Estimate Proposals & Specifications

How can I get more text into my estimates, proposals, or bids?

Starting with Goldenseal 2.5, each Estimates record includes a long text field which can contain up to 32,000 characters (most Goldenseal text fields have a 255 character limit). You can use it for a more complete description of the project if the Specifications field doesn't have enough room for it.

To add the new field to your estimate records, follow these steps:

1. Choose Custom Layouts from the Options menu, and choose Transactions from the submenu.
2. Enter Estimates into the Transaction field at upper left.
3. Select the Field tool (fourth row left in the tool palette in the left side of the window).
4. Click in the layout, and drag through the rectangle where you'd like the field to appear.
5. You'll see a list of optional fields. Choose Scope of Work, and click OK.
6. Choose Save from the File menu, and close the layout (or switch to a different layout if you'd like to change the other Estimate layouts).
7. You'll see the new field the next time you open the Estimates window.

To add the new field to your printed forms, follow these steps:

1. Choose Custom Layouts from the Options menu, and choose Printed Forms from the submenu.
2. Enter Estimates into the Transaction field at upper left.
3. Select the Field tool (fourth row left in the tool palette in the left side of the window).
4. Click in the layout, and drag through the rectangle where you'd like the field to appear.
5. You'll see a list of optional fields. Choose Scope of Work, and click OK.
6. Choose Save from the File menu, and close the layout (or switch to a different layout if you'd like to change the other Estimate forms).
7. You'll see the new field the next time you use the Print Forms command to print an estimate.

Using Contracts

You can also use Goldenseal Contracts for your longer text documents. You can print it directly as a printed form, or you can export its text to a word process so you can do more text formatting.

HINT-- You can use Contracts for any type of business document that contains a lot of text.

There are three ways to get text into a contract:

1. You can type text directly into the Contract record.
2. You can use a Contract Package to bring in any type of "boilerplate" clauses.
3. You can get Specifications or Scope of Work descriptions from the item breakdowns in an estimate or other record.

For more about contracts in the Getting Started manual, click here.

Click here to return to estimating topics.

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