Proposals
Proposal view tracking, per recipient
Proposal view tracking tells you whether the client has opened what you sent and roughly how much time they gave it. Knowing that a proposal was read twice yesterday changes how and when you follow up.
Counted per link, not per proposal
Because every recipient has their own link, every number on the activity page belongs to one person. The links table lists each recipient with Opens, Last viewed and Time viewed, so when you send to an owner and a manager you can see which of them is actually reading. A timeline under the table records the same activity in words, such as the recipient opened the proposal, newest first.
How an open is counted
An open is recorded when the link loads, at most once per link every 30 minutes, so a client refreshing the page or switching tabs does not inflate the count. The first open also moves the proposal from sent to viewed and rings the notification bell for that link. Each open stores the time, the IP address and the browser string with the event.
How time viewed is measured
While the proposal is the visible tab, the client view sends a heartbeat every 15 seconds, and each heartbeat adds at most 60 seconds. The clock stops when the tab is hidden, because the browser reports visibility. Time viewed is therefore time on screen, not time with the browser open in the background, and it is shown in minutes and seconds.
What tracking does not tell you
There is no per page or per section attention report: you see that the client spent four minutes, not that three of them were on the pricing page. Opens from the same person on two devices count against the same link. A client who prints the PDF and reads it on paper looks like a short visit. Use the numbers as a prompt to follow up, not as a verdict.
Privacy and the client
The client is opening a document you sent them, and the record kept is the minimum needed to show the offer was delivered and read: open times, time on screen, the IP address and the browser at each open. If your privacy policy covers your sales documents, mention that opens are recorded. The Australian Privacy Principles apply to businesses with a turnover over 3 million dollars and some smaller ones.
How it works, in three steps
Step 1
Send to each person separately
Give each decision maker their own row in the Send dialog so their opens are counted apart.
Step 2
Watch the bell
The first open of each link sends a notification, and the proposal status changes from sent to viewed.
Step 3
Read the activity page
Open Activity from the proposal menu for opens, last viewed and time viewed per link, and the timeline.
The full walkthrough with screenshots is in the guide Send a proposal and get paid.
Limits worth knowing
- One open per link per 30 minutes at most.
- Time viewed comes from a 15 second heartbeat while the tab is visible, at most 60 seconds per beat.
- No per page or per section reporting.
- Your own Preview as client visits are not recorded as the client.
Questions people ask
Will the client know the proposal is tracked?
The client view does not announce it, and the link works like any web page. Recording that a sent document was opened is common practice in sales software, but it is courteous, and in some businesses required by policy, to say in your privacy notice that you record when proposals are opened and for how long.
Why does it say one open when the client says they read it several times?
Opens are counted at most once per link every 30 minutes, so several readings in one sitting count as one open. Time viewed keeps adding up across those readings, so it is the better measure of attention. A client who downloaded the PDF and read it offline will show a short visit followed by a PDF download event in the timeline.
Can I see which page the client spent time on?
No. Tracking is per link: opens, last viewed, total time on screen, and events such as PDF downloads, acceptance and decline. There is no per page or per section report. If you need to know whether the pricing landed, ask; a short call after a long viewing session is usually the most useful follow up.
Do I get notified when the client opens it?
Yes, the first time each recipient link is opened, a notification appears in the bell. Later opens are recorded on the activity page without a notification each time. You are also notified when a client declines, when a proposal expires and when an invoice is paid, so the bell covers the moments that need action.
Does tracking work if I copy the link into a text message?
Yes. Tracking belongs to the link, not to the email it was sent in. Paste the link into a text message, a chat or your own email and every open of that link is recorded against that recipient. Keep one link per person so the numbers stay meaningful.
Make your own proposal
The button opens the generator with this use case already described. Change the wording to match yours, generate, then edit anything you like.
Create a proposal with OneCraftRelated pages
E signature for quotes
A verbal yes is not a purchase order. What you want back from an accepted quote is a page carrying a signature, a name, the buying entity and, in a lot of businesses, a reference number their finance team will recognise.
The proposal activity log, from sent to paid
A proposal activity log is the history of one offer: who it went to, when they opened it, what they did and what was paid. Having it on one page means a follow up call or a dispute starts from facts rather than memory.
Send a proposal as a link instead of an attachment
Sending a proposal as a link means the client reads it in a browser at an address only they have. The link can be copied, previewed, replaced or switched off, which an attached file never can.
More finished work of this kind is on the proposal examples hub.
Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .