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Design a single quote

Build the quote first, then give it its own design. Your changes apply only to that quote and are locked in when you send it.

This feature is new and may not be enabled on your account yet. If you don’t see it, write to us.

What it is

Any draft can have a custom design: a cover with the client’s name, a timeline for that project, or a testimonial from their industry. You design it with the visual editor on the quote’s real data, and it doesn’t change your saved designs or your other quotes.

You can also choose, in the quote editor, for it to go out with another of your saved designs instead of the default. Both are part of the Professional plan.

Requirements

  • The Professional, Scale, or Developer plan. Without it, the quote goes out with the default design.
  • The Quotes permission in your role. You don’t need the Settings permission.
  • The quote must be new or a Draft. Once it’s sent, its design no longer changes.
  • Cord Studio enabled on your account.

Choose the design in the quote editor

In the editor of a new quote or a draft, the Design section comes after Note for your client. It shows a thumbnail of each option:

  • Default: underneath, it shows the name of the design in use or Cord card.
  • Your other saved designs, each with its name.
  • Custom design, if the quote already has one.

Choose an option and save the draft; the choice is also saved with autosave and is locked in when you send the quote. A new version doesn’t show this section: it keeps the design it was sent with.

If the quote has a custom design and you choose another option, Cord asks Change this quote’s design? and, when you click Change design, the custom design is discarded.

Below the thumbnails, Customize this quote saves the draft and opens the visual editor for that quote, just like Design this quote.

Design a draft

  1. Build the quote as usual: client, line items, and terms. Save it as a draft.
  2. On the draft’s detail page, click Design this quote, or in its editor, Customize this quote. You can also get there from Quotes › Designs, with Design next to the quote number.
  3. The editor opens the quote with its real data and the design it would go out with today: its custom design, the one you chose in its editor, the business’s default, or the Cord card. Its name is Design for followed by the quote number, and it can’t be changed.
  4. Add blocks, type, and adjust the theme. The editor saves on its own a few seconds after each change.
  5. Go back to the detail page with the arrow on the left and send the quote when it’s ready.

As soon as you save the first change, the quote has a Custom design: that’s what the Design a quote list in Quotes › Designs says.

Start from a saved design

If the business has saved designs, the editor’s top bar shows Start from a saved design. Choose one and its content and theme replace what the quote had. The notice Design applied to this quote includes Undo in case you made a mistake.

What you change afterward applies only to this quote: the saved design doesn’t change.

What happens when you send it

When you send the quote, Cord locks in the design it goes out with: its custom design, the one you chose in its editor or, if it has neither, the business’s default. If the design you chose was archived before you sent it, it goes out with the default. From then on:

  • Editing or archiving the saved design doesn’t change what your client already received.
  • A new version keeps the design it was first sent with.
  • Your client’s signature records the design: when they approve from their link, the signature evidence carries the fingerprint of the design they read it in.
  • Your business theme does apply: if you later change your colors or typefaces in Settings, the link picks them up, except for anything the design changed just for itself.
  • When you open Design this quote on a sent quote, Cord takes you back to its detail page.

The same happens when a quote goes out after an internal approval: the design is locked in when it’s approved and sent.

Without the Professional plan

Choosing another design and designing a single quote are part of the Professional plan (also Scale and Developer). Without it:

  • The Design section of the quote editor shows From Professional, which takes you to Settings › Plans & subscription. You can only choose Default, Customize this quote is disabled, and the text says “With Professional you can pick another saved design or give this quote its own. Without it, the quote goes out with the default.”
  • On the draft’s detail page, Design this quote carries the From Professional badge and opens Settings › Plans & subscription. Design in Quotes › Designs does the same.
  • If you type the address of a quote’s editor into your browser, Cord takes you back to its detail page.

If you downgrade, what you saved for each quote is kept, but not applied: your drafts go out with the default design. A quote you already sent keeps its design. When you go back to Professional, what you saved applies again.

Behavior and edge cases

  • The link preview of a draft already shows its custom design or the one you chose.
  • A draft without a custom design or another chosen design follows the default: if you change the design in use before sending it, it goes out with the new one.
  • The editor doesn’t send anything or count as a visit from the client. Approving or paying inside the editor doesn’t do anything real.
  • The PDF and the email keep their PDF document and Email format and use your business’s theme, not the changes this design makes to it.

Common problems

  • I don’t see Design this quote. The quote isn’t a draft, your role doesn’t have the Quotes permission, or Cord Studio isn’t enabled on your account yet.
  • “This quote has already been sent: its design can’t change.” It was sent while you had the editor open. A new version changes the line items and prices, but keeps the design it was sent with.
  • Start from a saved design doesn’t appear. The business doesn’t have any designs yet. Ask someone with the Settings permission to create one in Quotes › Designs.
  • I can’t choose another design. Without the Professional plan you can only choose Default. With the plan, the business doesn’t have other saved designs yet, or you’re on a new version, which keeps the design it was sent with.
  • It says From Professional. Your plan doesn’t include design for each quote. Your quotes go out with the default; you can change your plan in Settings › Plans & subscription.