Dave,
Through customization, you can have customers view and edit work orders through the portal. There might be quite a bit of customization involved, as you would probably want to filter out options and selections to control what the customer can view and select when adding a work order. We have customization consultants on staff here who can help you with a project like this. If you wish to do this yourself, we can point you in the right direction here on the forum.
As for your email question, which template are you using, and which screen is it being sent from? Is this a stock template or a customized one? Are you using the desktop version of Quickbooks or Quickbooks Online?
You can change the currency symbol by going to Customize > Display and change the currency code. Be sure to have the correct region settings on your computer as well.
- Adam