Creating a Quote is most often done from an Opportunity in the regular sales motion. The create flow auto-populates most fields from the parent Opportunity and from the Account, leaving the deal-desk operator to refine discount, terms, and the proposal output.
- Open the Opportunity
Most healthy orgs create Quotes from the Opportunity's Quotes related list. Starting from the Opportunity auto-populates the Account, the Opportunity reference, and pulls the Pricebook from the Opportunity setting.
- Click New Quote
The New button on the Quotes related list opens the create form. If the related list is hidden, the page layout needs an admin update. If your profile lacks Create on Quote, that is a separate permission issue.
- Fill the Quote Name and Expiration Date
Use a consistent naming convention that includes Opportunity and version. ExpirationDate communicates how long the price commitment holds; sales operations enforces it through validation rules in most enterprise orgs.
- Add Quote Line Items
Open the Quote Line Items related list and add the Products at the prices you are proposing. Override UnitPrice and Discount if the deal requires negotiated terms; the platform validates against the chosen Pricebook.
- Mark as primary if applicable
One Quote per Opportunity can be designated primary. The primary Quote syncs back to Opportunity Line Items and is the version most reports surface as "the deal."
- Submit for approval if required
If your org has Approval Processes on Quote, trigger them now. Internal approval typically routes through Deal Desk, Finance, and possibly Legal depending on Discount Percentage and deal value.
- Generate the Quote PDF
Use the Generate PDF button (or the CPQ document-generation flow) to produce the customer-facing proposal. Review the output before sending; the PDF reflects the current Quote state, so last-minute edits in Salesforce propagate to the output document.
- Mark as Presented and send to the customer
Update Status to Presented (or your org's equivalent) when the PDF is sent. Track customer response by updating Status as the deal progresses.
Required. The display label for the Quote.
Required. The parent Opportunity the Quote belongs to.
- Only the primary Quote syncs back to the Opportunity Line Items. Secondary Quotes exist independently; switching primary mid-deal can overwrite Opportunity terms with the new primary's data.
- Quote Templates produced through the native Setup > Quote Templates path are limited compared to CPQ document generation. Enterprise orgs typically outgrow native templates within the first year.
- CPQ Quotes (SBQQ__Quote__c) are a different object from standard Quote. Reports built off standard Quote in a CPQ-enabled org return mostly empty results; query the CPQ object instead.
- Discount overrides on Quote Line Items bypass Pricebook pricing. Without validation rules or approval gates, reps can override unit prices arbitrarily and create revenue-recognition surprises downstream.