there is no settled total yet. That happens on a Dynamic Estimate that is still a Draft or still Open, because your Client has not chosen their items.

At the foot of the Block, Showing 5 of 20 Results tells you how much of the list you are looking at, Show More brings in ten more rows at a time, and View all Estimates opens the full Estimates page.

One action sits on a Staff row: View, which opens the Estimate over the Dashboard. When the row is a Draft you are allowed to edit, that panel also carries an Edit Estimate link. Closing the panel refreshes the Block quietly.

What does my Client see?

A Client's rows are deliberately leaner. There is no avatar, no viewed date and no mention of your Staff. Each row shows the Estimate number, then Valid Until and its date, or Approved and the date once they have approved it, then the title, the status and the amount.

A Client only ever sees Open and Approved Estimates here. Drafts and Estimates already converted into an Invoice are not theirs to see. The status on an Open Estimate is worded as the wait it is: Open · Awaiting Your Approval.

The row actions follow the state. While an Estimate is Open your Client gets Approve, and Review to read it first. Once it is no longer Open they get View.

IMPORTANT: There is no Decline in the Block, because Estimates have no decline anywhere in the platform. A Client who does not want an Estimate simply leaves it, and it expires on its Valid Until date.

How does my Client approve an Estimate?

They press Approve on the row and confirm. The question is always "Approve this estimate?", and the sentence underneath depends on the Estimate. An Estimate set to convert on approval reads "Approving accepts the quoted amount and converts the estimate into an invoice you can pay." Any other Estimate reads "Approving accepts the quoted amount."

What happens next depends on the same setting. If the Estimate converts, it becomes an Invoice, your Client is told "Estimate approved and converted to an invoice. You can pay it from your invoices.", and the row leaves the list. If it does not convert, the row stays exactly where it is and its status simply turns Approved.

A Dynamic Estimate works differently, because your Client has to choose their items first. Pressing Approve opens the Estimate on its own screen, and they approve it there.

If the Estimate has stopped being approvable in the meantime, your Client is told "This estimate can no longer be approved" and the list refreshes itself.

How do I filter, sort and refresh?

The Block's controls sit in its header on the Dashboard itself. They are deliberately hidden while you are editing the Dashboard, so do not expect them in the builder.

Date Range: A pill showing how far back the Block is looking. Switch between the last 7, 14 and 30 days.

Filter: The funnel opens the one thing this Block narrows by, Status, and its control appears in a strip under the header. Staff choose from Draft, Open, Approved and Converted. Clients choose from Open and Approved. Clear the field to show every status.

Sort: Most Recent, Amount (High to Low), or Title (A-Z).

Refresh: Re-asks for the list. The Block does not poll on its own.

TIP: The date range never hides an Open Estimate. Anything still waiting on an answer stays in the list however old it is, and the window bounds only the Drafts, the Approved and the Converted. An Estimate you are still waiting to hear back on cannot quietly age out of view.

What happens when there is nothing to show?

The Block says No Estimates, with one line underneath. Staff read "Draft and sent estimates will show up here." and Clients read "Estimates sent to you will show up here."

If the list cannot be fetched, the Block keeps whatever rows are already on screen and shows a short note with a Refresh button in place, rather than throwing a message across the screen.

Who can see the Estimates Block?

Staff see it when the Estimates menu item is visible to their Role and their Role has access to Estimates. Clients see it when Billing and Estimates are both visible to their Role and their Role has that same access. Otherwise the Block is simply absent. The standard per-Block access options for Role, Circle, team and user still apply on top.

IMPORTANT: Previewing a Dashboard as someone else does not show you their Estimates. The Block fills itself with sample rows instead, numbered EST-1041 and up with titles beginning "Example:", and the row actions do nothing. The same sample rows appear while you are building the Dashboard, which is what the screenshots above show. To see the real list, open the Dashboard normally.

TIP: The Estimates Block is offered on Dashboards only. It is not available on Portal Pages, Public Pages, Proposals, Lessons or the other Content Block Editor surfaces.

CLICK HERE to learn more about Estimates.

CLICK HERE to learn more about the Content Block Editor.