Receive Partial Purchase Orders in QuickBooks Online

That’s right, it’s arrived: the ability to receive partial purchase orders in QuickBooks Online. And you won’t need a work around.

After years of having to use a work around to receive partial purchase orders in QuickBooks Online, we finally have it, and it’s really easy to use. There’s no setup, no preferences to set. As long as you have QuickBooks Online Plus and have purchase orders turned on, you can receive partial purchase orders in QuickBooks Online. YAY!

*Gear Icon > Account & Settings > Expenses > Use Purchase Orders*

Here’s how to receive partial purchase orders in QuickBooks Online.

You’ll need to start by creating a Purchase Order.

Create a Purchase Order — *Quick Create (aka Spinny Plus) > Purchase Order*

Now, let’s do some receiving. Here we are entering a direct expense.

*Quick Create (aka Spinny Plus) > Expense > Choose Vendor > Add PO from Drawer > Edit Qty*

Because didn’t enter a quantity of 10 – we edited to receive only 2 – the original Purchase Order now reflects this.

We can receive partial purchase orders in QuickBooks Online using checks:

*Quick Create (aka Spinny Plus) > Check > Choose Vendor > Add PO from Drawer > Edit Qty*

Each time we enter a purchase transactions and choose the appropriate purchase order from the drawer from which we add items, the original purchase order is updated in the quantity received column:

Open Purchase Order v2 — *Quantity Received shows 5 of 10*

We can receive partial purchase orders in QuickBooks Online using Vendor Bills as well.

Receive Partial Purchase Order in QuickBooks Online - Vendor Bill — *Quick Create (aka Spinny Plus) > Bill > Choose Vendor > Add PO from Drawer*

Note the amount of the purchase order in the drawer, after we receive partial purchase orders in QuickBooks Online.

Balance of PO in Drawer — *The drawer shows original PO amount and balance remaining*

And once we receive partial purchase orders in QuickBooks Online to reflect the total quantity, QBO will close the PO for us, and we get direct links to the expense transaction with which we were able to receive partial purchase orders in QuickBooks Online!

Closed Purchase Order — *Quantity Received shows 10 of 10, status is closed and we have links to all of the related expense transactions*

As far as I’m concerned, this is one of the biggest updates in QBO that we’ve seen in while. Can’t wait to see what’s coming up!