This information is incorrect.  This will only allow the SKU column to show on the Purchase Order you see when creating it but the SKU still does not show up when you send the PO to the vendor or if you print it.  Beyond belief this can't easily be fixed.

I just started sending PO's for our inventory in QB online. I Realized the SKU issue not showing on the PDF or printed version. To fix, under 'purchase description' on each inventory item, I put the SKU in that field. Then the SKU's print or save as a PDF on the form and is fairly painless to do when entering new inventory items into the system. 

Took me some time to go back and edit the 100+ inventory items I had already set up though. 

Cheers, 

This is a absolute joke.  This is a simple thing...printing a field on paper.  Seriously.  This has to continue?  P.O.'s are worthless without part numbers/SKU.  My vendors don't know what we're ordering.  Fix this!  Bring it up in a meeting and fix it.  I'm more than frustrated at this point.  I can't stop letting out my frustrations with this program to my colleagues and small business owners.  I'm to the point of seeking out places to vent online, facebook and the like to warn people not to invest time and money is to this garbage of a "program" or "online interface".  Quickbooks Online SUCKS....period!  

This is terrible, I upgraded specifically for this feature. You do nothing to inform us ahead of time that a KEY part of this feature is not functioning. I have been burning my time to figure this out, thinking Quickbooks couldn't be that short sighted on their specific business.

But yes you are, this is honestly nuts. I now have to go and switch to the Desktop version and see if that works so I can run and grow my Small Business. This is not friendly to the experience of running a business, especially not in these times.

Extremely disappointing and I will be leaving Quickboooks...rather QUICKLY.

You are business critical software and PUSHING and online version that is anything but a complete package. I have been using Quickbooks software for about 15 years, I have very low expectations thanks to that. Apparently they weren't low enough, I will be traveling back to the over complicated yet functional world of ERPs...now that's saying something considering...

Hi phproducts,

I see how important it is for you to be able to add SKUs to your purchase orders. While this isn't an option right now, I would suggest copying the SKUs into the item description fields so your vendor can see them.

You can also send a suggestion from your QBO company about this. That way, our engineers will become aware that you also need this option. Just click on Help and choose Feedback.

Let me know if you have other questions about purchase orders. Take care always.

I can't believe all these years later you are still telling people to just add the SKU to the description.  If that is the case why even have a SKU field in QBO, it is worthless if the vendor doesn't get a PO with the SKU on it.  This problem has been reported at least as far back as 2015, please stop telling us leave feedback for the engineers - at this point it is obvious that feedback is never seen.  If you had a report somewhere showing requests and number of people requesting and your timeframe to add feature or reason why not adding I would feel the feedback was doing something.  But this can't be that hard to add a SKU field that shows on the QBO PO entry but not on the pdf report created from that PO entry (a screenshot would almost be more useful as a workaround), and yet even this simple fix still requires a work around 6+ years later.  

Dosnt work as you describe it. I have everything ticked as you suggest yet the SKU still does NOT appear on my PO's

Cant agree more and here we are in 2022 with still no solution. Life just shouldn't be this hard!

@Pilotforfun 

Consider having a 3rd party app for the time being.

This is just ridiculous at this point. It's not that difficult to add it into the code or workflow on the backend. Clearly not a priority for you. 

Hi Quickbooks, 

The lack of functionality to show SKU in a printed PO is very frustrating. I send purchase orders to all of my suppliers and every supplier needs to have the SKU listed. I'm considering moving to Xero because of this. Please let us know when this function might be implemented. 

Thank you. 

Katherine,

Thank you for this explanation. I'm able to follow your instructions up until step 4 of the second set of steps. When I try to select the 'SKU' check box, it get a floating popup that says, '(SKU is enabled only for Airy template)'.

Where can I find the Airy template? 

I'll help you find the Airy template, @joeyf-createroom. 

The reason why you've got a popup when trying to include the SKU feature on the template is because the form is set to Modern, Fresh, Bold, or Friendly template. We can change it by following the steps below. 

1. Go to the Gear icon.
2. Select Custom form style. 
3. Choose the standard template of the invoice.
4. In the Design tab, select Airy template.
5. Customize the template as needed. Then, make sure to click Done to reflect the changes.
   

Once done, open the PO and double-check the SKU column on your purchase order. 

That should work. The next time you change the template design, you can just follow the same steps above. 

Check these articles to learn more about managing sales forms:

• Customize invoices, estimates, and sales receipts
• Add, customize, or remove logos on sales forms

If you have more concerns with sales forms, I'm just right here to assist you. Have a good one, joeyf-createroom.

How do I get the SKU number to show on downloaded/printed Purchase orders?  I have spent hours with customer service and they don't seem to have any info on how this can be done.  Seems ridiculous to have the SKU number show on the screen but when you download to send via email or hardcopy it is not shown.  It is literally one of the most important pieces of information on the PO.  Any ideas?

Thanks for providing detailed information about your concern, Rusty22.

I'd like to reiterate what Angelyn_T answered. Printing Purchase Orders (POs) with SKU is unavailable in QuickBooks Online.

I understand that your vendors need the product SKU of each purchase order you send. While this feature is unavailable, I'd encourage sending feedback to our Product Development Team to help improve your QuickBooks experience. 

We're closely monitoring the ideas and suggestions of our customers and take them into consideration when prioritizing feature development. When you're ready, here's how to submit feedback:

1. Sign in to your QBO account.
2. Click the Gear icon at the top, then choose Feedback.
3. Enter the new features you would like us to add in the description box.
4. Tick Next to send feedback.

For additional tips and resources, while working with your vendor transactions, you can browse a topic from this page: Expenses and vendors.

You can always find me here if you have any other concerns or further questions about purchase orders. Stay safe and have a good one.

So "great" to get email updates about these simple requests that have not been fixed in 7+ years.  And yet QBO response is still the same - "please leave us feedback, we really listen to you"

Such a joke that the option to include the sku when sending a PO to a vendor is not fixed yet.  I switched to a new inventory system last year because of these issues that are obviously not fixable in QBO.

I totally agree with you. The response is terrible customer service. You would think they could just take the feedback from these message boards and give them directly to the dev team. I have followed their suggestion to provide feedback through the QuickBooks feedback link and I have yet to get a response to that. As soon as my license runs out, I will be switching to Xero, which is far superior. 

Am I to understand that this has been requested for 7 years, with no attention paid to it? SEVEN YEARS?!! That is an eternity in software development. We just switched from the desktop version to the online advanced version and have concluded that this software is a complete piece of garbage. How could you have screwed this up so badly? Did you even ask any accountants or business owners for any input? I can understand a learning curve when switching from one platform to another, but you have created a dumbed-down, problem-ridden, cumbersome, confusing, unusable version of, what was halfway decent program. We have been using Quickbook for 27 years. For us to switch accounting programs will cost a fortune in time and wages, but It will cost us more to keep it. Pathetic!

Consider having a purchase order management app to integrate with QBO. Otherwise, it's time for you to explore another accounting app with a higher level than QBD Enterprise or QBO Advanced.

Searching for a word worse than pathetic...7 years...still searching.

So who wants to take all our business? Wonder how this work for the QBO Renewal Team.

Quickbooks...do you get it...this is an easy place to be a hero to your own users...