General

PDF Templates and the Proposal Builder

PDF templates are custom, branded documents you design once and reuse for every customer: proposals, cover pages, equipment sheets, warranty certificates, welcome letters, and more. You build them in a drag-and-drop editor, drop in merge fields that pull real data from a quote, and generate a finished, shareable document in a click. No code required.

What a PDF template is

A template is a reusable layout that belongs to your company. Each one has a title and description, and a page format: Letter or A4, in portrait or landscape. You can keep as many templates as you like, for example a full proposal, a one-page summary, and a financial breakdown, and pick whichever fits the moment.

The drag-and-drop builder

The builder is a visual editor with a blocks panel, a canvas, and a styling panel. You drag blocks onto the page and arrange them, then style them with controls rather than CSS.

Blocks you can add include:

Layout: columns, sidebar and full-width sections, spacers, dividers, and page breaks for multi-page documents.
Content: text, headings, images, buttons, lists, tables, icons, videos, and maps.
Pre-built sections: a hero banner (with the customer name and quote number), a stats row (system size, annual output, net cost, payback), a customer details box, image-and-text rows, and a footer with your logo and contact details.

You can preview the page at desktop, tablet, and mobile widths, undo and redo, drop in your own custom CSS if you want fine control, and view the underlying code. You can also save any block or section you have built as a reusable symbol in your company library, so your team can drop in consistent, on-brand pieces.

Merge fields: putting real data on the page

The heart of a template is its merge fields. These are placeholders that get replaced with the actual quote's data when you generate the document. While editing text, use the insert-variable picker to drop one in. There are over fifty available, grouped into:

Customer and site: name, email, phone, address, and coordinates.
Sales rep: the name, email, and phone of whoever owns the quote.
System totals: DC and AC capacity, panel and inverter counts, and estimated annual production.
Equipment: the panel and inverter (and battery) name, brand, model, wattage, efficiency, and warranty. For systems with several different products, use a table block, which lists every panel, inverter, or array automatically.
Financial: gross and net cost, price per watt, total incentive value, payback period, return on investment, and 30-year savings.
Environmental: lifetime CO2 avoided, tree and driving-mile equivalents, and the percentage of usage offset.
Project: quote number, dates, and status.
Company: your name, contact details, and website.

Charts are handled the same way. The builder can place automatically generated charts drawn from the quote: monthly production, a 30-year bill comparison with and without solar, the payback timeline, and the consumption offset. You do not draw these; they are rendered fresh from the quote's numbers when the document is generated.

Starter templates and AI help

You do not have to start from a blank page. Powerlily includes a set of starter templates: a full proposal (in a few styles), a one-page summary, equipment and financial sheets, a cover page, a site survey, a warranty certificate, a welcome letter, and a maintenance schedule. Pick one and customise it.

Pericles, our AI assistant, can also generate document sections for you from a short description. As with all AI features, this is a Pro capability. See the related Pericles article.

Generating a document from a quote

When you are ready, open a quote, choose a template, and generate the document. Powerlily fills in every merge field from that quote, draws the charts and equipment tables, and applies your page size and orientation. The result is a finished document you can download as a PDF or share with the customer through a link, including in their portal.

Note that PDF templates are styled in this builder, independently of your company theme. The theme brands the app and the on-screen proposal; the PDF builder controls the look of these downloadable documents.

Quick reference

Build once, reuse everywhere. Design a template, then generate it for any quote.
Drag, drop, and style. No code, though custom CSS is there if you want it.
Merge fields fill themselves in from the quote, including equipment tables and charts.
Start from a starter template, or let Pericles draft sections (Pro).
Generate and share as a PDF or a portal link.

Invoicing, Payments, and Invoice Templates. Invoice templates use the same kind of builder.
Pericles, Your AI Assistant. AI help for drafting document sections.
Themes and the Theme Builder. Brands the app and on-screen proposal, separately from these documents.
Incentives, Rebates, and Discounts. Where the financial merge fields come from.