Before you start
Prerequisites and permissions
Have ready
- Quotes enabled and a current Sent quote. Portal customers also need active portal access.
Access rules
- Owners and Office Staff with quote viewing access can read. Quote management access is required to reply.
Where to find it
Navigation map
- Quote Activity
- Sales → Quotes → Activity
- Customer quote
- Customer Portal → Quotes
Walkthrough
Step by step
- 01
Ask a question
Open the secure quote link or the quote in the portal. Below the price, enter plain text of up to 1,000 characters and choose Send question. You can ask up to five questions per hour per quote and link or portal identity. Questions never block acceptance.
- 02
Read and reply
The business receives an in-app notification and push when enabled. The quote header shows Customer asked a question — Reply. Open Activity, read the conversation, enter your reply and choose Send reply. If the conversation changed, refresh before replying.
- 03
Read the answer
The reply appears under the question. The customer receives one reply email with the latest secure link; portal customers also receive a portal notification. Open the latest email link because a confirmed reply email replaces earlier quote links.
- 04
Continue the conversation
Ask again while the quote is Sent. This reopens the same thread. Changes to price or scope require a new quote revision; conversation text does not enter the quote or PDF.
Troubleshooting
If something does not look right
The question box is unavailable.
Accepted, declined, cancelled, expired or draft quotes cannot receive new questions. An expired or revoked link, inactive portal access, or disabled Quotes access also prevents submission.
Follow-ups are paused.
An open question automatically pauses quote reminders. Replying reschedules remaining reminders from the reply time using the business schedule. Missed reminders are not replayed, and a manual Pause is never cleared.
The customer has not received an email.
The reply remains available in the conversation. Check Activity for delivery evidence. Uncertain provider results are not retried automatically because the email may already have been sent.
Keep going