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.

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.

Quantity Received shows 2 of 10

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:

Quantity Received shows 5 of 10

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

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.

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!

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!