QuickBooks Online purchase orders: how users turn them on and send them
QuickBooks Online ships with purchase orders switched off; we walk through the accepted community answer for enabling, creating, and sending them.
A familiar question keeps surfacing in QuickBooks community threads: how do you create a purchase order in QuickBooks Online and send it to a vendor? A purchase order tells a supplier you intend to buy specific products in specific quantities. The accepted answer opens with a catch that explains most of the confusion. The feature ships switched off, and on entry-level plans it does not exist at all.
Why is the purchase order option missing?
Two things hide it. The first is plan choice. Intuit includes purchase orders only in the Plus and Advanced subscriptions for QuickBooks Online. On Simple Start or Essentials, the Create menu never shows the option, and no setting will add it. The second is a default: even on a supported plan, the purchase order switch sits off until you flip it.
The accepted answer names three prerequisites. You need an active subscription on a plan that carries the feature, inventory items already set up in your books, and the purchase order setting turned on. When the third one is missed, the missing menu entry looks like a defect rather than a default.
How do you switch purchase orders on?
The toggle lives in account settings rather than in any expense menu. Open Settings, choose Account and settings, and select the Expenses tab. In the Purchase orders section, pick Edit and turn on the Use purchase orders switch. While you are there, you can define up to three custom fields and a standard message that pre-fills vendor emails. Save the change and select Done.
Building the order
Once the switch is on, a Purchase order entry appears under the Create button, the one marked with a plus sign. Pick your vendor from the dropdown and check the mailing address the form pulls in. If goods should ship straight to a customer, set the Ship to dropdown, fill in Ship Via, and confirm the shipping address. Add the order date.
Custom fields can also live on the form itself. Open the settings gear on the order and use the panel that controls what appears on it.
One constraint trips people up more than any other. The item grid only accepts products and services flagged as ones you buy from a vendor. If an item refuses to appear, that flag is usually the reason. Edit the item record and tick the box saying you purchase it from a vendor.
Finish with Save and close, or choose Save and send to email the order immediately.
Customizing the template before it goes out
The default layout can be restyled so orders carry your branding. From the settings gear on an open order, open the Design dropdown, then Other Templates, and choose Add/Edit. Select New style, pick Purchase order, adjust the design, and select Done. The saved style then governs the orders you send.
Sending an order you already saved
Drafted orders go out from the transactions list. Head to All apps, then Expenses & Bills, then Expense transactions. Find the purchase order and select Send in the Action column. That path suits teams who prepare orders first and release them after approval.
Which reports track open orders?
Standard reports cover the follow-up. The Open Purchase Order List and the Open Purchase Order Detail show what you have committed to but have not yet received. Purchases by Product/Service Detail and Purchases by Vendor Detail break those commitments down by item and by supplier. Run them from the Reports area under Standard reports.
What happens when an order runs overdue?
The Inventory section has a purchase orders page of its own, reached through All apps. Orders there carry statuses such as Open and Overdue. An Overdue status means the due date has passed and the items have not arrived. A Review Reminders option gathers every overdue order into one view. For a single nudge, open the Action dropdown on that order and choose Send Reminder.
The software drafts the reminder email for you. Read it, adjust anything that sits awkwardly with the supplier relationship, and send it.
The takeaway
The wider workflow matters too. When a vendor accepts the order, you can attach it to an expense or a bill, which keeps the purchase connected through to payment. The short version of the accepted answer: confirm your plan includes purchase orders, flip the switch in settings, and flag your items as purchasable before you blame the Create menu.