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Estimates

Lock and unlock an estimate

Lock is a team coordination signal. It shows a red 'View Only' badge, greys out the FNOL and the +Upload control, and restricts the breadcrumb kebab to Unlock and Export. Anyone with access can still unlock — it's a hint, not a permission.

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Lock is Wave's "this one's mine, hands off" signal. It's a coordination tool, not a permission system — anyone with access to the estimate can still unlock it. Use it to tell your team you're mid-rebuild or waiting on carrier sign-off and you don't want concurrent edits.

How to lock

  1. Open the breadcrumb kebab (top-right of the estimate). It has four actions: Lock, Export, Duplicate, Delete.
  2. Choose Lock.

The lock state lands immediately.

What changes when an estimate is locked

  • A red "View Only" badge appears in the breadcrumb next to the customer name. It's the visible signal that this estimate is being held in place.
  • FNOL fields (customer name, address, insurance, claim #, adjuster name, adjuster email) go grey and become non-editable.
  • The +Upload photo control is disabled. You can't add photos while locked.
  • The breadcrumb kebab swaps its contents to:
    • Unlock (red — the only way back to editable)
    • Export (still active — see below)
    • Duplicate (greyed)
    • Delete (greyed)

Export stays active while locked. That's intentional — locking is exactly when you'd want to ship a clean PDF without something changing under you. Export is the only mutating-adjacent action that survives the lock.

How to unlock

Same path. Open the breadcrumb kebab → Unlock. Two things happen:

  • A centered green modal appears: "Project Unlocked / Editing enabled"
  • A matching toast pops in the bottom-right

The View Only badge clears, FNOL fields become editable again, +Upload re-enables, and the kebab returns to the full four actions.

Lock is a soft signal

Anyone with access to the estimate — Member or Admin — can unlock it. Wave does not block edits from other teammates at the database level. Lock is a visible "don't touch" signal, not a permission or access control.

If you need stronger guarantees than a soft lock — read-only sharing with an external party, for example — that's not a Wave capability today.

When to lock

  • You've finalized an estimate and don't want teammates editing it while you wait for carrier sign-off
  • You're mid-rebuild and don't want someone else's chat messages tangling with yours
  • You're about to export a clean PDF and you want a frozen state

What lock doesn't do

  • It does not change the estimate's status. Lock and status are orthogonal — an estimate can be locked AND Preliminary, locked AND Completed, etc.
  • It does not block PDF export.
  • It does not affect the chat or the right pane's display — only the editability of FNOL fields and the +Upload control.

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