> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://learn.withessential.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://learn.withessential.com/revenue/quotes/restore-an-unsaved-quote-or-invoice.md). # Restore an unsaved quote or invoice While you build a new quote or invoice, Essential keeps a copy of your work in your browser until you save it. If you leave the page, close the tab, or your computer restarts before you save, you can pick up where you left off. > **Where to find it:** Quotes page, **New Quote** button (or Invoices page, **New Invoice** button). The restore message appears at the top of the form. ## Leaving before you save When you leave a quote or invoice that has unsaved changes — with the back arrow, the sidebar, or your browser's Back button — Essential asks **Leave without saving?** * **Keep editing** returns you to the form. Pressing Enter does not leave the page. * **Leave without saving** leaves the page. * On a **new** quote or invoice, your work is kept so you can restore it later. * On a quote or invoice that is **already saved**, your unsaved changes are discarded. The saved version doesn't change. Closing the tab or refreshing the page shows your browser's own warning instead. Your work on a new quote or invoice is kept either way. ## Restore your work 1. Open the Quotes page and click **New Quote** (or the Invoices page and **New Invoice**). 2. At the top of the form, a message shows the unsaved quote or invoice: its property, when you last worked on it, and how many items it has. 3. Select **Restore**. The form opens with the property, items, prices, description, terms, and other details you entered. If you've already started filling in the new form, Essential asks before replacing it. 4. Review it and select **Save**. Select **Discard** instead to delete the copy for good. If you have more than one unsaved quote or invoice, the next one appears after you restore or discard the first. ## What to know * The copy stays in the browser on the computer where you worked. It isn't saved to your account, so it doesn't appear on another computer, in another browser, or for anyone else. * Copies are kept for 7 days, up to the five most recent quotes and five most recent invoices. Signing out of Essential deletes them, and so does someone else signing in on the same browser. * Saving the quote or invoice removes its copy. If a save went through but your browser never got the confirmation (for example, the connection dropped), saving again (or pressing **Generate** again) tells you the quote or invoice was already saved and lets you open the saved one or replace it with what's on your page. With **Generate**, replacing it then generates into that saved draft. Choose **Replace with this version** only if no one else has changed it since. If it has already been sent, or your page is now for a different customer or property, it can't be replaced from here: open it to continue, and your page's work stays available to restore. * A copy is kept once the quote or invoice has items, a description, a discount, an attachment, or instructions typed for **Generate draft**. Choosing only a property isn't enough. * A customer signature captured on a new invoice isn't kept. Capture it again after you restore. * Restoring uses the property's current customer. If the property has since moved to another customer, the restored quote or invoice is for the new customer, and a purchase order you'd picked from the old customer's list is cleared. If the property was removed, the rest of the work is restored and you choose the property again. * Restoring uses your current settings where they've changed: * If the property or customer is now tax exempt, items are restored without tax. Otherwise sales tax that was applied automatically is recalculated with today's automatic rates (including any added since), and rates you picked yourself are kept at their current percentages. A rate that was deleted is removed; if that leaves an item with no rate and none applies automatically, Essential asks you to choose a rate before you can save. * Terms & Conditions that were deleted are replaced with your only set of terms, or left for you to choose. A deleted **Generate draft** template is replaced with your default one, and a deleted document design falls back to your default design. * A purchase order that was deleted, or that no longer applies to the property, is cleared. * A custom field option that was removed is cleared so you can pick again. Technicians who are no longer active are removed from the invoice. * On an invoice, an income account you chose for an item that's no longer available goes back to the automatic account, and items from a job that was removed from the restored invoice stay but are no longer tied to that job. * If you restore the same quote or invoice in two browser tabs, save it from one of them. If it was already saved or discarded in another tab, **Restore** says so and leaves your current page as it is. Once it's saved, the other tab can't save it again and shows a message pointing you to the saved one. * Linked jobs and technicians picked under **Related Records** are kept. Restoring reloads each linked job's current details; a job that can no longer be linked (for example, it was billed on another invoice) is removed from the restored copy. If the jobs can't be checked (for example, you're offline), they're removed and Essential tells you to link them again under **Related Records**. **Save** becomes available once this check finishes. On an invoice with a different service address, link the jobs again before using **Resync** so their items are priced for that address. * Prices you saved to a customer or property with **Save price** while building the quote are stored right away, even if you never save the quote (see [Custom pricing on quote line items](/revenue/quotes/custom-pricing-on-quote-line-items.md)). * Quotes and invoices started from a task, a job, a signed quote, or **Duplicate** aren't kept this way. Start them again from the same place. If you choose a signed quote on a new invoice you'd already started, the copy of what you'd entered before stays, so you can restore or discard it later. * **Generate** saves a draft as soon as it starts, so a generated quote or invoice is already in your list. ## Related guides * [Create a quote](/revenue/quotes/create-a-quote.md) * [Create an invoice](/revenue/invoices/create-an-invoice.md) * [Why can't I save a quote?](/revenue/quotes/why-cant-i-save-a-quote.md) * [Why can't I save an invoice?](/revenue/invoices/why-cant-i-save-an-invoice.md) --- # Agent Instructions This documentation is published with GitBook. GitBook is the documentation platform designed so that both humans and AI agents can read, navigate, and reason over technical content effectively. Learn more at gitbook.com. ## Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation by asking a question. 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