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Create and manage sales orders

by Intuit•74• Updated about 12 hours ago

Use sales orders to track products your customers want to buy before you send an invoice. This non-posting transaction allows you to reserve items from your inventory so you can fulfill orders accurately. Once the order is ready, you can easily convert the sales order into an invoice for payment or a purchase order for your vendors.

Note: You can create sales orders manually if you have QuickBooks Online Plus, QuickBooks Online Advanced, or Intuit Enterprise Suite. To use sales orders in QuickBooks Online Simple Start and Essentials, you’ll have to purchase the Inventory add-on.

Create a sales order

To create a sales order, follow these steps.

Select + New or + Create.
Select Sales order.
Select the customer from the Customer name dropdown.
- Review the billing and shipping address and update if needed.
- Note: You can select a multi-currency customer and update exchange rates.
Enter the Sales order date, Sales order no., Terms, and Due date.
Enter the Ship via, Ship date, and Tracking no. in the Shipping Details section.
Add any custom fields, class, or location information.
In the Product/Service section, add your products and their quantities.
- Select Tax if sales tax applies to this order.
- If you added an item for revenue recognition, you can set up the revenue recognition schedule in the invoice you create from the sales order.
Enter a message in the Note to customer field or add an internal memo.
Upload any necessary files in the Attachments section.
Select Save. To print the order immediately, select Print.

When you save a sales order, the committed quantity for those products updates. This helps you see when it’s time to restock.

Create a sales order from an estimate

Another way to create a sales order is from an existing estimate. Follow these steps to learn how.

Go to All apps , then Customer Hub, then Estimates (Take me there).
Find the estimate in your transaction list.
Locate the estimate you want to convert.
In the Action column, select the dropdown.
Select Convert to sales order.
- Alternatively, open the estimate to open the Activity drawer. Select More actions, then select Convert to sales order. Select the Review and send dropdown, and select Convert to sales order.
Review the new sales order, updating details if necessary.
Select Save.

Note: You can view the linked estimate in the Linked transactions section of the sales order or by selecting the link icon on specific line items.

Create an invoice for the sales order

When you're ready to bill your customer, convert the sales order directly into an invoice.

Go to All apps , then Sales & Get Paid, then Sales orders (Take me there).
Find the order you want to invoice.
In the Action column, select the dropdown arrow.
Select Convert to invoice.
- You can also open the Sales order form, select the Save and New dropdown, and choose Convert to invoice.
Verify the invoice details.
Select Save.

The sales order status updates to Invoiced. Once the customer pays the invoice, the status updates to Paid. A single sales order can be linked to multiple invoices.

Create a purchase order from a sales order

If you need to order stock to fulfill a customer request, you can create a purchase order directly from the sales order.

Go to All apps , then Sales & Get Paid, then Sales orders (Take me there).
Find the specific sales order in your list that you want to create a purchase order against.
In the Action column, select the dropdown arrow.
Select Convert to purchase order.
- You can also open the Sales order form, select the Save and New dropdown, and choose Convert to purchase order.
Review the purchase order.
Select Save.

Edit a sales order

You can edit open sales orders if they haven’t been fulfilled, or if their linked invoice is voided or deleted.

Go to All apps , then Sales & Get Paid, then Sales orders (Take me there).
Find the sales order and select Edit.
Make your necessary changes.
Select Save and close.

Note: You can edit sales orders that are still open and not fulfilled, whether they’ve been invoiced but not paid, not yet invoiced, or have an invoice that’s been voided or deleted. If the accounting period is closed and there’s no invoice, you can also make changes to the sales order.

Manage and filter sales orders

Go to All apps , then Sales & Get Paid, then Sales orders (Take me there).
Go to the Sales orders list.
Select Filter to find specific orders or groups of orders.
Select a column header to sort the list (ascending or descending).
- Note: The Channel column displays a QuickBooks icon for manually created orders.
Select the Action dropdown next to an order to perform quick actions, including:
- Convert to invoice
- Convert to purchase order
- Cancel order
- Close order
- Mark as shipped
- Email
- Print
- Delete

To delete an order while viewing the form, select More actions and then Delete Sales order.

Custom templates for the sales order form

Open a sales order.
Go to the Actions column, then select Edit.
Select the Settings ⚙ gear icon, then select the Design dropdown.
The Modern template is enabled by default. You can adjust the color and font as needed.
To create or edit a custom template, go to Other templates, then select Add/Edit to open the custom form styles.
Select New style, then select Sales order.
Update the Design, Content, and Emails for your custom template, then select Done to save your new sales order style.

Moving forward, your new form style will appear in Other Templates.

View Audit History

Admins can track changes made to sales orders through the audit log. Follow these steps to do so:

Open the sales order you want to review.
Select More actions and choose Audit history.

Alternatively, go to Settings ⚙ and select Audit log, then filter by Sales Order events.

Sales order Reports

Stay on top of Sales Orders with the Open Sales Order by Item and Open Sales Order by Customer reports in Standard Reports. You can also build custom reports using Sales Order fields.