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Estimate options
let you customize your printed estimates
It contains different options that let you change
the “look”, but not the overall design, of your forms.
Since estimates were designed to be printed on letterhead, and
not specialized forms, these settings let you tailor your estimates
to fit on your letterhead.
You can change the estimate top, left, and bottom margins (the right-side
margin is fixed, and isn’t customizable). Changing margins doesn’t
affect the content or arrangement of the information on estimates; instead,
they simply nudge the text up or down, or to the right side. In addition,
you can customize some of the terminology used on estimates -- especially
the word estimate. For example, you can change the word Estimate to Authorization,
Proposal, or some other descriptive phrase that better accommodates your
clients.
The settings in report options apply to every estimate you print. So
if you change the heading Estimate to Proposal, every printed estimate
will be entitled Proposal. The estimate margins are customizable to work
with your letterhead. Any kind of letterhead will work, as long as any
art printed on the letterhead doesn’t conflict with the text printed
from Clients & Profits. Since invoice options affect all users, it’s
best to make these changes when no one is using Clients & Profits
X Pro; otherwise, you may get record-locking while a busy user’s
preferences are updated.
 Do
not set your margins to less than 1/2”. Clients & Profits
requires a minimum .50” margin on the printed invoice
and estimate.
You
can customize the font used by your invoices, estimates,
and other reports using the Report Fonts command in Utilities.
To change your estimate options
1 Choose Clients & Profits X > Preferences
(Mac) or Setup > Preferences (Windows), then select Estimate
Options from the list on the left.
The Estimates Options window opens.
2 Enter your changes to the invoice options, then close the preferences
window. Your changes will be saved immediately.
Since these settings are used by everyone, every user’s preferences
are updated when these changes are saved. To prevent record-locking,
it’s best that no one uses Clients & Profits X while you’re
changing the estimate options.
Adding a graphic logo to estimates
Estimates and invoices can each contain a different graphic
logo. This logo appears at the top left side of the printed
estimate and invoice. Any kind of .BMP file (Windows) or
PICT file (Macintosh) can be copied from a graphics program,
then pasted into the report options windows. The graphic
file can be black-and-white or full-color.
These step-by-step instructions apply to both the Mac
and Windows versions of Photoshop and Clients & Profits
X. While these instructions refer to Photoshop, nearly any
graphic program will work in the same way.
First, start Photoshop and open your logo file. Then start Clients & Profits
X and open your database. Once you've entered your initials and password
into Clients & Profits X, switch back to Photoshop.
1 Once Photoshop has started,
open the graphic file containing your logo.
2 Modify the logo so that it
has an image size of 795 pixels wide by 300 pixels high. If
your logo's width or height does not meet either of these dimensions,
choose Image > Canvas Size to add the necessary white space
required to bring the graphic to the required size.
All logos will vary in size, but none can exceed 795 X 300 pixels, otherwise
they will be immediately scaled to fit these dimensions on the printed
estimate, invoice, etc. In some cases, you may want to decrease the size
of your logo in order for the entire image to fit inside of the logo
fields in Clients & Profits X.
The logo won't be centered by Clients & Profits; instead,
the logo is placed in the top-left corner. If your agency logo is square
in shape, you must make sure that the height does not exceed 1". Then,
add additional white space to your logo to bring the total width to
2.65".
3 Choose Select > All to select the entire graphic
file.
4 Choose Edit > Copy to copy this selection
to the computer's Clipboard.
5 Switch from Photoshop to Clients & Profits
X.
6 Once in Clients & Profits
X, choose Setup > Preferences (Windows) or Clients & Profits > Preferences
(Mac) then select an options area from the list on the left
(Broadcast Orders, Invoice Options, Estimate Options, etc.).
The selected preference options window opens,
displaying your preferences including any existing logo.
7 With your mouse, click inside
the logo field, then choose Edit > Paste.
The logo graphic should appear. In some cases,
it may appear bitmapped on the screen, but will print in 300
dpi quality on the printed forms.
8 Click Save.
The same logo can be pasted into the database's
Broadcast Order preferences, Estimate options, Insertion Order
preferences, Interactive Order preferences, Invoice options,
Outdoor Order options, and Purchase Order options by repeating
steps 4-6. To paste a different logo into a preferences window,
repeat steps 1-6.
Pasting From File
You can also paste your saved PICT or BMP file directly
into the program.
1. Choose Clients & Profits X > Preferences
(Mac) or Setup > Preferences (Windows)
2. The Preferences dialog box will open.
In the left-hand preferences list, choose the options area
you wish to paste your logo into.
3. Click inside of the logo field, then
choose Edit > Paste From File.
4. You will be prompted to locate the
logo file you wish to paste into the program. Once you've
located the file, select it and click Open.
5. Your logo should appear in the logo
field.
Your logo will be saved to Preferences when the window is closed.
Setting margins
The top, left, and bottom margins can be changed
separately for invoices and estimates (in case you use different
letterhead or forms). Any margin setting can be used, within
reason. But remember that changing the margin doesn’t
actually change the content of the estimate or invoice.
The information printed from Clients & Profits X (such as the item
descriptions, job numbers, amounts, and notes) require a certain amount
of space on the estimate and invoice -- and that information can’t
be changed. So the margins you choose only affect where the printing
starts on the printed page. You can’t control the right-side margin
or page breaks (this is based on what you’ve entered onto the invoice
or estimate).
Most laser printers can’t print on the outside 1/2" of the page;
if you make your margins smaller than 1/2", they’re likely to be
cut-off. If your printer supports full-page printing, then it should
be as expected.
Margins
can’t be less than 1/2” on all sides; if so, the
estimate won’t print.
To test your settings, practice printing several copies of typical estimates.
You may have to make several adjustments before finding the best-looking
settings.
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