Restricted user to send purchase orders

Good day, @TomatoSoup.

For now, setting up a specific user access such as creating and sending purchase orders is unavailable in QuickBooks Online (QBO). 

When you assign the standard user role, QuickBooks lets you choose the user’s access rights. You can choose to give them all access, limited access, or none.

If you choose limited access, here is the list of what they can do in your account: 

• Enter bills from suppliers
• Enter cash and credit card purchases
• Pay bills, write checks, and view check detail reports
• Add, edit, and delete suppliers, products, and services
• View supplier and A/P reports
• View tax rates and agency settings
• Use and adjust tax in purchase, credit card, and banking transactions (i.e. manually overriding calculated tax amounts)
• Run tax reports or view tax history
• Prepare a tax return, record a payment or refund, or file taxes
• Add, edit, and delete currencies
• Edit exchange rates

For more details, please check out this article: User roles and access rights in QuickBooks Online.

In case you need an accountant to review your QuickBooks company file, you can also invite them as a firm user to make sure your books are accurate.

Keep me posted if you need anything else or if you have other questions about managing a user in QuickBooks. I'll be here to help. Have a great weekend.

@TomatoSoup 

Consider having an additional app for the user. You don't need to give the user any access to your QBO account.

An additional app? sounds like a plan, can you explain more?

What kind of business do you run? Trading merchandises or else?

Construction, need a better way of purchasing building materials and keeping track of PO's paid/unpaid delivered/not delivered etc, I hate the current excel sheet.

Explore these construction management app with order management feature to integrate with your QBO account.

https://www.knowify.com/contractor-business-software?advisor=Advisor16374

https://www.builderprime.com/?via=quickbooks

Any new feature in QuickBooks Online to setup restricted user access to generate Purchase Orders? I'm quite surprised, Purchase Orders are not even mentioned in standrad user roles, appears only means for accessing Purchase Orders is to have full admin rights? It seems it would be a common role for an employee to manage purchasing activities/orders without allowing access to all the other QuickBooks functions they gain with the only role that has Purchase Order access

Hi there, @TESCO.

Being able to limit user access permissions to generate purchase orders only would be awesome. Rest assured that I'll relay this message to our team in concern here on my end and add your vote for this one. For now, you'll want to give your employee a standard limited access to vendors and purchases. The ability to enter purchases is included in  this area.

Here's how:

1. Go to the Gear icon and select Manage users.
2. Click on the Add user button.
3. Choose the Standard user type. Then, Next.
4. Select Limited and choose Vendors. Then, Next.
5. Select the user settings, if applicable. Then, Next.
6. Enter the user's name and email address. Then, Save.

 You'll also want to share your thoughts and ideas through your account. Our product development team reviews all the feedback we receive to ensure we’re meeting the needs of our customers. 

Here's how:

1. Select the Gear icon at the top, then Feedback.
   
2. Enter your comments or product suggestions then select Next.
3. You'll be provided a list of suggested Help articles related to your comment. You can read through them or select Skip and send message.
4. From the drop-down, choose the appropriate category, then select Send message.

You can always drop by the Community if you need help with managing users. We'd be happy to help. Wishing you continued success!

We are new to QBO and are also surprised to find that we cannot setup users in the highest version to enter purchase orders only. 

Hello Kim Harmon, 

Thanks for sharing this feedback we will be sure to pass it onto the developers team thanks. 

Hi, I'm having the same issue with restricted access to my staff. Were you able to find a solution that works, and if yes, can you please share ?

I know how useful it is for a restricted user to create and send purchase orders in QuickBooks Online, @Sam NF. I'd like to provide additional insights about it.

Currently, it is not possible for a limited user to manage POs in QBO. As suggested by my colleague LieraMarie A, you can set up your employee for standard limited access to vendors. This area features the ability to make PO. Here's how:

1. Click on the Gear icon and choose Manage users.
2. Hit the Add user button.
3. Pick the Standard user type. Then hit Next.
4. Choose Limited and pick Vendors. 
5. Click on Next.
6. Go to the user settings, if needed, and hit Next.
7. Fill in the user's name and email address.
8. Once done, click on Save.

Furthermore, you can send us feedback about your issue. This helps us improve your QBO experience.

See this guide for more information about user roles and access rights in QuickBooks Online.

Fill me in if you need extra help with managing users, vendors, or QuickBooks in general. I'm more than willing to assist. Keep safe!

Thanks for the feedback. Very helpful. Would they also be able to enter the purchase orders through the mobile app ? part of my staff goes door to door to negotiate some purchases and it would be very helpful if they can enter all the details through a mobile device directly on site (while still being limited to just the Vendors section). Thanks.

You're welcome, @Sam_NF. It's our pleasure to help. 

The option to include a purchase order in our mobile app will be a great addition to the current features that we have, so I'll take note of it. 

I also encourage you to leave feedback from within the product. Here are the steps:

1. Go to the Gear icon and select Feedback.
2. Provide your product suggestion. 
3. Click on Next to submit feedback.

Check out this article for more information about providing feedback to improve the app: How do I submit feedback?.

You can run Open Purchase Order List report to check your open purchase orders. Refer to this article on how to run and customise this one: Run reports in QuickBooks Online.

I'm here anytime you need further help with your purchase orders by leaving a comment below. Take care and have a great rest of the day!

Was a solution ever found? I see on this page there is the option for Custom User,

it says "Custom roles allow you to create your own roles and define access to specific areas in QuickBooks Online. This gives you even more control over what your team can see or do."

But going to the help page there are no details of how the specific roles are fine tuned, any info on this available?

Thank you for joining this thread to ask about the Custom Roles, @Hobgoblin. Allow me to share an update about this.

In QuickBooks Online (QBO), we can now use Custom Roles to customize User Permissions, such as for Purchase Orders. However, this feature is only available in QuickBooks Online Advance.

If you're using this subscription plan, please follow the steps below to learn how to use the custom roles:

1. Log in to your QBO.
2. Navigate to the Gear icon, then click Manage Users.
3. Select Roles, then click Add Role.
4. Enter a Name and Role Description.
5. Choose what you want your users to have.
6. Example: Click Expenses, then tick the Cheques check box.
7. Click Save Role.
8. A pop-up will show, "Do you want to add users with this set of permissions."
9. You can click Add Users and modify the rest of the fields or click Skip.

You can check out this article for further information about custom roles: Add and manage custom roles in QuickBooks Online Advanced.

Moreover, QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced have several reports that will help you with your purchase orders. For more information, refer to this article: Run purchase order reports in QuickBooks Online.

You can always get back to this thread if you have further concerns about custom roles. Keep safe.