Canned jobs

A canned job is a saved bundle of parts and labor lines — a front brake job, an oil change, a coolant flush — that you drop onto an estimate in two clicks instead of retyping every line. Templates hold your shop’s own part choices, hours, and prices, so every advisor quotes the same work the same way.

The template library

Open Canned jobs in the sidebar. The page lists every active template with its line count and total, and holds the form for creating and editing them.

The Canned jobs page. ① New canned job opens the template form. ② The line editor — part and labor rows with your prices. ③ Archive retires a template.

Create a template

1. Click New canned job.
2. Enter a Template name — this becomes the job label when the template is applied, so name it the way you would name the job on an estimate.
3. Click + Add part for each part row and fill in the part name, part number, quantity, and price.
4. Click + Add labor for each labor row and fill in the description, hours, rate, and the line price.
5. Click Create template.

A template needs at least one line — a part or a labor row. You can mix any number of each.

Edit a template

Click Edit on a template row. The form opens with the template’s lines; change anything, add or remove rows, then click Save template. Saving replaces the whole template with what the form shows.

Note: editing a template never changes repair orders it was already applied to. Applying copies the lines onto the repair order by value, so the estimate and the template lead separate lives from that moment on.

Archive a template

Click Archive on a template row and confirm. The template disappears from this page and from the estimate builder’s picker; repair orders it was applied to are unaffected. Archiving is the only way to remove a template — there is no delete, and there is no way to restore an archived template from the app, so if you retire one by mistake, create it again.

Apply a template to an estimate

1. Open a repair order that is still editable and scroll below its job cards.
2. Click + Canned job, next to + New job.
3. Pick a template from the list — type in the search field to narrow it. Each row shows the template’s name, line count, and total.

The template lands as one new job card carrying every template line at the template’s prices, and the estimate total updates. That is the whole flow: two clicks — open the picker, pick the template.

The applied lines are ordinary estimate lines. Edit a price, move a line to another job, or delete one — see the estimate builder article — and the template itself never changes. The new job also goes to the customer for approval like any hand-built job; see customer approvals.

Tip: you can apply the same template to one repair order twice. A two-axle brake job is two applies — each lands as its own job card.

Note: templates carry no tax settings. Each applied line is taxed by your shop’s default rates — or not at all for a tax-exempt customer — at the moment the estimate is computed, so one template works for every customer. Default rates live in Settings.

The + Canned job button is hidden once the repair order is invoiced — a locked order takes no new lines. See invoices and payments.

Save a job as a canned job

The fastest way to build your library is to save real work as you finish it, instead of typing templates from scratch.

The Save as canned job action in a job card’s header. On desktop it appears when your pointer is over the card; on a phone it is always visible.

1. On a repair order, move your pointer over the job you want to save.
2. Click Save as canned job in the job card’s header.
3. A name field appears, prefilled with the job’s label. Change it if you like, then press Enter or click the ✓. Esc cancels.

The template appears on the Canned jobs page and in the picker immediately, holding the job’s lines exactly as they stand right now — names, part numbers, quantities, hours, rates, and prices.

This works even on invoiced and paid repair orders. Yesterday’s finished brake job is exactly the work worth canning, so the lock that stops estimate edits does not stop this.

Note: an empty job cannot be saved — there is nothing to template. Add at least one line first.

Role note: creating, editing, archiving, applying, and saving canned jobs are Owner and Advisor actions. Technicians do not see the Canned jobs sidebar entry, and the apply and save buttons do not appear for them on a repair order.

Good to know

• Applying a template copies its prices as they are today. If your rates go up, edit the template once and every future apply uses the new numbers — past estimates keep the prices they were quoted at.
• A saved-from-repair-order template captures the lines, not the customer, vehicle, or technician. It is pure work definition, reusable anywhere.
• The picker’s list refreshes every time you open it, so a template a colleague just created is already there.

Tip: the Assistant can apply canned jobs for you — ask it to “add the front brake job template to RO 42” and it uses the same library.