Creating Purchase Orders

Purchase orders (POs) are how you tell your vendors what you need. Peasy helps you build POs from your item list, send them to vendors by email, and track their status from draft to received.

How to Get There

Go to Buy > Purchase Orders in the sidebar.

Your First PO

If you're creating your first purchase order, the easiest path is to build it from the cart on the Items page. Peasy groups items by vendor and creates one PO per vendor automatically.

Option A: Build a PO from Your Cart

This is the recommended workflow, especially if you've been working from the Low or Order views.

1. Add Items to Your Cart

1. Go to Buy > Items to buy.
2. Switch to the Order tab to see what needs ordering.
3. Enter a quantity in the Cart Qty column for each item you want to order.
4. Click the cart icon in the top-right toolbar to open the cart panel.

2. Review the Cart Panel

The cart panel shows your items grouped by vendor. For each vendor group you'll see:

• The vendor name and total cost
• Each item with its quantity and unit cost
• An email toggle showing whether that vendor's PO will be emailed
• An ETA button to set the expected delivery date
• A pin icon to move a vendor's order to the Later tab if you're not ready to submit it
• A location pin in the header (multi-location accounts) to change the receiving location for that vendor without leaving the cart — the supplier card moves to the new location group instantly
• A Work Order card if any item in the group is co-manufactured (made by the vendor for you), with fields for production date and manufacturing location. See Co-Packer Workflows for details.

If you have multiple locations, items are also grouped by receiving location.

3. Review and Submit

1. Click Review & Submit at the bottom of the cart panel.
2. The review dialog opens, showing each vendor's order with:
   • A PO number you can edit
   • An email preview with editable To and CC fields (both accept multiple addresses separated by commas)
   • A PDF preview of the PO document
   • ETA and receiving location settings
3. If you have multiple vendors, move between them using the chevron arrows.
4. Choose whether to send emails during submission:
   • Send emails on → create the POs and email them to vendors
   • Send emails off → create the POs without emailing yet
5. Finalize the submission.

Peasy creates the POs, sends any selected emails, and shows a confirmation toast. Successfully created POs are removed from your cart.

What if an email fails to send? If an email can't be delivered (for example, the address is invalid), the affected PO stays in your cart as a draft. The cart panel reopens automatically and shows a warning banner on the vendor's group explaining what went wrong. You can fix the email address and try again — your order is not lost.

Option B: Create a PO Manually

If you want to build a PO from scratch without using the cart:

1. Go to Buy > Purchase Orders.
2. Click New PO.
3. Select the items you want, enter quantities, and assign vendors. The item list includes both buy items and make items that have a supplier (co-manufacturer templates), so you can order from co-manufacturers the same way you order from vendors.
4. At the bottom of the dialog, choose one of three actions:
   • Add to Cart — adds the selected items to your cart on the Items to buy page instead of creating a PO right away. Useful when you want to combine items from multiple sources before submitting.
   • Review & Send — move to the review step where you can edit PO numbers, ETAs, email recipients, and preview the email or PDF, then submit.
   • Create — create the PO without sending.

What You'll See on the PO Page

Each purchase order shows:

Purchase Order Statuses

You can update the status directly in the table by clicking the status dropdown.

Each row also has a truck icon on the PO Number column. Click it to open the receive panel for that order without leaving the page — useful when a delivery just arrived and you want to check it in straight from the PO list.

Viewing PO Details

Click on any PO to open the detail panel on the right. Here you can see:

• The full list of items on the order with quantities and costs
• Edit line items, quantities, and prices
• Add or remove items from the order
• See the total cost
• A Receive Order button at the top of the items list, plus a per-line Receive button on each item — both open the same receive panel inline so you can check the delivery in without leaving the Purchase Orders page

Send the PO

If you created a PO without sending the email during the review step, or if you want to send it again later, you can email it directly from the PO detail panel.

Step by Step

1. Go to Buy > Purchase Orders.
2. Click the PO you want to send. The detail panel opens on the right.
3. In the panel header, click the mail icon to open the send dialog.
4. Review the two tabs:
   • Email — preview and edit what will be sent
   • PDF — preview the attached purchase order PDF
5. On the Email tab, review and edit:
   • To — pre-filled from the vendor record. The vendor's email field can hold multiple addresses (separated by commas), and every address listed receives the PO. You can also add or change addresses here for this one send.
   • CC — optional additional recipients for this send (also accepts multiple addresses separated by commas). If your business has Purchase orders CC addresses configured in Business Settings, Peasy also copies those addresses automatically.
   • Subject — editable, with a suggested default
   • Email body — fully editable message
6. Click Send PO to send the email.

The PO status updates automatically when appropriate. If the PO is already in a later status, sending it again does not move it backward.

The Action Buttons on a PO

In the PO detail panel header, you’ll see:

If You Don’t Send by Email

Not every vendor accepts emailed purchase orders. You can also:

• Print the PO and hand it off, save it, or attach it to your own email
• Call it in and use the PO detail panel as your reference
• Order online using the vendor website saved on the vendor record

If you place the order outside Peasy, update the PO status manually so your team knows it has been placed.

Editing a Purchase Order

Most fields on POs are editable right in the table or in the detail panel:

• PO number, dates, and notes
• Status
• Line items (quantities, prices)

Changes save automatically.

Splitting a Purchase Order

If a vendor can only fill part of an order on time and the rest is on backorder — or you simply want to track a subset of items separately — you can split selected line items off into their own new purchase order without re-entering anything.

Step by Step

1. Go to Buy > Purchase Orders and click the PO you want to split. The detail panel opens on the right.
2. In the items list, tick the checkbox on each item you want to move to a new PO.
3. A Split button appears at the bottom of the panel. Click it.
4. Confirm in the dialog that asks "Create a new purchase order for [#] item[s]?".

Peasy creates a new purchase order containing the selected items and removes them from the original PO. The original PO keeps everything you didn't select.

What the New PO Inherits

The new PO copies the vendor, receiving location, and order type from the original. It gets a fresh PO number and starts in Created status so you can review or send it on its own.

Good to Know

• The split happens all-or-nothing — if anything goes wrong, no items move and no new PO is created.
• Selections are cleared automatically when you switch to a different PO.
• Already-received items can still be moved, but you generally want to split the items that are still pending so the new PO reflects the backordered portion.

Filtering Purchase Orders

• Search — Find POs by number, vendor name, or item
• Location filter — Show POs for a specific location
• Status filter — Show only drafts, submitted, etc.

Common Questions

Can I create a PO without using the cart? Yes. Go to Buy > Purchase Orders and click New PO to build a purchase order from scratch. You can select items, enter quantities, and assign vendors manually. You can also use the Add to Cart button to send items to your cart instead of creating a PO immediately.

Can I add items to a PO after submitting it? Yes. Open the PO from the list and use the detail panel to add new line items, change quantities, or adjust prices. Changes save automatically.

What happens when I receive against a PO? The PO status updates to Partial if some items are received, or Received once everything arrives. Your on-hand inventory increases at the receiving location. See Receiving Pending Orders for the full process.

Can I create a PO for multiple locations? Each purchase order is tied to one receiving location. If you need to order the same items for different locations, create a separate PO for each one.

How do I duplicate a PO? Right-click a PO row (or use the three-dot menu) and select duplicate. This creates a new draft PO with the same line items and vendor.

How do I add freight or shipping costs to a purchase order? Freight is captured on bills, not on purchase orders. Purchase orders track what you ordered and at what unit price. Freight and shipping costs go on the vendor's bill, where Peasy distributes them across your received items for landed cost and COGS. See Managing Bills — Freight Cost for the full walkthrough. You can also create a bill with freight right from the receive panel when checking in a delivery — see Creating a Bill While Receiving.

What's the difference between Draft and Sent? A Draft PO is still being prepared and has not been sent to the vendor. A Sent PO has been finalized and optionally emailed. You can still edit a sent PO, but the vendor has already been notified of the original.

Good to Know

• PO numbers are editable — use whatever numbering system works for your business.
• You can delete a PO from the detail panel if it was created by mistake.
• When a PO is fully received, it automatically updates to "Received" status.
• POs are linked to the Receive workflow — once items arrive, you mark them as received there.
• The cart persists between visits, so you can add items over time and submit when ready.
• The Later tab in the cart panel lets you save vendor orders you are not ready to submit yet.
• If a vendor has a minimum order amount and your order is below it, the review step shows a warning.
• If a vendor has no email address on file, the review step shows a Missing email badge. Click the badge and select Set vendor's email to add one without leaving the review screen. You can also set vendor emails ahead of time in Managing Vendors.
• Email addresses are validated before sending — the review dialog shows inline errors if an address is missing or invalid, and won't let you submit until they're fixed.
• Multiple recipients on a single PO email — Both the To and CC fields accept comma-separated addresses, and every address receives the email and PDF attachment. Set permanent multi-recipient addresses on the vendor record itself (see Managing Vendors) so you don't have to retype them every time.
• Use Configure > Buy > Default Emails > Purchase orders CC for people who should be copied on every purchase order email. Use the send dialog's CC field for one-off recipients.
• The default email body comes from Configure > Buy > Default Emails > Purchase order template. You can edit it for one send in the send dialog, or change the saved default on that page. Templates support placeholders like {vendor_name}, {purchase_order_number}, and {entity_name} — see Default Emails.
• You can resend a PO anytime if the vendor missed it or you made changes after the first send.
• The email includes a formatted summary of line items, quantities, costs, totals, and the PDF attachment.

Related

• Managing Buy Items — The items that go on your POs
• Managing Vendors — Set up vendor email and ordering details
• Receiving Overview — What happens when orders arrive
• Managing Bills — Track vendor invoices for your orders