Proposals

Overview

Proposals let you send professional quotes and invoices to clients without leaving Find Boxes. A proposal is organized into sections, each with line items, quantities, prices, discounts, and optional tax. You can share proposals via a public link, require a client signature, and accept payment through Stripe.

When a proposal is linked to a project, it unlocks the Messages tab in the client portal and adds a View Proposal button to the client's project view.

First-Time Setup

Before sending your first proposal, complete your company settings at /proposals/settings/.

• Company Name — Appears at the top of every proposal document.
• Company Info — Phone, mailing address, and logo — shown on PDFs and client emails.
• Tax Rate — Your default tax rate as a percentage (e.g., 8.5). Applied per line item on the discounted amount.
• Terms Templates — Add reusable payment terms, cancellation policy, etc. Mark one as the default and it will apply automatically to every new proposal.
• Stripe — Connect your Stripe account to enable online payment links on proposals.

Customers

Customers are the companies or individuals you send proposals to. Manage your customer list at /proposals/customers/.

• Each customer has a company name, primary contact, email address, phone number, and mailing address.
• Email address is required to email proposals or send messages.
• Customers are shared across all proposals in your account. Updating a customer's info here updates it everywhere.
• Search customers by company name or contact name from the customer list.

Line Item Library

Line items are reusable services or products with preset names and prices. Build your library at /proposals/lineitems/ so your most common offerings are always available when building a proposal.

• Each line item has a name, unit price, and a taxable flag.
• Deactivating a line item removes it from search results without deleting it — existing proposals that contain it are not affected.
• Inventory items from your Find Boxes catalog are also searchable when adding items to a proposal section — no need to pre-create them here.

Creating a Proposal

Go to /proposals/ and click New Proposal. Enter a project name and select a customer (or create one inline). You'll be taken to the proposal detail page where all editing happens.

The Proposal Detail Page

The detail page is the central workspace. All fields are editable inline — click any field to change it.

• Project Name — Click the name to rename it.
• Customer — Can be changed after creation.
• Status — Set from the dropdown (see Status section below).
• Scope — A free-text description of the work, visible to the client.
• Billing Note — Internal or client-facing billing instructions.
• Terms — Select a terms template or write custom terms for this proposal specifically.
• Due Date — Shown to clients as the project or deliverable deadline.
• Valid Until — The date after which the quoted price is no longer guaranteed.
• Signature Toggle — Require a client signature on the public view.

Sections

Organize your proposal into sections (e.g., "Labor," "Equipment," "Travel"). Each section has its own subtotal, discount, and tax, which roll up to the proposal total at the bottom.

• Click Add Section to create a new one. Click the section title to rename it.
• Drag sections to reorder them. The order is saved automatically.
• Removing a section removes all its line items too.

Adding Line Items

Inside any section, click Add Item to search your line item library and inventory catalog simultaneously. Select an item, then set quantity, price, and optional discount. Check the Tax box to apply your default tax rate to that item. Line items can also be typed in free-form — new items are created in the library automatically.

Proposal Statuses

Each proposal has a status that you can change at any time from the dropdown on the detail page. There is no forced progression — move to any status whenever it makes sense.

Sharing with Clients

By default, proposals are private. To share one:

1. On the proposal detail page, click Make Public.
2. The proposal gets a unique public URL at /proposals/public/<quote_id>/.
3. Share the link directly or click Email Client to send a formatted email to the customer's address.

Click Make Private at any time to revoke access — the public URL stops working immediately.

Generating a PDF

Click Create PDF to render the full proposal as a downloadable PDF using your company info and logo. PDFs are regenerated each time you click the button.

Copying a Proposal

Click Copy to create a new draft with the same name (appended with " copy"), customer, scope, sections, and all line items. The copy is built in the background — reload the proposals list after a moment to see it.

Archiving

Click Archive to move a proposal out of your active list. Archived proposals are accessible from /proposals/archive/ and can be unarchived at any time.

Client Signatures

Enable the signature toggle on any proposal to add a signature block to the public view. When a client types their name and submits, the signature is recorded. Find Boxes does not automatically change the proposal status when a signature is received — update it to "Accepted" manually once signed.

Online Payments (Stripe)

Connect your Stripe account in proposal settings to accept payment directly from proposals.

Creating Payment Links

On the proposal detail page, click Enable Payment. Choose between a single payment link for the full amount or split the total into multiple links for installment-style billing. Each link is shown on the public proposal view as a Pay button.

Automatic Status Updates

• When Stripe confirms a payment, the corresponding link is marked paid.
• If all payment links are paid, the proposal status is automatically set to Paid.
• If some links remain unpaid, the status is set to Invoiced.

Messaging

Exchange messages with clients through Find Boxes and the client portal. The Messages tab appears on any proposal that has a customer with a valid email address.

• Click New Message to start a thread. Enter a subject and body, then click Send. The client receives an email with a link to reply.
• Clients can start new threads and reply from the client portal. When they do, the org owner and all project admins are notified by email.
• Each thread has a unique reply-to address that routes email replies back into the correct conversation automatically.
• Opening a thread marks all messages in it as read for your account.

Proposal Access

By default, only org admins and the org owner can create and edit proposals. Two options expand this:

• Proposals access for all — Enable this in org settings (Settings > Permissions) and every staff member gets access to the proposals section.
• Per-user access — Go to /proposals/access/ to grant access to specific users individually without making them an org admin.

Quick Reference