All topics
Proposals, templates and content: questions and answers
How to build proposals in QuoteCloud from templates, reusable content and 20 content blocks, and how to keep approved wording consistent.
28 questions
The short answer
QuoteCloud proposals are built in a drag-and-drop editor from 20 content blocks, including price tables, eSignatures, Gantt charts, diagrams and forms. Teams start from templates, drop in approved sections from a shared content library and personalise them with data items. Templates and the content library are on Essentials (US$39 per user per month); content locking, forms, Gantt charts and diagrams are on Business (US$59).
Proposals
What is QuoteCloud proposal software?
Software for building, sending, tracking and eSigning proposals from templates, reusable content and interactive pricing.
Most asked
Full answer
QuoteCloud is sales proposal software that lets you create, send, track and eSign client proposals and quotes in one place. You build each proposal in a drag-and-drop editor from templates, a shared content library and content blocks such as text, price tables, Gantt charts, diagrams and eSignatures. The client opens it in a browser on any device, chooses permitted options, comments, signs and can pay, and you are notified when it is opened. eSignatures are included on every plan.
Can I use QuoteCloud to respond to RFPs and tenders?
Yes, by reusing approved answers from the content library; it is not a tender portal and doesn't find tenders.
Plan: Essentials and above
Full answer
Yes. Keep approved answers, case studies, policies and team bios in the company content library, start each response from a template, add a price table for the pricing schedule and route it through an approval workflow before submission. QuoteCloud does not connect to tender portals or find tenders for you, so when a buyer requires an upload, export the finished response as a PDF (included from Starter) and upload it yourself.
How do I add a Gantt chart to a proposal?
Add the Gantt Chart content block, enter tasks with dates or durations and link dependent tasks. It's on Business.
Plan: Business and above
Full answer
Add the Gantt Chart content block in the editor. It starts with a default structure of task rows, a time axis, duration bars and milestone markers. Enter your tasks with start and end dates or durations, then right-click a task, choose Edit Task and use the Predecessors and Successors tabs to link dependent tasks, so related tasks move together when dates change. Task groups can be expanded or collapsed. Gantt charts are included on Business and Enterprise.
Can I add a flowchart or diagram to a proposal?
Yes. The Diagram block builds flowcharts, decision trees and org charts inside the document. It's on Business.
Plan: Business and above
Full answer
Yes. The Diagram content block lets you build flowcharts, decision trees and org charts inside a QuoteCloud document from shapes such as rectangles, ovals and diamonds, joined with arrows and lines. You can move and resize shapes and edit their text, colours, fonts and line styles. The diagram appears when the document is shared, exported as a PDF or printed. Flowcharts and diagrams are included on Business and Enterprise.
Can a form sit inside a proposal or contract?
Yes. The Forms block sits beside text, price tables and the eSignature block in one document. It's on Business.
Plan: Business and above
Full answer
Yes. Forms is one of the 20 content blocks, so a form can sit alongside text, price tables, PDFs and an eSignature block in the same document. A contract can collect the client's details and signature together, and a quote can ask for site information before it is accepted. Common uses are intake and onboarding forms, project briefs, service requests, consent forms and site surveys. The form builder is included on Business and Enterprise.
Templates
Does QuoteCloud have ready-made proposal and quote templates?
Yes. A template gallery organised by industry gives you a starting point you then brand and edit.
Plan: Essentials and above Most asked
Full answer
Yes. When you click Create Template, QuoteCloud shows a gallery of ready-made templates organised into industry categories, along with ready-made price table styles. Pick one and it is added to your Templates dashboard, ready to edit with your content, branding and pricing. You can also browse public templates on the QuoteCloud website before you sign up. Public and custom document templates are included on Essentials and above.
How do I create a template in QuoteCloud?
Go to Templates, click Create Template, start blank or from the gallery, customise it and save it for reuse.
Plan: Essentials and above
Full answer
Open Templates from the left navigation menu and click Create Template. Start from a blank template or choose a ready-made one from the gallery, which adds it to your Templates dashboard. Open the template card and edit the content, layout, branding, price tables, data items and document settings. Templates can be Draft or Published; choose Publish Template from a draft's three-dot menu to make it available when your team creates new documents.
Can QuoteCloud convert my existing Word or PDF template?
Yes. One existing template is converted free during your trial on paid plans; more are a paid add-on.
Plan: Essentials and above Most asked
Full answer
Yes. Send the document you use today, such as a Word file or a PDF, and the QuoteCloud team rebuilds it as a QuoteCloud template ready in your template library. One existing template is converted free during your trial on Essentials, Business and Enterprise, together with a complimentary 45-minute training session. Additional conversions are a paid add-on billed per template. You can also rebuild documents yourself from drag-and-drop blocks, public templates and your content library.
How do I edit, duplicate or delete a template?
Use the three-dot menu on the template card to rename and move, duplicate, publish or delete it.
Plan: Essentials and above
Full answer
In the Templates dashboard, open the three-dot menu on a template card. Rename & Move updates the template's title, category and description; Duplicate Template creates a copy you can turn into a variant; Publish Template makes a draft available for new documents; and Delete Template removes it after you confirm. To change a template's content, open its card and edit it in the document editor.
How do I fill templates with client and deal details automatically?
Use data items: placeholders for document, contact and product fields that fill in when a document is created.
Plan: Essentials and above
Full answer
Use data items, QuoteCloud's merge fields. Global custom data items are created in Settings under Custom Data Items for Document, Contact or Product, as Text, Number, Dropdown or Date fields with an optional default and a required setting. You can also create data items that exist only in one template or document. Insert them into text blocks from the Data Items menu, and when someone creates a document from the template, the Data Items step asks for the values to fill in.
Can each sales team use its own templates?
Yes. Template Restrictions assign templates to a team, and product categories and role permissions narrow what each team uses.
Plan: Essentials and above
Full answer
Yes. In a team's settings, turn on Template Restrictions and assign the templates that team should use, so each team works from the layouts meant for its market. You can also assign product categories to a team, so reps only quote relevant products. Role permissions control who can access, add to or edit the content library. Unlimited sales teams and custom user roles are included on Essentials, Business and Enterprise.
Content library
What is the QuoteCloud content library?
One place for the approved text, price tables, images and PDFs your team reuses, as drag-in content blocks.
Plan: Essentials and above Most asked
Full answer
The content library is one place for the content your team reuses in proposals and quotes: approved text, company introductions, terms, case studies, price tables, images and PDFs. Each item is a content block you drag into any document, so nobody rewrites sections or copies them from old proposals. Content is either personal (My Content) or shared company-wide (Company), organised in folders. Content libraries are included on Essentials, Business and Enterprise.
How do I add content to the library?
Select blocks in the editor, right-click, choose Add selected to content library, then pick Personal or Company.
Plan: Essentials and above
Full answer
In the document editor, select a block or a group of blocks, right-click and choose Add selected to content library. Choose Personal or Company, pick or create a folder, give it a name and an optional description, and save. Price tables and other interactive blocks keep their behaviour when saved. You can also click Upload Content in the Content Library to upload images and PDFs straight into a chosen folder.
How do I insert library content into a document?
Open the Content Library panel in the editor and drag the block onto the page; select several to add them together.
Plan: Essentials and above
Full answer
Open the Content Library panel in the editor, find the block and drag it onto the page; a highlighted drop zone shows where it will land. To add several at once, tick each block's selection circle and drag them in together, and they keep their order. Pin the blocks you use most so they sit in a Pinned section at the top of the panel. Inserted blocks keep their formatting and interactive features, such as price table options.
How do I organise and find content in the library?
Use folders, search, filters and sorting, and bulk-move or delete blocks from the Content Libraries page.
Plan: Essentials and above
Full answer
Organise content into folders you can create, rename, delete and import files into. On the Content Libraries page, search, filter by folder or by table columns, sort by columns and clear filters when done. You can configure the table layout to show, hide and reorder columns, and change records per page. Bulk actions let you select several blocks and move them to a folder, move them between Company and My Content, or delete them.
Can I control who can use or edit the content library?
Yes. Role permissions decide who can access the library and who can create, modify or delete content.
Plan: Essentials and above
Full answer
Yes. In Users, Teams & Roles you assign roles to each user, and each role's Content Libraries permissions control whether it can access the library and whether it can create, modify or delete content blocks or add content from documents. That keeps control of shared company content, such as legal terms and pricing notes, with the right people while everyone else can still use it in their documents.
Content locking
What is content locking in QuoteCloud?
Locked company library blocks can be dragged into documents but not edited there. It's on Business.
Plan: Business and above
Full answer
Content locking protects approved content in your company content library. A locked block can still be dragged into quotes, proposals and contracts and used as normal, but it stays non-editable there, so legal text, warranties, pricing notes and brand copy appear exactly as approved in every document. Only users with the right permissions can unlock it. Locking does not rename, move or change the block. Content locking is included on Business and Enterprise.
How do I lock or unlock a content block, and who can do it?
Click the lock icon in the block's row in the Content Library; only users with permission can change it.
Plan: Business and above
Full answer
Open Libraries, then Content Libraries, find the block and click the lock icon in its row. The icon shows whether the block is locked or unlocked, and clicking it again switches it back. Only administrators and users whose role has the necessary Content Libraries permissions can change the lock status, and the icon tells everyone else the block is protected. Locking only controls editability; the block's name, content and folder stay the same.
How do I stop staff changing the legal terms in a contract?
Save your standard clauses as company library blocks and lock them; reps can insert but not edit them.
Plan: Business and above
Full answer
Save your standard clauses, such as terms of service, liability and payment terms, as blocks in the company content library and lock each one. Reps can still drag the locked blocks into any contract or quote, but cannot edit them there, and only admins or users with the right role permissions can unlock them in the library. Build the locked blocks into your templates so every new document starts with the approved wording. Content locking is part of the Business plan.
Editor and content blocks
What is the QuoteCloud drag-and-drop editor?
The editor every QuoteCloud document is built in: drag content blocks onto the page, arrange and style them.
Full answer
It is the editor you build every QuoteCloud document in. Instead of typing into one long page, you drag content blocks such as text, images, price tables, eSignatures, Gantt charts and forms onto the page, arrange them and style them. Proposals, quotes, contracts, itineraries and presentations all start here, and the finished document is interactive for your client. Which blocks are available depends on your plan.
What is the difference between Canvas mode and Grid mode?
Canvas places blocks freely and in layers; Grid builds pages from rows and columns for structured documents.
Full answer
Canvas mode is a freeform design canvas, like a presentation tool: you place blocks anywhere on the page, resize them and layer them for designed cover pages, brochures and visual pitches. Grid mode builds the page from rows and columns: choose how many columns a row has, set their widths and stack blocks inside them, which suits structured, repeatable documents such as quotes, statements of work and reports.
Which content blocks can I use in a document?
There are 20, including Price Table, Text, eSignature, Forms, Gantt Chart, Diagram, Spreadsheet, PDF and Itinerary.
Full answer
There are 20 content blocks: Price Table, Text, eSignature, Forms, Gantt Chart, Diagram, Spreadsheet, PDF, Video, Image, Gallery, Button, QR Code, Barcode, Shapes, Table of Contents, Itinerary, Empty Space, Table and Whiteboard. You can mix them freely in one document, so pricing, plans, forms and the signature live together. Text and image blocks are on every plan; price tables, barcodes and QR codes start on Essentials; forms, Gantt charts, diagrams and spreadsheets are on Business.
How do I style rows, columns and blocks?
Set margins, padding, borders and background colours or images, make rows full width and set default typography.
Full answer
You can set margins, padding and borders on rows, columns and individual blocks, add background colours or images to pages, containers, columns and blocks, and make a row full page width. Rows and columns can be reordered, duplicated and copy-pasted. A default typography setting makes every heading and paragraph use your chosen fonts, including fonts uploaded to your company Font Book, and anchor links let readers jump between sections.
Can I hide parts of a document from the client or from the PDF?
Yes. Right-click a section tab and choose Hide from Recipient, or Hide from recipient PDF.
Full answer
Yes. Right-click a section tab and choose Hide from Recipient to keep that section, such as internal notes, out of the client's view; hidden sections are shaded in the editor. To keep a section in the online document but leave it out of the exported PDF, choose Hide from recipient PDF, which marks the section with a slashed file icon. Repeat the same steps to show the section again.
Can I export a proposal as a PDF?
Yes, from Starter. Add page breaks, PDF headers and footers, and fixed-height pages to control the layout.
Plan: Starter and above
Full answer
Yes. PDF export is included on Starter and above. From the PDF Export panel you generate a PDF preview and download it. To control the layout, insert Break page here where a new page should start, add headers and footers with logos, dates and legal text, and use fixed-height pages with background images for designed pages. Sections can be hidden from the PDF while staying in the online document.
Images, video and PDFs
Can I edit photos inside a proposal?
Yes. The built-in image editor crops, rotates, filters, erases backgrounds and adds text, shapes and logos.
Plan: Starter and above
Full answer
Yes. The built-in Photo & Image Editor opens from image and gallery blocks, images inside text, shape image fills, page, column and container backgrounds, and video thumbnails. Crop freely or to 1:1, 4:3 or 21:9, rotate and straighten, apply filter presets and brightness, contrast, saturation, hue and blur, erase plain backgrounds, and add text, shapes, drawings and a logo on separate layers. Edits are non-destructive and save straight back into the document. QuoteCloud's plan comparison lists image editing on Starter and above.
Can I use Canva designs in QuoteCloud?
Yes. Open Canva from an Image block or the block menu, design, then click Return to QuoteCloud to insert it.
Full answer
Yes. Click inside an Image block and choose Canva in the image picker, or choose Canva directly from the block options menu. Canva opens in a new browser tab, where you design from scratch or from a Canva template. When you click Return to QuoteCloud, the finished design is uploaded and placed in an Image block in your document automatically. Canva designs can also be used as container, column and page backgrounds.
Can I add PDFs and videos to a proposal?
Yes. Embed a PDF as inline pages or attach it for download, and paste a YouTube link into a Video block.
Full answer
Yes. Click the + icon between pages and choose Embedded PDF to show a PDF's pages inside the document, or Upload Attachment to add it as a file recipients can view and download, which suits spec sheets, drawings and brochures. For video, add a Video block, right-click it, open Video Block Settings and paste a YouTube URL into the Video URL field; the video then plays inside the document. Images can also be dragged straight onto the page.
No questions match
Try a shorter word or another topic, or ask the QuoteCloud team below.
Still have a question?
Talk to a person, or find step-by-step help in the user guide.
Rated, secure and in business since 2013.
- 4.2Capterra rating
- 4.2Software Advice rating
- 2013Building QuoteCloud since
Questions answered? Try QuoteCloud free.
Free for 14 days. No credit card required.
Questions? Try it freeFree 14 days · no card
Start free trial