Building a quote in Eano can feel a little exposed if you’re not sure what your client can see on their end. You’re still adjusting line items, tweaking prices, deciding how to present things — is your client watching all of that happen in real time? The short answer is no. Nothing reaches your client until you decide it does. This article explains exactly when a quote becomes visible, how to tell at a glance, and what happens if you archive a proposal you’ve already shared.
For the full walkthrough of previewing and sending — the buttons, the pre-send check, the PDF, the share link, what happens after signing — see How To Preview As Your Client and Send Out The Proposal. This article is about one thing: visibility.
Why This Matters
You do your best work on a quote when you’re not worried about someone looking over your shoulder. Knowing for certain that a draft stays private until you send it lets you experiment — try a presentation, change your mind, fix a number — without any of it leaking to the client. And knowing exactly what flips a quote from private to visible means there are no surprises in either direction: nothing goes out early, and nothing you meant to send sits invisible by accident.
Can Your Client See a Quote Before You Send It?
No. A proposal stays private to you until you explicitly send or share it. Even if your client already has access to their portal from earlier work, they won’t see this project until the quote goes out — there’s no draft that quietly becomes visible while you’re still building. Visibility happens only after you share, every time.
The Visibility Badge
You don’t have to guess at any of this. Eano shows a small visibility badge on the opportunity or project so you can tell at a glance whether your client can see it:
Not Shared — the client can’t view this project yet. The badge spells it out: finalize and send it to share. This is where every quote sits while you’re building it.
Shared — the client can now view this project. Once you’ve sent or shared the quote, the badge flips here.
Signed — the contract has been signed.
Archived — the proposal has been archived (more on that below).
Cancelled — the proposal was cancelled.
The badge is the quickest way to confirm where things stand before you assume your client has — or hasn’t — seen something.
What Happens to an Archived Proposal
Archiving an unsigned proposal takes it off the table. On your side, it’s marked as archived and can’t be sent or signed as-is. On your client’s side, it’s no longer something they can sign — the proposal shows as archived, and the option to sign it is gone.
If you need that client to sign after all, send them a fresh proposal rather than trying to revive the archived one.
And one reassurance: archiving only affects unsigned proposals. A contract that’s already been signed stays valid and accessible no matter what — archiving a later draft doesn’t touch an agreement that’s already in force.
A Few Things Worth Knowing
Sharing is always a deliberate act. There’s no setting that quietly exposes drafts. A quote becomes visible because you sent or shared it — full stop.
Portal access isn’t the same as project visibility. A client who can already log in to their portal still won’t see a new project until you share its quote. Existing access doesn’t pull back the curtain early.
Check the badge when in doubt. If you’re not sure whether a client has seen a quote, the Not Shared / Shared badge on the project tells you without having to ask.
Archiving is reversible in spirit, not in signature. You can always send a fresh proposal, but an archived one can’t be un-archived into a signable state — start clean instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
My client has portal access from a past project — can they see this new quote? Not until you share it. Portal access lets them into their own space, but a new project stays Not Shared — invisible to them — until you send or share its quote.
How do I know if my client has seen a quote yet? Check the visibility badge on the opportunity or project. Not Shared means it’s still private to you; Shared means you’ve sent it and they can view it.
I archived a proposal by mistake — can my client still sign it? No. Once a proposal is archived, it can’t be signed. Send the client a fresh proposal and they’ll be able to sign that one.
Does archiving a proposal cancel a contract we already signed? No. Archiving only affects unsigned proposals. An already-signed contract stays valid and accessible.
I want my client to approve something before I send the real contract — is that possible? Yes. On the Pro plan and above, you can send a non-binding initial proposal for a soft approval first, then send the signable contract. See Sending an Initial Proposal Before the Final Contract.