# Write the quotation body

Write and format the letter that opens a quotation, know when a template fills it, and find it on the client's page and in the printed quotation, above the prices.

The **Quotation Body** is the free text at the top of a quotation: the letter that introduces the offer, with the scope of the work, what the price includes, the team or the timeline. The client reads it before the prices, on the PDF and on the quotation's page online. It is not the **Terms and conditions** field under the lines, which holds the general conditions.

## Before you start {#before-you-start}

- You need an access right on **Sales**.
- Each quotation has its own body. A quotation template can fill it for you: see [Build a quotation template](build-a-quotation-template).

## Find the body {#find}

Open **Sales/Orders/Quotations** and open a quotation. The **Quotation Body** area sits between the client details and the **Order Lines** tab. A quotation made from a template opens with the template's text, as the quotation of **Meadowline Holdings** does with the **Legal services offer** template.

![A quotation made from a template opens with the template's text in its Quotation Body.](https://jaah.app/web/image/10630-7e9c7806/quotations-body-body_from_template-en.png)

The template's text is copied in the language of the client: this client reads English, so the text is English whatever the language of your own screen.

## Write and format {#write}

1. Click in the text where you want to write. **Enter** starts a new paragraph.
2. Select words to show the formatting bar above them: the paragraph style, the font size, bold, italic, underline, the text colour and a link.
3. Type **/** at the start of an empty line to insert a heading, a bulleted or numbered list, a table, and more.

![A paragraph added to the body of this quotation only.](https://jaah.app/web/image/10634-7c9a6d27/quotations-body-body_edited-en.png)

4. Click the cloud icon **Save manually**.

What you write changes this quotation only; the template keeps its own text.

## Choose the client and the template first {#order}

When the quotation's template has a body, changing the **Customer** or the **Quotation Template** puts the template's text back in the body, in the language of the new client, and what you had written is replaced. Pick both first, then write. A template without a body leaves your text as it is.

## See it as the client does {#client}

Open the **Actions** menu and choose **Preview**. On the client's page the body appears under the heading **Quotation Details**, above the services and the totals. A quotation with an empty body shows no such heading.

![The client reads the body under Quotation Details, above the prices.](https://jaah.app/web/image/10638-c86b00c1/quotations-body-body_in_portal-en.png)

Click **Back to edit mode** at the top of the page to return.

## On the PDF {#pdf}

The printed quotation, from **Print** in the **Actions** menu or attached when you click **Send**, places the body after the dates and the salesperson, right before the table of prices. The order confirmation and the pro-forma invoice print it at the same place. The customer invoice does not carry it.

## FAQ {#faq}

### Is the body in the e-mail sent to the client? {#email}

The e-mail holds a short message written from the e-mail template, and the quotation attached as a PDF. The body is inside the PDF and on the quotation's page that the client opens online.

### Can the body exist in two languages? {#languages}

A quotation has one body, in the words you leave in it. A template's body can be translated with the language button at the end of the field, and each quotation copies the version of its client's language.

### My text disappeared after I changed the client. Why? {#lost-text}

The quotation came from a template with a body, and changing the client loads that text again. Write the body once the client and the template are final.

### Does the body appear on the invoice? {#invoice}

No. It stays on the quotation, the order and the pro-forma invoice. The invoice is described in [Customer invoices](/docs/customer-invoices).

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- Source: https://jaah.app/docs/quotations/write-the-quotation-body
- Updated: 2026-10-23
- Version: Quotations 19.0.1.1.1
- Verified: 2026-10-23