Choose and customize your quote document template
The Quote templates section on Settings -> Quotes & Invoices -> Quotes controls how your quotes look to customers. Browse styles to pick one from the library and select Use; a live preview shows it with sample data.
Keep one template or several
Your business can keep a single quote template or add several named ones (for example "Standard" and "Service work"). Each template has a name so you can tell them apart:
New template adds another template; give it a name and then pick its style or customize it.
Select a template in the list to edit it; Rename changes its name.
Make default marks the template used when nothing picks one explicitly — new quotes start on it, and quotes created from the mobile app or by AI generation use it.
Delete removes a template you no longer offer. The default template can't be deleted — make another template the default first. Existing quotes keep the design they were created with.
With more than one template, the quote form shows a Template dropdown so you choose the design per quote (see Create a quote). With a single template, nothing changes — every quote uses it automatically.
Include items and pricing
Select a saved template in Settings -> Quotes -> Quote, then set Include items and pricing and click Save template. The preview updates immediately; Discard changes restores the saved setting.
In Settings search, enter Include items and pricing or scope-only to find this page.
The setting starts on. Turn it off for a scope-only proposal: new quotes using this document template omit line items, sales tax, discounts, totals, and the pricing table. This applies to quotes created from scratch and quotes drafted with AI, regardless of the AI prompt selected. You can save, send, and sign without an item or dollar amount; Terms & Conditions and required custom fields still apply.
Each new quote keeps a copy of the setting. Editing the template later does not change the pricing mode of existing quotes. Quote lists and Quote Performance display a dash for scope-only quotes. Monetary report totals include only priced quotes, and the assistant does not treat scope-only history as a zero-dollar price.
Customize the design
If you have permission to edit the source, Customize or Edit code opens an editor where you change the template's Liquid source, click variables to insert them, and switch the sample customer, property, and line items to check the layout.
Built-in quote templates show the quote's Valid through date when you select them. An untouched saved built-in style remains eligible for automatic built-in updates; a customized template is not rewritten. To place the date in a customized template, insert the Valid through variable; Validity (days) is also available when you need the numeric period.
Built-in templates also print the PO number and any custom fields marked Show on customer document. In a customized template, insert the Custom fields (built-in block) variable once to print them in the standard style — or use Custom fields (custom layout) to control the markup around each field yourself.
Built-in styles don't print pricebook item codes. If you want a code (SKU) column on the document, add it in Edit code with the Item code (when known) variable - see Edit a document template's design with "Edit code".
If Customize or Edit code is missing but you need to change template source, contact your business's administrator to review your role.
Save template applies your changes, or Discard changes reverts. Your Business Profile branding (logo, brand color) flows into the preview automatically. If you have additional offices or brands, use Preview office and brand above the document to switch among every configured combination and check its name, color, logo, address, and phone number.
On a real quote, Essential chooses the branding from the selected property's office. A property override wins; otherwise the quote inherits the customer's office. The office provides the address and phone number, and its default brand provides the name, color, and logo. Main-office properties use the Business Profile values.
While you use a built-in style as-is, it is eligible for automatic updates when Essential improves that style. Opening Edit code does not change this tracking by itself. If you change the source and save it, the template is treated as your custom version and stays as saved instead of receiving later built-in changes. Re-selecting a style from the library and saving puts you back on the auto-updating built-in.
Essential's built-in styles keep sales tax compact. When one tax entry applies, taxable line items show a checkmark in the Tax column and the summary shows Sales Tax with its percentage. When several tax entries apply - including entries with the same percentage but different agencies or jurisdictions - the document names and totals each one separately. A template changed with Edit code keeps its customized tax layout.

Where to find it: Settings -> Quotes, the Quote template section
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