# Estimate Views An estimate has one set of line items. The views are lenses on that set, not separate estimates or different data — switch between them freely while building, because each answers a different question at a different moment. Views live in a strip of tabs along the top of the estimate grid, ending in **Add View**. Hover a view's tab to see a summary of how it's configured — its sort, grouping, visible columns, and filters. --- ## Two Kinds of View The strip mixes two kinds of view. **Timeline** and **Days** are fixed views. They're structural — always present, always in the strip, and not something you rename or delete. Each presents the estimate in a fundamentally different shape (a calendar, and a day-by-day breakdown). **Everything else in the strip is a saved Sheet View configuration.** Sheet View is no longer a tab of its own; it's the grid underneath, and each of these tabs is one saved arrangement of it — a set of filters, groupings, and visible columns aimed at a particular task. Which ones ship depends on the project's type. **PAI projects** ship four: - **Estimation** — the building view. Leads with **Resource Type** grouping, so in-house labor and out-of-pocket spend read as two distinct blocks, and surfaces the fields you need to price work: quantities, units, min hours, rates, and totals. - **Markups / Fringes / Discounts** — modifier work. Surfaces the modifier columns so you can see what's applied where and scope things across lines and groups, without the pricing columns in the way. Modifiers themselves are created in the **Modifiers** window (the **%** button in the toolbar) — see [Modifiers](./Modifiers.md). - **Assignment / Scheduling** — who and when: **Assigned To**, **Dates**, and the logistical fields, with financials pushed out of the frame. - **Department PDF Prep** — arranged for the pass you make before printing, so what the client sees is organized the way you intend. See [Sharing Estimates](./Sharing-Estimates.md). **AICP projects** ship two, laid out around the AICP bid form's sections: - **AICP A → O** - **AICE / Q → W** The saved views appear in the strip while you're on the sheet. Switch to Timeline or Days and the strip shortens to **Timeline**, **Days**, and **Sheet** — click **Sheet** to return to the grid and your last saved view. These are defaults, not fixtures. Regroup them, rename them, duplicate one to branch a variant, delete the ones you never open, or use **Add View** to build your own from scratch. Right-click any of them for the full control menu, and use **Save to Team Views** to publish a configuration to the rest of the workspace. The mechanics are the same everywhere in PAI — see [Working with Tables](../00-Understanding-PAI/Navigating-PAI.md#working-with-tables). > [!tip] > The four PAI default views map to the four jobs an estimate actually involves: price it, modify it, staff it, present it. If you build your own, build them around a task the same way — a view you can't name the purpose of is a view you won't use. --- ## Sheet View Sheet View is the spreadsheet-style grid used throughout PAI, and it's where you do most of your building work: adding line items and staff, adjusting quantities and rates, setting Resource Type, assigning vendors or staff, managing fringes, and reviewing totals. Because it's a standard [PAI table](../00-Understanding-PAI/Navigating-PAI.md#working-with-tables), you can group, filter, sort, and reorder columns however suits the moment. **Resource Type** is simply one of the grouping options — the Estimation view leads with it, but it isn't required. Regroup by category, department, or anything else whenever you prefer, and save the result as its own view if you'll want it again. Line items are added through the floating totals box rather than a button at the top of the page — see [Adding Line Items](./Building-an-Estimate.md#adding-line-items). --- ## Days View Days View reorganizes the estimate by **day** rather than department. The project's days run down the left as cards — Prep, Production, and the rest, in schedule order — followed by an **Hourly** card and a **Flat** card. Select a card to see its line items on the right: quantity, item, Min. Hrs, Ext Rate, and Ext. Total, with the total for that selection in the toolbar (**Day Total**). This view answers a different question than the sheet: not "what does this cost?" but "what's happening on each day, and what does that day cost?" It's most useful once you've done your scheduling — it lets you review resource allocation across the project and check whether specific days are over- or under-resourced. Expand a day card to edit the day itself: - **Name** — rename the day; until you do, it's auto-named by type and sequence ("Prep Day 2") - **Day Type** — Prep, Production, and so on - **Date** — the calendar date - **Min. Hours** — the day length for that day - **Location** - **Internal Overview** — notes for your team - **Copy Day** — duplicate the day and its line items; the copy lands directly after the original, and the days after it renumber - **Delete Day** — remove the day and its assignments. There's no confirmation, and the affected lines' quantities and the estimate total drop immediately > [!note] > Day cards hold **Days**-unit line items, because only those are scheduled to specific days. Items on an **Hours** unit collect under **Hourly**, and **Flat** items under **Flat**. Hours and Flat items can still carry a date range in the **Dates** field — see [Assigned To and Dates](./Building-an-Estimate.md#assigned-to-and-dates). --- ## Timeline View Timeline View presents the estimate as a **calendar**. Each day in the project's date range appears as a column, and your line items appear as rows. Days-unit items can be assigned to dates by clicking calendar cells; existing assignments appear as filled blocks that you can drag to extend across multiple days. **How scheduling works in Timeline View:** - Each scheduled stretch shows as a block labeled with the item and its value for those days - Click a calendar cell on a Days-unit line item's row to toggle that day on or off - Drag across multiple cells to assign a range of days at once - When you assign a day, PAI automatically updates that line item's **Unit Quantity** to reflect the total number of scheduled days - Removing a day decrements the Unit Quantity accordingly This means Timeline View is doing real cost math as you schedule. If you add a day to a line item, the quantity increments and the estimate total updates immediately. **Multi-quantity items (unfurl):** Rows read as quantity × item ("2 × 1st Assistant Camera"). If a line item has a QTY greater than 1, click the expand arrow on the row to unfurl each instance as its own row (#1, #2, …). You can then schedule each instance independently across different days. This is useful when not all instances of a resource are working every day. **Day column settings:** Hover over a day column header to open its settings — the same fields as a day card in Days View: - **Copy** and **Delete** the day - **Name** — customize the day's name (e.g., "Location Scout" instead of "Production Day 1") - **Date** — assign a specific calendar date - **Day Type** — designate the type of day (Production, Prep, Wrap, Post, etc.) - **Min. Hours** — the day length for that day - **Location** — add a location for the day - **Internal Overview** — notes for your team The **+** at the end of the day header row adds a new day. Day type matters: **Production** days generate call sheets when the project is activated. Other day types (Prep, Wrap, Post) appear on the project calendar but don't generate call sheet documents. All day names, dates, locations, and types set here carry through to the production module. Days are auto-named by type and sequence ("Production Day 1", "Prep Day 1", etc.) until you rename them. You can also drag day columns to reorder them; their resource assignments move with them. Use Timeline View when you're working out the production schedule — when you need to see what's happening day by day and want to visually block out the work rather than type numbers into a spreadsheet. > [!tip] > Timeline View and Days View are complementary. Use Timeline to block out your schedule visually, then check Days View to review what each day costs and whether you've missed anything. --- ## Version Settings Version-level settings aren't a view — they open in a window from the **Version Settings** icon in the estimate toolbar, just after the version selector (the toolbar row runs **Lock Estimate Version**, **Version Settings**, **Rate Card**, **Modifiers**, **Print**). The window has four sections: - **Overview** — the **Version Name**, which appears on printed documents and in version comparisons; the version's **Locked / Unlocked** state; its default **Min Hours**; its **Stage**; and the **Sent Version** it relates to - **Project Scope** — a rich-text description of what the job covers: deliverables, schedule, location, what's included - **Billing Notes** — payment terms, invoicing schedule, additional costs, cancellation policy - **Currencies** — a project-level setting: exchange rates for any foreign currencies used on this project's expenses. Changes here don't affect other projects. With no foreign currencies in use, it shows that everything is in the default currency; set a line's currency in its currency column first Scope and billing notes are where you put the agreement in writing, alongside the numbers it governs. If you're presenting multiple versions to a client, naming them clearly (e.g., "Option A — Full Crew", "Option B — Reduced Scope") makes the comparison docs much cleaner. See [Versioning and Comparison](./Versioning-and-Comparison.md) for more on version management.