Quote
A Salesforce object that represents a formal pricing proposal for products or services, generated from an opportunity with line items, pricing, terms, and the ability to produce PDF quote documents for customers.
Definition
A Salesforce object that represents a formal pricing proposal for products or services, generated from an opportunity with line items, pricing, terms, and the ability to produce PDF quote documents for customers.
In plain English
“A Quote in Salesforce is a formal pricing proposal for products or services. You generate it from an opportunity with line items, pricing, terms, and you can produce PDF quote documents for customers. It's the formal pricing artifact in the sales process.”
Worked example
An AE at Estonley Software builds a Quote for a $180K deal: she generates the Quote from the Opportunity, adds 4 product line items, applies a 12% volume discount, sets a 30-day expiration, and clicks Generate Quote PDF. The PDF - branded with Estonley's logo, including line items, pricing, terms - emails to the customer for review. After negotiation, the customer accepts; she marks the Quote as Accepted; the Quote's terms and pricing flow back to update the Opportunity. The Quote is the formal pricing artifact in the sales process - what the customer signs off on before the deal closes.
Why Quote matters
A Quote is a Salesforce object that represents a formal pricing proposal for products or services, generated from an opportunity with line items, pricing, terms, and the ability to produce PDF quote documents for customers. Quotes formalize the pricing discussion, providing customers with a concrete document they can review, sign, and use for procurement processes.
Quoting is where sales operations become visible to customers through tangible pricing documents. Standard Salesforce quotes support basic scenarios: products, pricing, PDF generation. For complex scenarios (configured products, bundles, discount approvals, complex pricing), Salesforce CPQ provides enhanced capabilities beyond standard quotes. Mature sales operations choose the right quoting approach for their complexity level, with standard quotes for simple needs and CPQ for sophisticated requirements.
How to create Quote
Quotes are formal pricing proposals tied to an Opportunity. Sales reps create them to lock in pricing for the customer; they sync line items back to the Opportunity so forecasting stays accurate.
- Make sure Quotes are enabled
If the Quotes related list isn't on the Opportunity, ask an admin to enable it: Setup → Quote Settings → Enable Quotes.
- Open the parent Opportunity
Quotes are always created from an Opportunity — you can't make one in the void.
- Click New Quote in the Quotes related list
If the related list isn't on the Opportunity page layout, the admin needs to add it (Setup → Object Manager → Opportunity → Page Layouts).
- Fill the Quote Name
Use a pattern like "AccountName - Q1 - v1" so multiple revisions are easy to spot in the related list.
- Add Quote Line Items
On the new Quote, use the Quote Line Items related list → Add Line Items, then pick from the Opportunity's Products. Quote line items copy from Opp products on creation but don't auto-sync afterwards.
- Generate the Quote PDF
Use the Quote PDFs related list → Create PDF → pick a template → save and email. Templates are managed in Setup → Quote Templates.
- (Optional) Sync the Quote back to the Opportunity
Set Synced on the Quote = true. The Opportunity Amount + line items now mirror this Quote. Only one Quote per Opportunity can sync at a time.
Required by the platform.
Required by association — you can only create a Quote from an Opportunity, so this is auto-set.
Required, populated from the parent Opportunity.
- Quotes feature must be enabled in Setup before the related list appears on Opportunity layouts. New orgs do not have it on by default.
- Quote line items are a snapshot of Opportunity products at creation time. Updating the Opp after the Quote is created doesn't propagate — you have to re-add line items or delete and recreate the Quote.
- Only one Quote can sync back to the Opportunity at a time. Switching the synced Quote unlinks the previous one's pricing influence on the Opp.
How organizations use Quote
Uses standard Salesforce quotes for their simple pricing scenarios where CPQ would be overkill.
Upgraded to Salesforce CPQ when their quoting needs grew beyond what standard quotes support.
Generates PDF quotes from Salesforce for customers, with branded templates matching their visual identity.
Trust & references
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Quote.
- Create and Edit CPQ QuotesSalesforce Help
- CPQ Quote FieldsSalesforce Help
Test your knowledge
Q1. What is a Quote?
Q2. What can Quotes generate?
Q3. When use CPQ instead of standard Quotes?
Discussion
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