Understand how estimate records work in Sanka, including quote drafts, approval, PDF sending, conversion to orders or invoices, associations, and AI checkpoints.
Last updated: June 2, 2026
The Estimate object stores customer-facing quotes before an order, invoice, or contract is confirmed. Use estimate records to prepare pricing, line items, tax, discounts, terms, and PDF documents while the customer is still reviewing the offer.This reference explains what an estimate should contain, how it connects to deals, orders, invoices, inventory, and PDF templates, and what to check before creating, sending, approving, converting, importing, or troubleshooting estimates with AI, actions, workflows, CSV, integrations, or manual entry.
Claude/Codex
Review this estimate before I send it to the customer. Show customer, source deal or request, line items, quantity, unit price, discount, tax, total, expiration date, approval state, inventory risk, PDF template, and missing fields. Do not send or convert it yet.
Reviewing estimate draftI reviewed the estimate draft. Please confirm customer, line items, tax, total, expiration date, approval requirements, inventory risk, and PDF template before sending.
Ask for another estimate check...
What an estimate record represents
An estimate record represents a proposed price and scope before the customer has fully committed. It should make the offer clear enough for the customer to approve and for your team to convert it into downstream work when accepted.Common fields include:
Estimate ID or record ID
Customer company or contact
Related deal, opportunity, request, order, invoice, or contract
Record owner and source
Estimate status, such as draft, sent, approved, rejected, ordered, expired, or paid
Issue date, expiration date, delivery date, and payment terms
Line items, quantities, unit prices, discounts, tax, shipping, currency, subtotal, and total amount
Sender, recipient, notes, attachments, PDF template, and sent message history
Source details from UI, CSV, integrations, actions, workflows, portal requests, or AI-assisted creation
Workspace admins can customize estimate fields and statuses, but approval, send, conversion, reporting, and AI-assisted checks should still be able to understand the lifecycle.
How estimates connect to other records
Estimates connect sales intent to downstream operations.
Companies and contacts: the customer, billing contact, or recipient
Deals or opportunities: the sales context that created or requested the quote
Items: products, services, quantities, tax, discounts, cost, and price
Orders: accepted commercial agreement created after customer approval
Invoices: billing request created after approval or order confirmation
Inventory: availability checks or allocation decisions for quoted items
Documents and messages: estimate PDFs, sent messages, files, and template output
Tasks and tickets: follow-up, approval requests, customer questions, or correction requests
An estimate does not always create an order, invoice, inventory allocation, or PDF automatically. Those downstream records depend on the action, workflow, approval state, send rule, permissions, and team process.
Create or review an estimate safely
Create estimates as drafts first, then review customer, line items, totals, tax, approval requirements, and PDF output before sending.
Sample prompt
/sanka Prepare an estimate draft for this customer. Include source deal or request, customer, line items, quantity, unit price, discount, tax, currency, total, expiration date, payment terms, delivery terms, approval requirements, inventory risk, and missing fields. Do not send the estimate yet.
If the estimate comes from a deal, portal request, CRM opportunity, CSV import, or AI-assisted intake, confirm the source values before using them in a customer-facing quote.
Send, approve, and convert estimates
Before sending an estimate, check the PDF and the current record values. A downloaded or sent PDF may not update automatically if the estimate is changed later.Before converting an estimate into an order or invoice, confirm:
The customer accepted the estimate or your team has approval to proceed
The estimate status allows conversion
Line items, quantities, discounts, tax, currency, delivery date, and payment terms are final
Inventory or fulfillment risks have been reviewed
No order or invoice already exists for the same estimate
The user has permission to create the downstream record
When the accepted estimate will be billed or used for accounting, create or reuse the order first, then create the invoice from that order. If an estimate-to-invoice action stops with an order requirement, resolve the order and retry the action instead of forcing a standalone invoice.Use Quote -> Order for the how-to flow. Use this page as the reference for expected behavior and troubleshooting.
Expected behavior
When an estimate is created successfully:
It appears in the Estimate object list unless it is archived or filtered out by the current view
Customer, owner, source, status, dates, line items, tax, currency, total, notes, and PDF settings are saved
It can be associated with deals, orders, invoices, inventory records, messages, files, tasks, and contracts
PDF output follows the configured document template and current record data
Approved estimates can be used as the source for orders or invoices when the action or workflow supports it
CSV imports, integrations, actions, workflows, portal requests, and AI-assisted creation still follow required fields, permissions, and validation rules
Creating or approving an estimate does not always reserve stock, send a PDF, create an order, create an invoice, or mark revenue as booked. Those steps require the relevant action, workflow, or manual confirmation.
Support questions this page should answer
Question
Expected behavior
Why is this estimate locked?
Sent, accepted, approved, converted, or expired estimates protect customer-facing terms. Use revision, new version, correction, or a new estimate instead of rewriting the accepted document.
Why did approval restart?
Approval can be required again when amount, line items, discount, customer, or other approval-sensitive fields change after the prior review.
Why did conversion create different order or invoice values?
Conversion uses the estimate values available at conversion time and may require review of customer, items, prices, tax, currency, and approval state.
Why does conversion ask for an order before invoice?
The order records the accepted commercial agreement. Create or resolve the order first so the invoice and later accounting records can trace back to the approved estimate.
Can AI send or convert this estimate?
AI can prepare a draft and summarize blockers, but a person should confirm customer-facing details, approval state, and send/convert action.
Troubleshooting
An estimate draft was not created
Check whether the customer exists, required fields are filled, the user has permission, line items are valid, and the source deal, portal request, CSV row, or integration record can be matched.
The estimate amount is wrong
Compare line item quantity, unit price, discount, tax setting, tax inclusive or exclusive display, shipping, currency, rounding, and manually entered items. If prices were copied from item records, confirm the item price was correct at the time of drafting.
The estimate cannot be sent
Check estimate status, approval requirements, recipient contact, sender settings, email settings, PDF template, required fields, lock rules, and permissions.
The PDF output is wrong
Check the estimate record values and the selected document template settings. If the PDF was already downloaded or sent, generate a new preview after saving template or record changes.
The estimate did not convert to an order or invoice
Check whether the estimate is approved or eligible for conversion, whether an order or invoice already exists, whether required downstream fields are present, and whether the action or workflow completed successfully.If the conversion is blocked because an order is missing, create or reuse the order first. Then create the invoice from the order so billing, revenue review, and journal entries keep the correct source lineage.
Inventory changed after the estimate was sent
Check current inventory, allocation rules, delivery date, and whether your team reserves stock at estimate, order, or fulfillment stage. An estimate alone may not reserve inventory.
AI cannot decide whether this is a bug
Ask AI to compare the estimate source, customer, line items, status, approval state, PDF template, conversion history, downstream records, permissions, and audit trail. Treat it as a possible bug only after confirming the estimate setup and source data are correct.
Checkpoints
Before sending, approving, converting, importing, correcting, or replying to an estimate support case, check customer, source record, line items, quantity, unit price, discount, tax, currency, total, expiration date, approval state, inventory risk, PDF template, downstream order/invoice coverage, permissions, and audit trail.
Search Sanka...
Review estimate lifecycle
Logs
Search logsAll actionsAll dates
ID / ActionDateTarget / ItemChangeActor
3Estimate draft reviewed2026/05/20 10:00Estimate 0042Checked customer, line items, tax, total, approval, and PDF templateClaude / Codex
2Estimate sent2026/05/20 11:00Estimate 0042Sent reviewed PDF to customer contactSales user
1Order draft created2026/05/22 09:30Order from Estimate 0042Created order draft after customer approvalSales operations
Estimate review should separate quote drafting, customer-facing PDF send, approval, and downstream order or invoice conversion.
