Quotes. PDF export and direct emails

[duc-tv]

Description:
The official Quotes plugin works very well and provides a solid foundation for creating and managing quotes.

However, it seems the plugin was not designed for easy sharing of quotes outside the system (which I believe is an important aspect in e-commerce).
In our company, we often face situations where:

• Customers request a PDF version of the quote.
• Quotes need to be shared via email CC to other stakeholders.
• Administrators want to send a quote directly to an email address, without having to select a registered customer, since we sell through multiple channels, and sometimes the customer requesting the quote has not yet registered in the system (allowing us to bring potential customers into the system through this quote).

We assume that other companies using NopCommerce might encounter similar requirements.

Requested Improvements:

• PDF Export: Ability to export a quote as PDF including items, prices, total, customer info, date, logo, ...
• Direct Email Sending: Allow admin to send a quote to any email address, not only registered customers.

Benefit:

• Supports collaboration and approval workflows.
• Enables flexible sales channels and easier sharing with customers or internal departments.
• Reduces manual effort of copying quote details into external documents or emails.

[maliayik]

@duc-tv I’m interested in working on this feature, but I’d like to clarify the requirements first.

For the PDF export, should the button/functionality be available in the admin panel (quotes management) or directly on the product/customer-facing pages (e.g., product page or checkout)?

Understanding the intended location will help ensure the implementation matches your needs.

[SelectSystemsInternational]

The way I have implemented this in my Company Management Plugin is to introduce a range of new statues for Orders, one of them being Quote.
Then there is a button on checkout and the Customer can then create a quote rather than an order. Then the customer can print a quote just as if it was an order
Typically, after a quote is produced the customer will review and may want to place an Order. In this case there is an Approve button in Admin to convert the Quote to an Order.
There is lot more to the process and dealing with quotes and orders including options for credit workflow, you see more information here https://selectsystems.com.au/company-management-system

[duc-tv]

@maliayik thank you, as you mentioned, I think the “Generate PDF” button should appear in two places:

1. For administrators in the admin panel, and
2. In the customer’s account under "Quotes" (not under "Requests for quote"). (I think it would be even better if its visibility could be configurable — shown or hidden as needed.)

Because if we place it on the product page, checkout, or similar pages where a quote has not yet been created (at that point it’s only a quote request, not an actual quote issued by the seller), it wouldn’t make sense.

In addition, I think it would be useful to develop a feature that allows generating a shareable link for the quote (optionally protected by a password) in the case where the customer is completely new and has not registered an account in the system, which can then be provided to the customer who receives the quote.

[duc-tv]

@SelectSystemsInternational thank you for your suggestion, that’s a good approach, but there is one point we need to clarify:

A quote is different from an order in that it can go through multiple iterations — for the same customer, both store owners or sellers may approve or reject it multiple times.

Creating a quote as an order may cause confusion, and moreover, generating a PDF for such a fake order clearly has no validity.

On the other hand, generating/sharing a PDF for a quote means that this quote has already been made valid, at least from the store owner’s or seller’s side.

In addition, I believe the key point here is that quotes must be shareable. Therefore, if they are created as an order, I don’t see how this issue would be addressed.

[SelectSystemsInternational]

I have not looked at that Plugin you are referring to or what it displays. My plugin is more for customers who have an account so some of the above things exist by default

As an Order with Status of Quote then you can display and print the Quote just as you can now with an order. There is no new buttons as such. It is just what is displayed on the PDF that is different i.e. It says Quote at the Top with a Valid to date.

Yes a quote can be approved or un approved, or edited / adjusted by Admin multiple times.

From my experience although the website can Automatically resend the Quote often you want to discuss other information in an associated email and so you add the Quote PDF as an attachment - a capture of the current quote and associated information at that time - alternatively you could add the link to reprint in the email. Not to say more functionality could be added to the plugin to do all this in the website to keep track of iterations.

There may also be a case to add a Copy an existing Order for Edit– to keep the different versions for the same or different customer – you may also want to add a different numbering system for quotes v’s orders.