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Step one

Line up the work

Manage clients Every client, in one tidy place Send quotes Win the work, then bill it — no re-typing

Step two

Do the work, and track every hour

Track time Bill every hour you actually work Pay contractors Keep the people you pay in order Attach documents The paperwork, kept with the work

Step three

Send the invoice, and get paid

Create invoices Professional invoices, minus the spreadsheet Bill in any currency Bill the world, report in your own currency Chase overdue invoices Get paid without the awkward follow-up See what transfers cost Mind the gap between billed and banked Track expenses Track expenses without leaving your phone Track your finances The money side, at a glance

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Sending a quote and turning it into an invoice

Build a quote with a "valid until" date, email it to your client, track whether it was accepted or declined, and convert an accepted quote into a draft invoice.

3 min read

A quote settles the price before the work starts, and a quote in Billable is a step on the way to an invoice rather than a separate errand.

Step by step

Build the quote — Pick the client and add your line items, exactly as you would on an invoice. Set a “valid until” date so the price you are offering has an expiry.
Send it — Email it from Billable with the PDF attached, or download the PDF and send it from your own inbox.
Track the answer — A quote moves through draft, sent, accepted and declined. Keeping that status current is what tells you, at a glance, which quotes are still open and waiting on a client.
Convert it when they say yes — Mark the quote accepted and convert it into an invoice. The line items carry across, so what you quoted is exactly what you bill, with no re-typing and no transcription slip.

Getting more out of quotes

Attach the scope document or mockups to the quote, so the client’s “yes” is a yes to something specific.
If the job is a project, create the project first and quote against it — the eventual invoice then rolls up under the same work.

Quirks worth knowing

The small things that trip people up.

A quote is built exactly like an invoice

Same editor, same line items, same PDF. If you can raise an invoice you already know how to raise a quote.

Emailing your client is on the paid plan

Sending a quote by email from Billable is part of the paid plan. On the free plan you can still build the quote, download its branded PDF to send yourself, and mark it as sent — only emailing it from Billable needs an upgrade.

"Valid until" is your protection, not a formality

It puts an expiry on the price you offered, so a quote from four months ago cannot be accepted at last season's rate.

Converting creates a draft, not a sent invoice

An accepted quote becomes a draft invoice with the line items carried across. Nothing goes out until you review it and send it yourself.

Declined quotes are worth keeping

Leaving a declined quote on file gives you the history when the client comes back six months later asking for the same thing.

An expiring quote can nudge you

If push notifications are on, Billable tells you when a sent quote is about to expire — the moment a polite follow-up is worth sending.

More about send quotes →

More guides

Tracking time and billing it

Run a live timer or log hours by hand against a project, then pull unbilled time straight onto an invoice and export any timesheet to CSV.

Keeping clients organised

Store each client's details, notes and status once, then open a client to see their projects and invoices together in one place.

Organising work into projects

Create fixed, hourly or retainer projects, add out-of-scope charges when work grows, and watch each project's tracked, unbilled and billed totals.

Still stuck on this?

Send us a message through the support form and a real person will walk you through it — usually within a couple of business days.

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