Quote creation in the QuickBooks mobile app, step by step

QuickBooks users who price work in the field keep running into the same small wall. The mobile app can produce and send a quote, but nothing on the home screen says so. The control sits behind a plus button, and the question of where to start comes up again and again. The answer is short, and it is nearly identical on iOS and Android. We will take each in turn.

The path to a new quote

The confusion is understandable. The app opens on summaries of money in and money out, and every create action is gathered under one plus sign instead of being given its own button. A quote begins three taps from launch: the plus sign, then Quote, then a customer. From that point the app prompts you for everything else, so most of the job is choosing rather than typing.

Create a quote on iOS

Open the app and follow this sequence:

1. Tap the plus sign, then tap Quote.
2. Tap Add customer and select the person the quote is for.
3. Tap Add product or service, find the line item, and tap Add. Use Add another product or service to repeat for extra lines.
4. Optionally, tap the plus sign next to attachments or message to include a file or a note.
5. Tap Review and send to reach the preview screen.
6. Tap Send via email and edit the body of the message to suit the job.
7. Tap Send.

Before that final tap, Preview lets you adjust how the quote looks and correct your company details. Close returns you to the preview screen when you are finished.

Create a quote on Android

The opening run is identical: plus sign, Quote, customer, then product or service. The two platforms part ways at the end. Download saves a copy of the quote straight to your device, and Share opens other ways to pass it along. Quote preview shows the finished document and lets you save a PDF copy. After that the flow rejoins: Send via email, edit the message if needed, then tap Send.

Before you tap Send

Two things are worth a glance on the preview screen. The email body is editable, so you can replace the stock wording with something that fits the job. Preview also opens layout options where you can change the look of the document and fix your company details. On Android, the PDF copy you download there doubles as a tidy record for your own files.

Can Intuit AI build the quote for you?

It can, with one condition on your plan. The feature belongs to QuickBooks Online Advanced, so subscribers on simpler tiers will not see it. Where it exists, start a quote as usual and tap Autofill in place of adding lines by hand. Image opens the camera: photograph the written quote or estimate you are working from, or pull a picture from your gallery. Keep the entire document inside the frame, because the app captures it automatically. A manual capture control is available if you would rather take the shot yourself. Voice is the other route, and it listens while you describe the work. However you feed it, you still review and send the quote like any other.

From quote to invoice

The More menu on the quote screen holds a conversion to an invoice. That is the tidy exit once a customer accepts. The lines carry over, so you are not retyping quantities and rates on a small screen. Knowing this in advance lets you run the whole negotiation inside one document, then flip it the moment you get a yes.

One wording note

In the Irish edition of the app, the document is labelled a quote throughout. Some other regional editions call the same thing an estimate. The steps above do not change either way; only the word on the button does.

The pattern worth remembering is narrow: the plus sign is the doorway, Review and send is the checkpoint, and Send via email is the exit. Everything else, from attachments to PDF downloads, hangs off those three points.