Put a customer purchase order on an invoice
Every invoice can carry the customer's purchase order (PO) number, and it prints on the invoice document they receive. Type it in for a one-off job, or save the POs a customer uses regularly so you can pick them by name and watch what has been billed against each one.
Before you start
Turn on the Purchase Order toggle under Settings → Invoicing → Custom Fields. That is what puts the PO Number field on quotes and invoices — see Custom fields and PO numbers on quotes and invoices.
Type a PO number on an invoice
Invoices carry one Purchase order dropdown. For a one-off number, choose Custom — a PO number field appears, and anything you type prints on the document. No setup needed, which is what you want for a customer who gives you a different PO for each job.
Enter a PO number on mobile
With Purchase Order enabled, the mobile invoice editor uses the same Purchase order choices as web: select a saved customer PO, Custom to enter a number, or None to clear it. A saved PO links the invoice for spend tracking and shows the used and remaining budget.
New invoices start with the property's billing default, or the customer's default when the property uses customer billing. A default number appears under Custom until you choose a tracked PO. Your selection stays with offline drafts and prints on the invoice. Connect to the internet to load saved choices; an already linked PO remains visible when you reopen its draft offline.
Save a purchase order you will use again
When a customer keeps sending work against the same PO, save it so Essential can track it.
After typing a number into the Custom field, a Save as a purchase order link appears under it. Choose whether it belongs to the whole customer account or just the property on this invoice, fill in anything else you want to record, and select Create purchase order. The new purchase order is created right away and the invoice form links to it immediately — but that link is only saved to the invoice once you save the invoice itself, so an unsaved invoice won't keep it (the purchase order still exists either way).
You can also add one ahead of time:
Open the customer page and expand Billing.
In the Purchase orders section, click Add.
Enter the PO number the customer gave you. This is the only required field.
Optionally add a Description, limit the PO to one Property, set a Spend limit, and set an Expiration date.
Select Create purchase order.
The Property dropdown is searchable: open it and type a property name or address to narrow the choices. Property defaults to All properties, which means the PO can be used on any invoice for this customer. Scope it to a single property when the customer issues separate POs per site — it will then only be offered on invoices for that property.
The same section appears on each property page's Billing panel, filtered to the POs usable on that property (its own plus the customer-wide ones, which show an All properties tag). Adding a PO from a property page starts it scoped to that property.
Spend limit is optional. Leave it blank for an open-ended PO. Spend is the total of every invoice referencing the PO that isn't a draft, voided, or written off as uncollectible, so drafts don't consume the limit until you finalize them.
Pick a saved purchase order
The customer's saved purchase orders appear as choices in the same Purchase order dropdown, between None and Custom. The list shows the POs that are still open and that apply to the property on the invoice.
Picking one fills in the PO number and links the invoice to it, so the amount counts toward that PO's spend. A line under the field then shows how much of the PO is used, how much is left after this invoice, and when it expires.
Choosing None clears the purchase order from the invoice entirely — both the link and the number. To use your own text instead of a saved PO, choose Custom and type the number (switching off a saved PO keeps its number as a starting point); pick a saved PO from the list any time to link it again.
If the invoice would push the PO past its spend limit, or the PO has expired or been closed, Essential shows a note on the field. These are reminders, not blocks — you can still save, send, and collect on the invoice. Change the selection or raise the PO's limit if the note is telling you something you didn't intend.
Where the number prints
Once saved, the PO number appears on the invoice document, in the preview, in the emailed PDF, and on the page your customer pays from. Essential's built-in templates include it automatically; if you've customized your invoice template, add the {{ purchase_order }} variable in Settings — the invoice editor shows a reminder whenever an invoice has a PO number your template wouldn't print.
Edit, close, or reopen a purchase order
Use Edit on a purchase order row to change its number, description, property, limit, or expiration date. Invoices keep their link to the PO when you edit it. Note that editing a saved PO does not rewrite the number already typed on past invoices, and any PDF that has already been generated — the copy emailed to the customer, or the document saved when an invoice was finalized or paid — keeps the number it was issued with.
Closing a purchase order retires it: it stops being offered on new invoices, and invoices that already use it keep it. Open Edit on the PO and select Close purchase order in the modal's footer — there's no separate close button on the row itself. Use Show all in the Purchase orders section to see closed and expired POs, and Reopen to bring a closed one back.
Where to find it: The Purchase order dropdown on an open invoice (choose Custom to type a one-off number), and Customer page > Billing > Purchase orders (also on each property page's Billing panel, filtered to that property)
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