Sometimes, an existing Bid is close enough to a new project that it can be used as a template for the new project. Duplicating a Bid creates an exact copy of the original - only the Bid No. is changed. Duplicating Bids is very handy if your company bids a lot of similar type jobs where just the takeoff Quantity information changes. Duplicating is literally a two-click process.
Duplicating a Non-Interactive Bid
To duplicate an existing Bid,
- Locate the Bid to duplicate in the Bid Navigator or Bids Tab
- Right-click the Bid, and select Duplicate or,
- Press <Ctrl> <D> or,
- Click Edit > Duplicate or,
- Click the Duplicate button
on the Main toolbar
- Click Yes in the Duplicate Bid dialog
- Click "Do not show this message again." to suppress this confirmation dialog box in the future
Quick Bid creates an exact duplicate of the Bid except for the Bid number - the duplicate Bid displays in the Bid Navigator list with the same name as the original Bid.
- Double-click the duplicate Bid to open the Cover Sheet
- Change the name in the Project Name field
- Update any other Bid information on the Cover Sheet as needed
Duplicating an Interactive Bid
If you are using On-Screen Takeoff and Quick Bid interactively, you can duplicate both sides of the Bid in one step by duplicating the Bid in On-Screen Takeoff. When you duplicate an Interactive bid in OST, you are prompted to duplicate the Quick Bid side also. See the On-Screen Takeoff's Help for instructions on duplicating a Bid.
- When you duplicate a Bid from On-Screen Takeoff and tell OST to duplicate the Quick Bid bid at the same time, all Quick Bid Pricing information is included in the duplicate.
- If you duplicate a Bid in On-Screen Takeoff but the Quick Bid side is not duplicated at the same time, then when you set the On-Screen Takeoff Bid to Interactive, a new, blank Quick Bid project is created which will not include the pricing information.
- If you duplicate the Quick Bid side and the On-Screen Takeoff sides separately, you can re-connect them if you haven't made changes to the Bid, Alternates, Change Order, or Condition Names or Numbering. See Related Articles for more information on Connecting and Disconnecting Bids.
TIPS
You can use a duplicate copy of a Bid to perform "What If" scenarios without affecting the original Bid.
You can duplicate multiple Bids in the same database - just hold down <Ctrl> or <Shift> and click on the Bids to duplicate, then hit the duplicate button.
Some estimators setup a main template Bid that has all Conditions, Areas, Subs, etc. created, and duplicate this template Bid for each new job. Then you just customize the duplicate copy to meet the current job's requirements. Duplicating this 'template' job makes it easy for an estimator to start a new project using approved preferences and Conditions.
 Copying and Pasting Bids from One Database to Another | Deleting and Restoring Bids  |
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