Overview
Optional Line Items let you include add-on services or upgrades in a proposal or change order that the customer can choose to accept or skip before signing. The proposal total updates in real time as they make their selections, so they always see the exact price of what they're agreeing to.
You can also mark specific optional items as Recommended, which pre-selects them and highlights them on the customer-facing page — making it easier to steer customers toward the options you want them to notice.
This feature is available on both Proposals and Change Orders on the Web App and Mobile App.
Plan availability: Optional Line Items may not be available on all subscription plans. If you don't see this option when editing a line item, check your current plan or contact our support team.
When to Use This Feature
You want to offer premium add-ons (like a warranty, extra cleanup, or upgraded materials) without building separate proposals for each combination.
You have services you frequently upsell and want to make it easy for customers to add them during approval.
A change order includes scope additions that the customer may or may not want — you want them to decide rather than defaulting to including everything.
You want to guide customers toward specific options by pre-selecting and highlighting a recommended choice.
How It Works
Each line item on a proposal or change order can be set to one of three states:
Regular — always included in the proposal. The customer cannot remove it.
Optional — shown to the customer as a choice. They can select it or skip it before approving. Not included in the total unless they choose it.
Recommended — an optional item that is pre-selected by default and visually highlighted on the customer-facing page. The customer can still deselect it if they prefer.
Once the customer approves the proposal or change order, the items they selected become permanent line items on the job. Items they skipped are discarded and don't appear on the work order or invoice.
Adding Optional Line Items — Web App
Open or create a proposal or change order.
Click on Add Optional Line Item — for labor or material sections.
Input the item details or choose one from your PriceBook.
On the line item, you can choose to set it to Recommended by default.
Repeat for any other items you want to make optional.
Save or preview the proposal. Optional items are visually distinguished from regular items in the internal preview, and are clearly presented as choices on the customer-facing page.
Adding Optional Line Items — Mobile App
Open or create a proposal from the Work section or a customer's account page.
Tap Add Line Item to open the line item modal.
Fill in the item details, then find the inclusion setting in the modal. Set it to Optional or Recommended.
Tap Save. The item appears in the proposal with its optional status.
What the Customer Sees
When the customer opens the proposal link or views it in the mobile app preview, they'll see:
Regular line items listed as part of the job — no action needed.
Optional items presented in a separate section with checkboxes. Recommended items are pre-checked and highlighted.
A live-updating proposal total that recalculates as they check or uncheck items, including any applicable taxes and discounts.
Before the customer can approve, they must actively decide on each optional item — either selecting or deselecting it. They cannot approve the proposal while any optional item is still undecided.
Approving a Proposal with Optional Items — Admin
If you approve a proposal on behalf of a customer from the back office (instead of sending it to them), a confirmation modal will appear showing any optional items that have not yet been selected. You'll need to confirm or adjust those selections before the approval is finalized.
What Happens After Approval
Selected optional items are converted to regular line items on the work order and will appear on the invoice.
Skipped optional items are permanently discarded — they won't appear on the work order, the invoice, or any future versions of the proposal.
The final proposal total reflects only the items the customer chose.
Optional Items on Change Orders
The same functionality is available when creating a change order on an approved work order. You can mark new line items as Optional or Recommended, and the customer selects what they want before approving the change.
If the change order contains only optional items and no modifications to existing line items, the customer must select at least one optional item before they can approve — a change order with zero items cannot be approved.
Tips & Best Practices
Use Recommended for your most common upsell. Pre-selecting the option you most want customers to take means they have to actively opt out, rather than actively opt in — which increases uptake.
Keep optional items specific and clearly described. Customers are more likely to add something if they understand exactly what it includes and why it's worth it. Use the line item description field to add context.
Don't make everything optional. Proposals with too many optional items can feel overwhelming. Reserve this for genuine choices — upgrades, add-ons, or services they might realistically skip.
Test it before sending. Use the internal proposal preview to see how optional items appear before the customer does. Make sure the highlighted items and the total make sense at first glance.
Things to Know
A proposal that contains only optional line items requires the customer to select at least one before approving. A proposal with zero confirmed line items cannot be submitted.
Skipped items are permanently removed after approval — they cannot be recovered from the approved proposal or work order.
The proposal total shown to the customer updates live as they make selections. Taxes and discounts recalculate accordingly.
Optional items on Change Orders work identically to proposals — same selection flow, same approval requirement.
This feature may require a specific subscription plan. Contact support if you don't see the Optional/Recommended setting on your line items.
Troubleshooting
I don't see the Optional or Recommended setting on my line items.
This feature may not be included in your current plan. Reach out to our support team to confirm your plan eligibility.
The customer says they can't approve the proposal.
If the proposal contains optional items that haven't been decided on yet, the approval button will be blocked until all optional items are either selected or deselected. Ask the customer to scroll through the optional items section and make their selections.
An item I marked as Optional is showing as a regular line item after approval.
If the customer selected the item during approval, it becomes a regular line item on the work order. This is expected behavior — selected optional items are treated as confirmed scope once the proposal is approved.
I approved a proposal from the back office and some optional items were skipped by mistake.
Once a proposal is approved, skipped items are discarded and cannot be recovered to the same proposal. You can create a change order to add the additional items if needed.
Have questions? Reach out via the support chat or email support@motionops.com.