Finding purchase orders

For purchasing staff · ~4 min read

Purchases is the front door to the Purchasing module — a tab per purchase-order status, with search over the top. It’s where you pick up a PO to work on, and where you start a new one.

Figure 1 — Purchases, the front door to Purchasing. (1) Each tab is one purchase-order status, in Seq No order, with anything that doesn’t fit under More. (2) The search panel opens over the list — simple search here, with a switch to advanced for order number, reference, company, contact name, email or phone. (3) New Purchase starts a PO: choose the supplier, then add items.

Work by status

Each tab is one of your purchase-order statuses, so the tabs are your workflow — select a tab to see everything sitting at that stage. If you have more statuses than fit, the rest are under More.

The tabs come from your purchase order statuses settings, so they match how your business actually buys.

Search

Select the search button to open the search panel. There are two modes, and you can switch between them from within the panel.

Simple search

• Search For — free text.
• Start / End — a date range.

Advanced search

• Order Number
• Reference
• Company Name
• First Name / Last Name
• Email
• Phone Number
• Start / End dates

Which to use

Simple search is for “I know roughly what I’m looking for”. Advanced is for tracking down a specific PO when all you have is a contact name or a phone number from a supplier’s email.

Start a new purchase order

Select New Purchase. You’ll choose the supplier, then add the items you’re ordering.

1. New Purchase.
2. Choose the supplier.
3. Add the items and quantities.
4. Save — the PO appears under its status tab.

Once created, everything else happens on the purchase order summary.

Common questions

Question	Answer
“Purchase” with nothing under it	You don’t have purchasing access — ask your administrator. See Groups & permissions.
A PO isn’t in the tab I expect	Check its status — it may have moved. Search by order number to find it.
A status tab is missing	It’s under More, or the status is inactive in settings.
Search returns nothing	Clear the date range — it applies even when you’ve only typed a name.