The Proposals tab on the Deal screen allows you to create and manage all proposals associated with a deal.
You can create a proposal from the deal itself, from a scenario, or by uploading your own document.
📌 Users with Add, edit, and delete deals permissions can add, edit, and delete proposals. By default, these are users with Manager, Profitability Manager, and Admin permissions.
Creating a Proposal from a Deal or Scenario
Go to the Proposals tab on the deal screen and click + Proposal.
On the Create tab, fill in:
Subject – Give your proposal a clear subject which will be included in the PDF.
Create Proposal From – Select the deal itself or one of its scenarios. Choosing a scenario uses that scenario's services and rates instead of the deal's.
Document template – Choose from the templates configured in Settings > Document Templates > Proposal.
Templates define the layout and structure of your proposal, including which details appear, how they’re formatted, and the overall visual style such as fonts, colors, and logo placement.Tax Rate – Select the applicable tax rate for the services from your deal, if any.
Note – Pre-filled from the selected document template. Edit it here if you need a different note for this specific proposal.
Click Create proposal.
📌 You can create more than one proposal per deal — for example, one per scenario you're presenting to a client.
Creating a Proposal from an Uploaded Document
If you already have a proposal document prepared outside Productive, you can upload it instead of building one from a deal or scenario.
Go to the Proposals tab on the deal screen and click + Proposal.
Switch to the Upload tab and fill in:
Subject – Give your proposal a clear subject.
Upload a .pdf file by clicking the upload area or dragging your file in.
Document Template – Only the email section of the selected template is used; the proposal content itself comes from your uploaded file.
Click Create Proposal.
📌 An uploaded proposal doesn't need to match the deal's services or a scenario. It's stored and managed like any other proposal, but its content isn't generated from Productive data.
Managing an Open Proposal
After creation, you can open the proposal document and adjust the following:
Status – Each proposal has a status that updates manually or automatically:
Draft (default) – the proposal has been created but not yet sent
Sent – set automatically when the proposal is emailed or when a public link is generated
Accepted – set automatically when a client approves the proposal
Declined – set automatically when a client declines via the public link, or manually by the user
Send Proposal – Open the email modal to send the proposal directly to your client.
Enable e-signature – Generates a secure public link your client can use to accept and sign the proposal. This opens a panel showing the proposal link along with additional security options, such as requiring email verification, setting the link to expire, adding password protection, or requiring a disclaimer. Click Disable e-signature to deactivate the link.
👉 See Accepting and Signing Deal Proposals for details on each option.
Edit and Delete (three-dot menu) – Modify proposal details or remove it entirely from the deal.
Export – Download the proposal as a PDF to share or store outside Productive.
Closing an open proposal returns you to the Proposals tab, where you can see a list of all proposals for the deal.
📌 You can also export proposals quickly via the deal sidebar's Settings tab without opening the Proposals tab, though this method doesn't include acceptance or signing features.
Syncing a Proposal
If the source deal or scenario changes after you create a proposal, Productive flags the proposal as out of sync so the numbers stay accurate.
For deal-sourced proposals, Sync Proposal appears when the deal's services, quantities, or rates have changed.
For scenario-sourced proposals, a banner reads "This proposal is out of sync with the scenario" with an info icon explaining that services, sections, totals, and other scenario details have changed.
Click Sync Proposal to regenerate the proposal with the latest data.
📌 Only proposals in Draft status can be edited, synced, or regenerated.
Reuploading a Proposal Document
For upload-sourced proposals, you can replace the file without creating a new proposal:
Open the proposal.
Click Reupload.
Upload the new .pdf file.
The new document replaces the old one on the same proposal record.
📌 Only proposals in Draft status can be reuploaded.
Tracking Proposals Across Deals in Reports
To get an overview of proposals across all your deals, use the Proposals data source in Reports. Go to Reports > + Report > From Scratch and select Proposals.
You can filter and group by fields like status, date sent, owner, company, or budget total — for example, to find all proposals with a Sent status from last quarter that are still awaiting a response.
👉 Learn more about creating reports from scratch.
Proposals on Retainer Deals
When a proposal is created on a retainer deal, service amounts and totals automatically display as per-period values. For example, $800.00/month per service line, with subtotal, tax, and grand total all shown per period.
A contract total field is also available, showing the full contract value across all periods (e.g., $7,200.00 for a 6-month deal at $1,200.00/month including tax). This field is retainer-specific and only renders on retainer deal proposals.
📌 The contract total field must be enabled in your proposal template to appear on the PDF. Go to Settings > Document Templates, open your proposal template, and toggle Contract total on under the visible fields. It will only display on retainer deals — it has no effect on one-off deal proposals.
👉 See Retainer Deals for more on how deal value and periods are set up.
Section Descriptions on Proposals
If a deal or budget section includes a description, it also displays on the proposal PDF, right under the section name.
📌 The Section Description field must be enabled in your proposal template to appear on the PDF. Go to Settings > Document Templates, open your proposal template, and toggle Section Description on under the table's Show/Hide Fields.
👉 Learn more about setting up section descriptions in Service Names, Sections, and Descriptions.
