PlainQuote guide

PlainQuote guide

PlainQuote is a local-first workspace for independent service businesses. It keeps a job's quote, recorded agreement, invoices, payment records, receipts, and exports connected without requiring an account.

Start with a business, client, and job

On first launch, enter a business name or skip the step and finish it later in Settings & data. Create or select a client, then give the work a Job name. The Job is where PlainQuote groups the documents and money records that belong to one piece of work.

• Add customer contact details, billing information, service addresses, notes, and payment terms when they help your workflow.
• Add saved items or enter one-off work directly in a quote.
• PlainQuote stores these records in the local workspace on the device.

Create a quote

Create a new quote from the add action, choose the client and Job, then add sections and line items. You can set quantity, rate, taxes, discounts, markup, notes, terms, optional work, and excluded work.

• Optional work stays visible but is outside the committed total until selected.
• Excluded work remains in the record without being included in the total.
• Use the current draft to refine the work before sharing a PDF.

Keep draft, sent, and agreed versions separate

PlainQuote treats a current draft, the last sent revision, and the current agreement as different facts.

• Preview or share a PDF from the saved document. The PDF uses the same calculation result as the editor.
• Confirm a delivery event only after you have actually sent the document through your chosen device sharing path.
• The shared revision becomes an immutable snapshot. Editing later creates or continues a draft rather than silently replacing that snapshot.
• Compare revisions when you need to see what changed. Restore an earlier version as a new draft when it is the best starting point.

Accepted is a local record that you enter or confirm. It is not a hosted customer approval flow or a legally verified electronic signature.

Add a change order without replacing the base work

From the quote or Job, start a change order when the scope changes after the original quote. A change order keeps additions, removals, and price differences associated with the Job while preserving the base quote.

• Pending change orders remain outside the agreed total and billing eligibility.
• When you record a change order as accepted, it joins the Job's current agreed scope.
• A change order can have its own revision history and documents without overwriting the original agreement.

Read the Agreement & money ledger

Open a Job to view its Agreement & money section. It calculates the following from accepted revisions, accepted change orders, invoice allocations, and local payment records.

• Current agreed scope: accepted base revision plus accepted change work.
• Already invoiced: non-void invoice allocations.
• Collected: recorded payments after refunds.
• Billed, still outstanding: billed money not yet collected.
• Accepted, not yet invoiced: accepted scope not allocated to an invoice.
• Still to collect: billed outstanding plus accepted work not yet invoiced.

A Job becomes Paid only when all accepted work has been invoiced and the billed amount has been collected.

Invoice accepted work

Create an invoice from accepted scope. PlainQuote supports full, deposit, progress, remaining-balance, and custom invoice types.

• Before creating another invoice, PlainQuote considers prior non-void allocations so a remaining balance is not billed twice.
• A newer unaccepted draft does not replace the accepted source used for quote-to-invoice conversion.
• Record partial payments, the final payment, refunds, adjustments, voids, and receipts as local records.
• Payment method labels such as card or ACH are merchant-entered notes. PlainQuote does not process customer payments or provide online checkout.

Build and share PDFs

Choose Letter or A4 when preparing a customer PDF. The document can show its revision, scope, optional work, amount due, and payment terms while leaving internal cost and markup out of the customer copy.

Use Preview / share PDF, Print PDF, or the operating system's save/share tools. PlainQuote prepares the file locally; the service you choose to share, print, or save with handles the file under its own rules.

Prepare follow-up without auto-sending

Needs Attention shows overdue invoices, upcoming due dates, quote expiries, and planned follow-ups. Open an item to prepare an editable message with the relevant job and balance context.

• Review the wording before sending it.
• Send through your own email, SMS, or other sharing app.
• PlainQuote does not auto-send customer messages.
• If you cancel the system share sheet, PlainQuote does not record the item as sent.

Search, reports, export, and backup

Use Documents, Clients, and Reports to find local records and review the work. Export all-date CSV data from Settings & data when you need a portable copy.

• Export documents and client records as CSV.
• Create a local .plainquote backup for the workspace and local attachments.
• PlainQuote streams backup data and checks the backup's integrity before restoration.
• Restore only a backup you trust. A restore can replace or merge local records depending on the in-app choice.

Free and Lifetime Pro

Free includes unlimited clients and saved items, plus five newly created quotes or invoices per local calendar month. Lifetime Pro is an optional one-time purchase that allows unlimited newly created quotes and invoices and local document attachments.

• There is no monthly or annual subscription.
• The Apple App Store or Google Play supplies the current localized price when PlainQuote is publicly available there.
• Existing documents, PDFs, receipts, CSV exports, and backups remain accessible without Pro.
• Restore Purchases is available in Settings & data when a supported store purchase is available.

Important limits

PlainQuote does not provide cloud sync, hosted customer approval, read receipts, automated messaging, online payment processing, tax filing, or legal advice. Review your own tax, contract, record-retention, and payment requirements before using a document in your business.