How to Create Purchase Orders in QuickBooks Desktop

Q: How do I find purchase orders that were never fulfilled?

Run the Open Purchase Orders report from the Reports menu. It shows every PO that hasn't been fully received or closed — perfect for following up with suppliers or cleaning up old, dead orders.

To create a purchase order in QuickBooks Desktop, first turn on the feature under Edit > Preferences > Items & Inventory > Company Preferences. Then go to Vendors > Create Purchase Orders, pick your vendor, add the items you want to order, and save. When the goods arrive, receive them against the PO with Vendors > Receive Items and Enter Bill.

Here's a scenario most growing businesses know well. You call your supplier and order $2,000 worth of inventory. Two weeks later the boxes arrive — but did they send everything you asked for? At the price you agreed on? And when the bill shows up, will anyone remember what was actually ordered?

That's exactly what purchase orders are for. A purchase order (PO) is your written record of what you ordered, from whom, and at what price — created *before* the goods arrive. When the shipment and the bill show up later, you compare them against the PO instead of relying on memory.

Now here's the confusion to clear up right away: a purchase order is not a bill. Creating a PO doesn't record an expense or touch your books at all — it's a non-posting transaction. Nothing hits your accounts until you actually receive the items or get billed. That surprises a lot of people, but it's actually the point: the PO is a tracking document, not an accounting entry.

Let's walk through the whole thing — setup, creation, and what to do when the order arrives.

Table of Contents

Before you start: turn on purchase orders

Purchase orders aren't enabled by default in every company file, so check this first. If you skip it, the Vendors > Create Purchase Orders menu option won't even be there, and you'll wonder what's wrong.

Go to Edit, then select Preferences.
Click Items & Inventory on the left, then the Company Preferences tab.
Check the box for Inventory and purchase orders are active.
Click OK.

You'll also want your vendors and items set up before you start — a PO without items to order is just an empty form. If your item list isn't ready yet, get that in order first and you'll fly through the rest.

How to create a purchase order, step by step

Step 1: Open the purchase order form

Go to the Vendors menu at the top.
Click Create Purchase Orders.
A blank purchase order form opens — this is your starting point.

Step 2: Choose your vendor

In the Vendor dropdown, select the supplier you're ordering from.
New supplier? Click Add New right there in the dropdown and fill in their details. QuickBooks will remember them for next time.
Double-check you're picking the right vendor. POs sent to the wrong supplier create the kind of mess nobody enjoys untangling.

Step 3: Fill in the header details

Date: Defaults to today. Leave it — the PO date is the date you placed the order.
P.O. No.: QuickBooks numbers these automatically. Leave the sequence alone unless you have your own numbering system.
Ship To: Confirm the shipping address is correct, especially if you have multiple locations.
Vendor message / Memo: Use this for anything the supplier needs to know — "Rush order," "Call before delivering," and so on.

Step 4: Add the items you’re ordering

This is the heart of the PO.

In the line-item area, select the Item from the dropdown for each thing you're ordering.
Enter the Quantity you want.
The Rate usually fills in from your item list or the vendor's preferred pricing — adjust it if you negotiated a different price for this order.
Add a Customer:Job on the line if this purchase is for a specific job. This is gold for job costing — it ties the cost straight to the right project.
Keep adding lines until everything you're ordering is on the form.

Take your time here. An accurate PO is what lets you catch a short shipment or a wrong price later. A sloppy one just creates arguments.

Step 5: Review the total and save

Glance at the total at the bottom. Does it match what you agreed with the supplier?
Click Save & Close if you're done, or Save & New if you have another order to place.

That's it — the PO is recorded. Remember: nothing has posted to your books. Your expenses, your inventory, your payables — all untouched until the goods arrive.

Step 6: Send it to your vendor

A PO sitting in QuickBooks doesn't help your supplier. Send it.

With the PO open, use the email or print option at the top of the form.
Emailing is fastest, and QuickBooks keeps a record that you sent it.
Some businesses also like to print a copy for the receiving dock, so whoever accepts the delivery can check the shipment against it.

What happens when the order arrives

This is where the PO earns its keep. When the boxes show up:

Go to Vendors > Receive Items and Enter Bill (if the bill came with the shipment) or Vendors > Receive Items (if the bill will arrive separately).
Select the vendor — QuickBooks will show you their open purchase orders.
Select the PO, and QuickBooks pulls all the items onto the receiving form automatically.
Adjust quantities if the shipment was short (or over). This is the moment your PO pays for itself.
Save. *Now* the transaction posts — inventory increases, and the bill (if entered) hits accounts payable.

Purchase orders are a core part of the accounts-payable workflow in QuickBooks Desktop — the PO tracks what you ordered, the bill records what you owe, and the payment closes it out. If you want to see how the whole cycle fits together, read our guide on [accounts payable workflows in QuickBooks](/use-accounts-payable-workflows-in-quickbooks/).

Common mistakes to avoid

Treating the PO like a bill. Creating a purchase order doesn't record an expense. If you also enter the same purchase as a bill manually — without linking it to the PO — you'll double-count. Always receive against the PO instead.
Deleting old POs instead of closing them. If an order was cancelled or fully received, close the PO rather than deleting it. Deletions leave no audit trail; closed POs keep your history intact and your open-PO reports accurate.
Forgetting to check the open PO list. Run the Open Purchase Orders report periodically (under Reports > Purchases). POs that were never fulfilled sit there silently — and some of them represent money you committed but never tracked.
Skipping the Ship To address. If you have more than one location, an order shipped to the wrong address is an expensive, time-wasting mistake. Five seconds of checking beats a week of rerouting freight.
Ordering items that don't exist in your item list. If the item isn't set up, the PO line can't track quantity or cost properly. Keep your item list current and POs practically write themselves.

Conclusion!

That brings us to the end of this guide on creating purchase orders in QuickBooks Desktop. We hope the steps explained above helped you set up POs, fill them out correctly, and handle receiving when your orders arrive. If you run into any difficulty while following the steps, consider consulting a qualified and experienced QuickBooks professional for further assistance.

FAQs

Do purchase orders affect my financial reports?

No — and that's by design. POs are non-posting transactions. They don't change your profit and loss, balance sheet, or inventory values. The accounting impact happens when you receive the items or enter the vendor's bill.

Can I create a purchase order from an estimate?

Yes. If you've already estimated a job, open the estimate and choose Create Purchase Order from the window. You can pull in all allowed items or pick specific ones — a real time-saver when the estimate and the material list are basically the same thing.

What if the vendor ships only part of my order?

No problem. When you receive items against the PO, just enter the quantities that actually arrived. The PO stays open with the remaining balance, and you receive the rest when it shows up. QuickBooks tracks what's still outstanding.

How do I find purchase orders that were never fulfilled?

Run the Open Purchase Orders report from the Reports menu. It shows every PO that hasn't been fully received or closed — perfect for following up with suppliers or cleaning up old, dead orders.