Create a proforma

From the order's «Documents» card, «Add» → «Proforma» fills in the client, lines and prices. Choose how much to bill, then save it ready to send.

People with the «Sales» permission in edit mode. With view mode you can open, download, print and send proformas, but not change them.

To create it from an order, the order needs a client.

Landmark Venues wants to pay half of the wedding before the event. You've already built the order, so there's nothing to type again: the proforma is made from it, with its client, dates, equipment and prices.

Before you start

Save the order with a client. Without one, the order's «Documents» card doesn't offer «Proforma».

Create the proforma from the order

The right column of an order. In the «Documents» card, «Add» has opened a menu with «Quote», «Proforma», «Invoice», «Simplified invoice», «Contract», «Supplier Invoice», «Purchase order» and «Repair ticket». Above it are the order's «Import with NEO» and «Reserve» buttons. — «Proforma» is the second option of «Add» in «Documents».

Open the order Open the Landmark Venues wedding.
Click «Add» in «Documents» The card is in the right column. Choose «Proforma».
Choose how much to bill In «Create proforma», pick the : «Complete», «By period» or «By percentage». For half the wedding, choose «By percentage» and set 50 %.
Choose how the lines look Pick the : «Detailed» or «Grouped by type».
Assign payments, if any If the order already has payments that aren't on any document, tick them in . Then click «Create».
Review it The editor opens with the order's client, addresses, dates, lines, prices, taxes, project and custom fields. The preview shows the PDF exactly as it will come out.
Save it Click «Save», or «Save as draft» if it isn't ready to send.

The «Create proforma» window for Landmark Venues LLC, Order #261227, 10/24/2026 – 10/26/2026. «Display mode» offers «Detailed» (selected) and «Grouped by type»; «Document type» offers «Complete» (selected), «By period» and «By percentage». Below, the subtotal, sales tax and a $6,741.00 total, with the «Cancel» and «Create» buttons. — Here «Complete» is selected; choose «By percentage» to bill part of the order.

Filmo numbers the proforma and opens its page. A few things happened along the way:

«Save» left it , ready to send. «Save as draft» left it «Draft». Either way it's «Pending» and already has its number.
The number comes from your default proforma , shown in «Numbering». You can pick another one before you save.
As a , its total is already the 50 %, and its page says «Partial proforma (50 %)».
The proforma appears in the order's «Documents» card. The order itself hasn't changed and nothing is reserved.

Check the assigned payments

Payments ticked in «Assign payments» are assigned just after the proforma is saved. If that fails, Filmo doesn't warn you: open the card and check they're there.

What's in the editor

The «New proforma» editor. On the left, «Preview» with the draft PDF. On the right, the client Landmark Venues LLC with its address, the dates bar (10/21/2026 · Line PF · 10/24/2026 – 10/26/2026) with «Edit», the lines grouped under «Tents» and «Furniture», «Additional information» linked to Order #261227, and the totals down to «Total» and «Security deposit». «Save as draft» and «Save» are at the top right. — «Save as draft» and «Save» are at the top right of the editor.

Area	What it holds
Client	The client, the contact person and the billing and shipping addresses. The client is required.
Dates	«Issue date», «Numbering», «Valid until» and «Rental period».
Lines	Equipment, services, free-text lines and sections, with their prices, discounts and taxes.
Totals	Subtotal, discounts, insurance, security deposit, taxes and total.
Options	Payment method, header and footer texts, project and the document's custom fields.
Preview	The PDF as the client will get it.

If you don't choose them, the rental dates are the order's, the template is your default proforma template in your language, and the project is the order's. To leave without creating anything, open the menu next to «Save» and click «Cancel».

Set or extend a proforma's validity date

is the date until which the offer holds. It's printed on the proforma and shown on its page.

The «7», «15» and «30» shortcuts, and «N» for any number of days, count from the issue date.
If you leave it empty, Filmo sets it 30 days after you save.
A proforma created from a quote, or duplicated, takes the original's date, even if it has already passed. Check it before you save.
Once the proforma is saved, the date can't be left empty.

Passing the date changes no status in Filmo. In the portal, though, the client can no longer sign, decline or pay a «Pending» proforma that has expired; a «Confirmed» one can still be paid. To extend it, edit the proforma, set a later date and save.

What happens next

Send it to the client. See Send a document by email.
Record the advance, or let the client pay it online. See Take an advance payment on a proforma.
If you change the order later, the proforma doesn't follow. Edit it, or create a new one.

Other ways to create a proforma

From a quote

On the quote, click «Convert to» → «Proforma». The proforma takes the active version's content, its validity date and the quote's payments that aren't invoiced yet. See Convert a quote to an invoice or proforma.

From several orders or quotes

In a project's finances, create a proforma by order and choose the orders: the proforma brings the lines of all of them. For quotes, select them in «Sales» → «Quotes» and choose «Bulk actions» → «Convert to» → «Proforma».

From scratch

In «Sales» → «Proformas», click «New proforma». The editor opens empty: choose the client and add the lines. From a project's finances, the project is already chosen.

From a repair ticket

On the , convert it into a «Proforma». The proforma takes the ticket's client and lines, but the ticket doesn't list it among its documents.

Duplicate a proforma

On the proforma page, open «⋯» and click «Duplicate», or use the row menu in the list. Saving the copy creates a new proforma with its own number, «Pending» and with no payments. It keeps the original's order, project, template and validity date, so it also appears in the order's «Documents» card.

With NEO

Ask NEO to prepare a proforma. It opens the editor filled in with its proposal, and nothing is created until you save.

Edit a proforma

Sometimes a proforma just needs a fix. Any proforma can be edited, whatever its status, even after it's been sent, signed or invoiced.

Check these before you save an edit

Saving an edit removes the link to the project, unless you choose it again, and deletes the shipping address. Changes to the payment method, the header and footer texts and the document's custom fields aren't saved. A proforma by percentage goes back to the full amount of the order: to change one, create a new proforma by percentage instead.

Click «Edit» On the proforma page it's in the «⋯» menu; a «Canceled» proforma doesn't show it there. The row menu in the list has it too.
Make the change Change the lines, prices, dates or validity you need.
Choose the project again In the options, so the proforma keeps it.
Save Click «Save» to keep it ready to send, or «Save as draft».

The same proforma is updated. The number and the series don't change, and no earlier version is kept.
«Save as draft» takes it back to «Draft», even if it was validated.
The doesn't change.
The client sees the new document straight away in the portal, even if they had already signed the old one. Their signature stays recorded on what they signed.
If two people edit the same proforma at once, the last one to save wins, without warning.

If you see an error

Message	What to do
Validation error: You must select a contact	Choose the proforma's client.
Validation error: You must add at least one line	Add at least one line.
Enter a valid number of days.	In the «N» shortcut, enter a number of days greater than zero.
Error creating proforma or Error saving draft	The order, quote or contact it comes from may no longer exist, or the numbering failed. Check the source and your proforma series, and try again.
Error updating proforma	Reload the proforma and make the changes again.
The order doesn't offer «Proforma»	Add a client to the order and save it.

Frequently asked questions

Still stuck? Contact support