How to create your scroll proposal

Summary

Learn how to create and customize a Scroll proposal in OpenSolar. Scroll proposals provide customers with a detailed, long-form view of their solar system, savings, pricing, and next steps. This guide covers setting up a reusable Scroll template, applying it to a project, customizing the proposal for a customer, and sharing or downloading the finished proposal.

Table of contents

• Scroll vs Swipe proposals
• Before you start
• Create a Scroll proposal template
• Edit and preview your template
• Customize your Scroll template
• Open a Scroll proposal on a project
• Customize the proposal for a specific project
• Send, share, and download the proposal
• Tips and troubleshooting
• Related articles

Scroll vs Swipe proposals

OpenSolar offers two proposal experiences: Scroll and Swipe.

You can have both Scroll and Swipe templates in your organization and choose the best experience for each project.

This article focuses specifically on Scroll proposals.

Before you start

Before creating a proposal, make sure your project has the information you want to present to the customer.

We recommend:

1. Adding a customer Contact if you plan to email the proposal through OpenSolar.
2. Completing a Design with at least one system you want to present.
3. Adding Payment Options if you want to display pricing, bill savings, quotations, or financial calculations.
4. Selecting the system and payment option you want to feature, particularly if your PDF settings are configured to include Selected options only.

To create or edit organization-level proposal templates, you also need permission to manage Proposal Templates in Control. Admins typically have this permission.

Note: The live preview used when editing Scroll templates uses standard Design projects rather than Quick Quote projects.

Create a Scroll proposal template

Proposal templates are created at the organization level, allowing you to configure them once and reuse them across multiple projects.

To create a Scroll template:

1. Open Control from the top-left corner.
2. Go to Purchase Experience > Proposal Template.
3. Click + Proposal Template.
4. Under Sales Machine Proposal Templates, select Scroll, tagged Classic.
5. The template editor will open, with your settings on the left and a live preview on the right.

Step 1: Select Project

Select an existing project to populate the live preview with real project information, such as systems, savings, pricing, and branding.

For the most accurate preview, choose a project that represents a typical customer sale and contains the information you normally include in a proposal.

After making larger changes, click Refresh if prompted to update the preview.

Step 2: Define Template

Configure the basic template details:

• Title — Give the template a clear internal name, such as Residential Scroll – Cash & Loan.
• Is Default — Enable this if you want the template to be used by default for new Scroll proposals.
• Archived — Archive a template when you no longer want your team to use it for new proposals.
• Description — Add an optional internal description to help your team understand when to use the template.

Step 3: Edit Template

Expand the available template sections to customize the proposal.

As you make changes, use the live preview to see how they will appear to customers. Select Full Screen for a larger preview.

When you're finished, click Save.

Customize your Scroll template

The template editor gives you control over the content, appearance, PDF output, and customer checkout experience.

Proposal Settings

Use Proposal Settings to control the overall structure of the proposal.

Default Proposal Validity

Set the number of days the proposal remains valid for customer acceptance.

Sections

Choose which sections appear in the proposal and, where available, adjust their order.

Available sections can include:

• Cover Message
• About Us
• Systems Comparison Table
• System details and featured figures
• System image
• Hardware
• Showcase tiles
• Business video
• System performance
• Environmental benefits
• How Your System Works
• Energy plan switch
• Daily energy flows
• Bill savings
• Quotation table
• Finance information
• Next Steps
• Case Studies
• Terms and Conditions
• Action Buttons
• Brochures and Spec Sheets
• Content Blocks 1–3
• OpenSolar Disclaimer

Some sections are specific to the online proposal or PDF proposal.

Note: The OpenSolar Disclaimer is required and cannot be removed.

Featured Figures

Choose the key metrics displayed at the top of your proposal, such as:

• System size
• First-year savings
• Payback period
• CO₂ savings

Select the figures that are most relevant to your customers and sales process.

Business Video

Add an optional YouTube video to your proposal.

Showcase Settings

Configure the hardware and tariff information displayed within the proposal's showcase sections.

PDF Content

Use PDF Content to control what appears when the proposal is downloaded as a PDF.

Systems to include

Choose:

• Selected — Include only the system currently selected for the project.
• All — Include all available systems.

Payment options to include

Choose:

• Selected — Include only the selected payment option.
• All — Include all available payment options.

For more information, see How to download select systems in the PDF proposal.

QR code

Enable the QR code to add a scannable link to the online version of the proposal.

Proposal sharing must also be enabled for the project for the QR code to work.

You can optionally add up to 250 characters of text alongside the QR code on the proposal cover.

Cover Page Template

Customize the first page customers see when viewing the proposal.

You can configure:

• Cover title
• Cover image — Half-width or full-width
• Co-branding logo — Useful when selling alongside a partner
• Cover Page Message — Add a personalized welcome message and use available tokens to automatically insert organization or project information
• Header columns — Three configurable areas for company or project information
• Footer columns — Four configurable areas for details such as company information, license numbers, or contact information

When viewing the proposal online, customers may see the Cover Page Message before selecting Continue to Proposal.

Standard Page Template

Configure the footer displayed on the internal pages of the PDF proposal.

Proposal Content

Customize the written content and labels used throughout your proposal.

Options include:

• About Us
• Next Steps
• Quotation Content
• Content Blocks for additional information such as customer reviews, your installation process, promotions, or other services
• Override Org Logo to use a different logo for this specific template
• Customize Headings for sections such as Your Solution, System Performance, Energy Bill Savings, Quotation, and Net Financial Impact
• Disclaimers for hardware, system performance, bill savings, quotations, and different payment types

Advanced Settings

Additional proposal controls are available under Advanced Settings.

Proposal checkout

Choose whether customers can accept the proposal online.

You can:

• Enable checkout
• Disable checkout
• Automatically disable checkout after the proposal expires
• Add a custom message that displays when checkout is unavailable

Bill savings chart

Choose whether to hide the export credit breakdown from the cumulative bill savings chart.

Net financial impact chart

Lock the minimum and maximum chart axes so different payment options use the same scale, making them easier to compare.

This setting is enabled by default.

Advanced Settings

Configure what happens once the proposal reaches its validity date:

• Disable After Expiry: The accept proposal button becomes inactive once the proposal expires.

• Always Enabled: The accept proposal button remains active regardless of expiry.

• Always Disabled: The accept proposal button is always disabled, even before expiry.

You can also create a custom message to display to customers once the proposal validity period has expired.

Open a Scroll proposal on a project

Once your template is ready:

1. Open the project.
2. Make sure the Design and relevant Payment Options are complete.
3. Go to the Proposal tab. This may appear as Online Proposal when Sales Machine is disabled.
4. From the template library, select the Scroll template tagged Classic.
5. OpenSolar will generate the long-form proposal using the project's systems, payment options, and your template settings.

If your organization has a default Scroll template, the proposal may open automatically without requiring you to select a template.

You can still switch to another available template when needed.

Customize the proposal for a specific project

You can make project-specific changes without changing the original organization template.

From the proposal, open Customize Proposal.

From here, you can:

1. Select a different Proposal Template.
2. Change the proposal Language if translated templates are available.
3. Adjust the Valid Until date.
4. Use Customize View to show, hide, or reorder available sections for this specific customer.
5. Save your changes.

Changes made here apply to the project's proposal rather than the organization-level template.

For more information about proposal languages, see Change the Language of your Proposal.

Customers can also switch between available systems and payment options within the online proposal, allowing the figures and charts to update dynamically.

If your PDF template is configured to include Selected systems or payment options only, confirm that the correct options are selected before downloading the PDF.

For more information about the customer-facing proposal experience, see Navigating the proposal.

Send, share, and download the proposal

Once the proposal is ready, select Send Proposal to Customer. If you have unsaved changes, you may instead see Save & Send.

You can share the proposal using:

• Email — Send the proposal directly through OpenSolar. A customer contact with a valid email address is required.
• Share link — Copy a link to the online proposal and send it to the customer.
• QR code — Allow customers to scan and open the online proposal.
• PDF — Download a PDF version for printing or sending as an attachment.

Customers can review their system and payment options online and, when checkout is enabled, accept the proposal directly through OpenSolar.

If checkout is disabled or the proposal has expired, customers can still view the proposal but will not be able to accept it until checkout is enabled or the proposal validity is extended.

Tips and troubleshooting

• The template preview looks empty — Select a preview project that contains completed systems and payment options, then refresh the preview.
• The wrong system appears in the PDF — If PDF Content is set to Selected, confirm that the correct system is selected before downloading the proposal.
• The wrong payment option appears in the PDF — Confirm that the intended payment option is selected when using the Selected PDF setting.
• The QR code is missing from the PDF — Make sure the QR code is enabled in the template and proposal sharing is enabled for the project.
• The proposal email isn't delivered — Confirm that the customer's contact email is correct. You can also copy and share the proposal link directly.
• A team member can't edit proposal templates — Check that their role includes permission to manage Proposal Templates.
• You have multiple Scroll templates — Use clear names such as Scroll – Residential and Scroll – Commercial so your team can easily identify the correct template.
• You want to archive your default template — Set another Scroll template as the default before archiving the existing default.

Related articles

• Customize Scroll Proposals with Live Preview
• Navigating the proposal
• How to download select systems in the PDF proposal
• Change the Language of your Proposal