An estimate lets your client say yes before any money changes hands (they accept online with a typed name, recorded with a timestamp), and a payment schedule then collects the invoice in the right pieces: a deposit up front or milestones with their own due dates.
Send an estimate your client can accept online
- From Invoices → New, pick the Estimate document type. Estimates get their own EST- numbering series, so your invoice sequence is untouched.
- Add the client and line items exactly as on an invoice, and save. If something is missing, or the Valid until date falls before the issue date, the message shows under that field and Save takes you straight to it, just as on an invoice.
- From the estimate's detail page, share the accept link over WhatsApp, email or however you like.
- The link opens a hosted page showing the full estimate. To accept, your client types their name. Finocket records that typed-name acceptance with a timestamp, so you always know who agreed and when. They can also decline with a reason, which lands back on the estimate for you.
- Once accepted, tap Convert to invoice. Client, line items and taxes carry over without retyping, and the estimate stays linked to the invoice it became. Your own invoice fields carry over too, such as an engagement reference the client accepted; an auto-numbered field takes the next number in its own series instead of the estimate's. Converting a delivery challan to an invoice carries them the same way.
Deposits and milestone schedules
Any invoice can carry a payment schedule: a deposit percentage up front (say 40% to start, 60% on delivery), or custom milestones with their own amounts and due dates. The invoice total never changes. The schedule only says how it arrives. Set it up from the payment-schedule card on the invoice detail page.
How installments get chased
- Payment links always collect the next open installment, never the whole balance, so a deposit request can't accidentally charge the full amount.
- Reminders chase the next open installment as its due date approaches and passes (see Getting paid faster for the schedule).
- The client portal shows the schedule and offers a pay action on whichever installment is due next.
- A paid installment ticks itself off; if a payment is refunded, the installment reopens so the balance stays honest.
Access & control
Owners and assistants can create estimates, share accept links and convert them. An invited accountant sees estimates read-only. The accept page itself is public. The link is the key, so share it only with the client.
Related: Client portal & statements, Getting paid faster, Clients & invoices.