# Sharing Estimates When you're ready to share an estimate, PAI generates a formatted PDF from it. The **Print Estimate** window gives you control over how costs are organized, whether to include a detailed line-item breakdown or just a summary, and whether to add an expiration date. All print layouts use the **external** financials from the estimate. Internal costs are never visible in any printed estimate. --- ## Accessing the Print View Print has its own icon button in the estimate toolbar, the last of the icons after the version selector. You can also press **Cmd+P** from anywhere in the estimate (the fastest route once you're mid-build) or choose **Print Estimate** from the estimate menu (**⋯**). Once the project has a budget, the primary button at the top right reads **Print Estimate** and goes to the same place. However you get there, the **Print Estimate** window shows a live preview of the document on the left and **Print Options** in the sidebar. ## Printing, Downloading, and Sending The window has four buttons at the bottom: - **Cancel**: closes the window - **Print**: sends the document to your printer - **Download PDF**: saves the PDF - **Send & Download**: saves the PDF and marks the version **Sent** **Print** and **Download PDF** leave the version's stage alone, so you can run off drafts as often as you like. **Send & Download** is the one that records a commitment: marking the version Sent locks it, so what the client received is preserved exactly as they saw it. To keep revising after that, duplicate the version. See [Versioning and Comparison](./Versioning-and-Comparison.md). --- ## Print Options **Mode**: the layout. **Summary**, **Categories** (the default), **Departments**, or **Days**. See [Print Layouts](#print-layouts). **Template**: AICP projects only. Choose **PAI AICP** (the default for AICP projects) or **PAI Standard**. PAI Standard brings back the **Mode** choice. **Document Title**: defaults to "Estimate". It's a free-text field, so enter whatever title fits your organization's terminology. **Expiration Date**: optionally set a date after which the estimate expires. Pre-fills to seven days from today. **Project Scope** and **Billing Notes**: the project's scope and billing text, editable right here before you print. They belong to the estimate version: edits save automatically to the version's scope and billing text everywhere it appears, and the preview updates live. **Exclude $0 Staff Lines**: removes in-house lines with a $0 external value from the details section of the printed estimate. Use this when you've estimated in-house work you plan to absorb: the line stays in your internal picture for cost and margin, but the client never sees it on the bid. **Include Overages**: adds the project's approved overages to the top sheet, each as its own line (**Overage #1**, **Overage #2**, …), and includes them in the grand total. --- ## The Document Header Every printed estimate opens with the document title, your company logo, and a header block: - **From**: your company name and address, pulled from Organization Settings - **To**: the client name and address, pulled from the client record associated with the project - **Project Number**: the P### assigned at approval (only once the estimate has been approved) - **Estimate Number**: the estimate and version, e.g. E121-V1 - **Date**: the date the document is generated - **Expiration Date**: if set in Print Options (the AICP template labels it **Estimate Valid Until**) - **Grand Total** If the client record doesn't have an address on file, the **To** field will be incomplete. Fill in client details before printing if you need a clean header. --- ## Print Layouts Choose the layout that matches what you're sharing and with whom. ### Summary The simplest layout. Includes the estimate header, grand total, billing details, and scope summary. No line items or cost breakdown. Use this when you need to communicate the total cost and scope without exposing the underlying cost structure — executive sign-offs, early-stage conversations, or situations where you want to protect the production methodology. ### Categories (Default) The standard externalized layout. Organized by department group, then by category within each group. The top sheet shows a breakdown in that structure: ``` PRODUCTION Labor Equipment Services Misc POST Labor Equipment Services Misc ``` The details section follows the same structure, with line items listed within each category section. Use this for most presentations. It shows cost grouped logically in enough detail for informed decisions without overwhelming the reader. ### Departments Same structure as Categories, but organized by department rather than department group and category. Breaks down costs by your department groupings with line items within each department. Use this when the department view of the work is the clearest way to communicate the scope. ### Days Organizes costs by scheduled production day. Includes a top-sheet breakdown by day, followed by a details section listing line items within each day. Lines that aren't assigned to a day are grouped under **Other**. Use this when showing day-by-day costs is meaningful — multi-location work, productions where the daily cost footprint matters, or when adding or removing days is the primary negotiation lever. ### PAI AICP Template Available only for AICP project types, where it's the default. Formats the estimate to AICP industry standards: a top sheet of **Estimated Production Costs** by AICP section (A. Prep Crew through O. Other, with production subtotals) and **Estimated Post Costs** (Q through W), then markup and grand total, followed by line items in the same AICP structure. --- ## What Appears on Printed Documents **Top sheet** — shows section totals, markups, and discounts (where applicable) to arrive at the grand total. **Details section** — shows line item subtotals with any fringes applied, producing a section total per group. The formula is: line item subtotals + fringes = section total. **Line item external descriptions** — if filled in, appear as italicized text beneath each line item in the details section. **Modifiers** — modifiers with a zero external amount are not shown on printed documents. **Project Scope** and **Billing Notes** print between the top sheet and the details section. The version's **Version Name**, set in **Version Settings**, also prints. Fill these in before printing for a cleaner output.