Overview

Use Proposal Builder to create sales proposal documents.

Permissions

• You must have the Create Proposal permission to build a proposal.
• You must have the the Edit Proposal Custom Fields permission to edit merge tags.
  Note: If you don’t have the proper permissions the merge tag fields will be disabled when creating a proposal.
• For custom roles, make sure the Custom Proposals permission is enabled in Organization Settings for the user role.

See Proposal Builder Roles and Permissions to learn more about the user roles and permissions.

Building proposals

1. Open the Proposals module and click Create Proposal.
2. Select Start From Scratch or Choose Standard Template.
   • Start From Scratch: This option lets you customize every detail of your proposals from scratch.
     Note: You can still leverage Themes files (Response templates) and Section templates.
   • Choose Standard Template: This option lets you create proposals quickly by using Proposal templates curated by your organization leveraging Themes files (Response templates) and Section templates.

Click through the following video for a quick overview:

Creating proposals from scratch

1. Open the Proposals module, then click Create Proposal and select Start From Scratch.
2. Select the Primary Business Unit (BU) if BUs are enabled for your organization and click Save.
3. Complete the following basic information:
   1. Enter a name and a brief description for the proposal. Add relevant tags for easy searching.
   2. (Optional) Set a due date and estimated value.
   3. Choose a theme for your proposal from the list. If you don't have any themes listed, you can use Add New Theme to upload one. See Uploading Theme files for more information and instructions on how to upload a theme file.
      Note: Choose I'll do this later if you want to skip adding a theme (you can add a template later).
4. Add content to your proposal. You'll be prompted to add sections from your section library.
   
   1. To find the specific section template, you can perform keyword search or apply filters from the left pane.
   2. Click Open Section Library to view your section templates library in a new browser window.
   3. The available section templates are in the middle.
   4. The selected sections are on the right.
   5. You can click and drag a section's handle on the right pane to reorder it.
5. Click Done.
6. On the content screen, you can add more sections from the library, create new ones, edit content, update placeholders (Merge Tags), configure catalogs, preview your proposal, and set up reviews.
   
   1. Manage Sections pane: Displays the sections added to the proposal. You can:
      • Click Add Sections > Add Sections from the library to add a new section to the proposal from the library.
      • Click Add Sections > Create New Section to create a new section in the proposal.
      • Click Manage Sections  and select Skip Section Names to skip showing the section titles on the proposal.
      • Drag and drop a section to reorder it.
      • Click Add Reviewer to add a reviewer to the section. See Assigning Section Review in Proposal Builder to learn more about setting up section reviews.
      • Click the three-dot menu and select from the following:
        • Restore Section to discard any changes made to the section and restore it from the library.
        • Update Section to save the changes made to the section in the library.
        • Save Section to Library to add the section as a new section template in the library.
        • Delete to remove the section.
   2. Content canvas: Shows the live preview of the proposal content.
      • The editing toolbar appears at the top of the page when you click into the canvas. 
      • Quick edit options appear when you select part of the text.
   3. Manage Dynamic Content pane: Lists the configurable content used in the proposal. You can:
      • Provide/update the replacement text for merge tags from the Merge Tags tab.
        Note: If you don’t have the Edit Proposal Custom Fields permission the merge tag fields will be disabled when creating a proposal.
      • Configure the catalogs you want to include in the proposal from the Catalogs tab.
      • Use the navigation arrows to navigate to the occurrences of the merge tags and catalogs.
      • Use Collapse to collapse the right pane.
   4. Preview: Preview the proposal with the selected theme.
   5. Save: Saves your progress. You can also select Save and Exit from the drop-down menu to save and return to the Proposal list page.
   6. Build Proposal: Allows you to build the final proposal.
7. Once the sections and contents of the proposal have been configured, click Save to save the progress.
   Note: You click also click Save and Exit to save your progress as a draft and return to the Proposal list page.
8. (Optional) Click Preview to generate the proposal preview with the theme styles and layout applied.
9. Click Build Proposal to generate the proposal.

Creating a Standard Proposal (using Standard Template)

1. Open the Proposals module, then click Create Proposal and select Standard Proposal.
2. Complete the following basic information:
   1. Enter your proposal name and a brief description. Add relevant tags for easy searching. 
   2. (Optional) Set a due date and estimated value.
   3. Select a template from the Proposal Template Library.
      
      1. Displays the available proposal templates. You can click a template to preview it.
         
         1. Displays the following proposal details: Creator, date, usage, tags, sections, placeholders for content, and pre-filled sections.
         2. Displays a preview of the template, including its layout, text, and images.
         3. Click Previous or Next to view the other template options.
         4. Click Use this template to use the template for the proposal.
      2. Search for proposal templates. You can use advanced options to narrow down your search.
      3. Switch between thumbnail and list views for your proposal templates.
      4. Sort the proposal templates.
3. Click Next.
4. Add content to personalize your proposal. You can add sections from the library, create new ones, edit content, update placeholders (merge tags), configure catalogs, preview your proposal, and set up reviews.
   
   1. Manage Sections pane: Displays the sections added to the proposal. You can:
      1. Click Add Sections > Add Sections from the library to add a new section to the proposal from the library.
      2. Click Add Sections > Create New Section to create a new section in the proposal.
      3. Click Manage Sections and select Skip Section Names to skip showing the section titles on the proposal.
      4. Drag and drop a section to reorder it.
      5. Click Add Reviewer to add a reviewer to the section. See Assigning Section Review in Proposal Builder to learn more about setting up section reviews.
      6. Click the three-dot menu and select from the following:
         1. Restore Section to discard any changes made to the section and restore it from the library.
         2. Update Section to save the changes made to the section in the library.
         3. Save Section to Library to add the section as a new section template in the library.
         4. Delete to remove the section.
   2. Content canvas: Shows the live preview of the proposal content.
      1. The editing toolbar appears at the top of the page when you click into the canvas. 
      2. Quick edit options appear when you select part of the text.
   3. Manage Dynamic Content pane: Lists the configurable content used in the proposal. You can:
      1. Provide/update the replacement text for merge tags from the Merge Tags tab.
         Note: If you don’t have the Edit Proposal Custom Fields permission the merge tag fields will be disabled when creating a proposal.
      2. Configure the catalogs you want to include in the proposal from the Catalogs tab.
      3. Use the navigation arrows to navigate to the occurrences of the merge tags and catalogs.
      4. Use Collapse to collapse the right pane.
   4. Preview: Preview the proposal with the selected theme.
   5. Save: Saves your progress. You can also select Save and Exit from the drop-down menu to save and return to the Proposal list page.
   6. Build Proposal: Allows you to build the final proposal. 

1. Once the sections and contents of the proposal have been configured, click Save to save the progress.
   Note: You click also click Save and Exit to save your progress as a draft and return to the Proposal list page.
2. (Optional) Click Preview to generate the proposal preview with the theme styles and layout applied.
3. Click Build Proposal to generate the proposal.

Proposal statuses

• Draft: Proposals that are being drafted and not yet built.
• Ready: Proposals that are built, but yet to be shared.
• Redraft: Proposals that were edited after being built.
• Shared: Proposals that are built and already shared.