How do I create a purchase order in QuickBooks Online?

On QuickBooks Online Plus or Advanced, turn on Use purchase orders in Settings, Account and settings, Expenses. Then select + Create, Purchase order, choose the vendor, enter each item with its quantity and rate, and select Save and send. When the bill arrives, create a bill for that vendor and add the open PO to it.

QuickBooks Online Purchase Orders, Step by Step

What QuickBooks Online does with purchase orders

On Plus and Advanced, QuickBooks Online creates, emails and tracks POs, copies them onto bills and closes them when fully billed. Intuit’s help does not describe PO approvals, a receiving record or automatic invoice matching.

Purchase orders in QuickBooks Online, per Intuit’s help articles
Capability	QuickBooks Online	Notes
Purchase orders	Plus and Advanced only	Turn on Use purchase orders in Settings
Email a PO to the vendor	Yes	Save and send
Custom fields on POs	Up to three	Set in the Purchase orders settings
Statuses	Open, Overdue, Closed	Overdue: due date passed and items not received
Convert PO to bill	Yes	Add the open PO from the bill’s Payee window
Partial billing	Yes	Reduce quantities; several bills per PO
PO approval workflow	Not described	Bill approvals need Bill Pay Elite
Receiving record	Not described	Keep the signed delivery note
Automatic price and quantity match	Not described	Compare lines by hand or use an AP tool

How to create a purchase order and turn it into a bill

Turn on purchase orders once, then for each order: create, send, and when the invoice arrives, add the open PO to a new bill and adjust the lines to what was received.

1
Turn on purchase orders
Go to Settings, Account and settings, and select the Expenses tab. In the Purchase orders section select Edit, turn on Use purchase orders, optionally add up to three custom fields and a default message for vendors, then Save and Done.
2
Show the items table
In the same Expenses tab, edit Bills and expenses and turn on Show Items table on expense and purchase forms, so PO lines carry quantity and rate onto the bill.
3
Create the purchase order
Select + Create, then Purchase order. Choose the vendor and enter the products you want to buy in Item details, with quantity and rate.
4
Send it
Select Save and send to email the PO to the vendor, or Save and close to send it later. The PO is created with the status Open.
5
Convert it to a bill
When the vendor’s invoice arrives, select + Create, Bill and choose the vendor in Payee. Select Add next to the open purchase order; its lines fill the bill.
6
Bill only what was received
For a partial delivery, reduce the quantity or amount on each line before saving. Several bills, expenses or checks can link to the same PO.
7
Let the PO close
QuickBooks Online closes the PO automatically when all its quantities have been added to bills, expenses or checks. To reopen one closed by mistake, open the PO, change its status from Closed to Open and save.

How to check an invoice against its PO

Before you save the bill, compare each line’s quantity with the signed delivery note and its rate with the PO. Bill only what arrived at the agreed price, and ask the vendor to correct the rest.

Adding the whole PO by default records what was ordered, not what arrived, and closes the PO early. The three-way matching guide for QuickBooks Online walks through a worked example with a short delivery and a price increase.

Frequently asked questions

Which QuickBooks Online plans have purchase orders?

Intuit says purchase orders are only available in QuickBooks Online Plus and QuickBooks Online Advanced. Simple Start and Essentials users would need to upgrade.

Can purchase orders be approved in QuickBooks Online?

Intuit’s purchase-order help articles do not describe an approval step before a PO is sent. Its approval workflow help covers bill approvals for Bill Pay Elite customers and payment-release approvals for Bill Pay Elite or Advanced customers, not POs. Teams that need PO approval usually set a policy (who may raise a PO, up to what amount) or use an add-on.

How do I close a purchase order in QuickBooks Online?

QuickBooks Online closes it automatically once all quantities have been added to bills, expenses or checks. The PO’s status field also lets you change a Closed PO back to Open if it closed by mistake.

What does an Overdue purchase order mean?

Intuit uses Overdue for a PO whose due date has passed when you haven’t received your items. Check whether the goods arrived and nobody told AP, or the order is late.

Does QuickBooks Online match invoices to purchase orders?

It copies PO lines onto the bill when you add the PO, which is a manual two-way check. Intuit’s help does not describe a receiving record or an automatic comparison of prices and quantities, so three-way matching is done by hand or with an AP add-on.

Automate matching, approvals and exception handling

Aequo AP captures invoices, matches them to purchase orders and receipts, routes approvals and flags duplicates and exceptions, then syncs with QuickBooks Online, Xero, FreshBooks, Zoho Books or Business Central.

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Sources

Checked on October 30, 2026. Vendor capabilities and prices change; confirm current details with each vendor.

Intuit, Create and send purchase orders in QuickBooks Online — Plus and Advanced only; settings; Save and send; Open, Overdue and Closed statuses
Intuit, Add purchase orders to expenses, bills, or checks in QuickBooks Online — adding a PO to a bill; partial quantities; automatic closing; reopening
Intuit, Set up and use bill approval and payment release workflows — Bill Pay Elite bill approvals; Elite or Advanced payment-release approvals; POs not mentioned