Can you customize a purchase order in QuickBooks Online?

Within limits. Purchase order is one of the form types Custom form styles covers, so you can set a logo, a color, and which columns appear — but it is the sales form editor underneath, and there is no way to upload a design of your own or add your ordering terms. Missing Toolkit: Templates fills your Word document from the PO record instead.

Can the purchase order show our account number with the vendor?

Yes. It is read from the Account no. field on the vendor record in QuickBooks, so it lands on every PO to that vendor without anyone typing it. It is the field most often missing from a QuickBooks-rendered PO, and the one that gets an order routed correctly.

Does this create the purchase order in QuickBooks?

No. You raise the PO in QuickBooks as you normally would, and it keeps working with bills and receiving exactly as before. Missing Toolkit: Templates has read-only access and only generates the document you send to the vendor.

What happens to account-based lines?

They appear in the table alongside item lines. An account-based line — freight, a permit fee, anything booked straight to an expense account — uses the account name where an item line would use the product name, so nothing on the order goes missing.

Can the ship-to address be different from our billing address?

Yes. The ship-to address on the purchase order is its own set of placeholders, so an order drop-shipped to a job site or a second warehouse shows the address the vendor should actually deliver to.

Can I include custom fields from QuickBooks?

Yes. Custom fields on the purchase order come through as placeholders alongside the standard ones, so a project code, a requisition number, or an approver can appear on the document.

QuickBooks Online

Purchase order template for QuickBooks Online

A purchase order is the one document here your vendor files rather than your customer. Missing Toolkit: Templates generates it from the PO you already recorded in QuickBooks — with your account number, your delivery terms, and your ordering conditions on it.

Get the free template Start generating

The PO form is the invoice form wearing a hat

Purchase order is one of the form types Custom form styles offers, so you can put a logo and a color on it. Underneath, it is still the sales form editor — built to send a customer a bill, then pointed at a vendor.

What a vendor needs is different. They want your account number with them so the order reaches the right ledger, a ship-to address that is not your billing address, a delivery date stated as a requirement rather than a due date, and the ordering terms that make the PO a document their sales team can act on. None of that has a switch in the style editor.

So the PO gets rekeyed into a Word file that already has those things on it. Missing Toolkit: Templates keeps the Word file and fills it from QuickBooks.

What the finished purchase order looks like

This is the free starter template below, filled with purchase order data. One row per line ordered, read straight from the record in QuickBooks.

Your Company Name

Purchase Order

Vendor

Wharfside Coffee Supply

220 Dockside Road

Portland, ME 04101

Ship to

Harbour Point Roastery

4 Mill Lane

Rockport, ME 04856

Details

PO number: PO-3312

Date: 07/27/2026

Deliver by: 08/10/2026

Our account: HPR-4471

SKU	Item	Description	Qty	Rate	Amount
WCS-1140	Green Beans	Colombia Huila, 60 kg sack	8	410.00	3,280.00
WCS-2205	Filter Papers	Case of 1,000	4	48.00	192.00
	Freight	Palletized delivery	1	185.00	185.00

Order total 3,657.00

Quote the purchase order number above on your invoice and packing documents. Replace this line with your own ordering terms.

Both kinds of QuickBooks purchase order line reach the table. An item line shows its product name and SKU; an account-based line — freight, a fee, anything booked straight to an expense account — shows the account name in the item column.

Free purchase order template

A Word document with the vendor and ship-to blocks, a six-column ordering table, and the totals already laid out. Download it, add your letterhead, and it's ready to generate.

Download .docx (8 KB)

No email required. Open it in Word, swap the letterhead for your own, and upload it to Missing Toolkit: Templates.

What's in the template

Every placeholder below is filled from the QuickBooks purchase order you pick. The row holding the LINE_ placeholders is repeated once per line on the order.

Placeholder	Filled with
${VENDOR_NAME}	Vendor display name
${VENDOR_COMPANY}	Vendor company name
${VENDOR_LINE1}	Vendor address line 1
${VENDOR_LINE2}	Vendor address line 2
${VENDOR_CITY}	Vendor city
${VENDOR_STATE}	Vendor state/province
${VENDOR_ZIP}	Vendor postal code
${SHIPPING_LINE1}	Ship-to address line 1
${SHIPPING_LINE2}	Ship-to address line 2
${SHIPPING_CITY}	Ship-to city
${SHIPPING_STATE}	Ship-to state/province
${SHIPPING_ZIP}	Ship-to postal code
${PO_NUMBER}	The PO document number
${PO_DATE}	The transaction date
${DUE_DATE}	The expected delivery date
${PO_STATUS}	Status (Open, Closed)
${VENDOR_ACCOUNT_NUMBER}	Your account number with this vendor (their Account no. on the vendor record)
${LINE_SKU}	SKU
${LINE_NAME}	Product/service name (place in a table row — row will be cloned per item)
${LINE_DESCRIPTION}	Description (place in a table row — row will be cloned per item)
${LINE_QUANTITY}	Quantity
${LINE_RATE}	Unit price
${LINE_AMOUNT}	Total amount
${SUBTOTAL}	Subtotal before tax
${TAX_AMOUNT}	Total tax amount
${TOTAL_AMOUNT}	Total PO amount
${VENDOR_MESSAGE}	Message to vendor

How It Works

1

Connect QuickBooks Online

Authorize the connection through Intuit with OAuth 2.0. Missing Toolkit: Templates reads your data and never writes to it.
2

Upload your purchase order template

Start from the free template above, or use the PO your purchasing team already sends. Your ordering terms, fonts, and layout are preserved exactly.
3

Pick a purchase order and generate

Browse your purchase orders, choose the template, and download the order as Word or PDF to send on to the vendor.

Common questions

Can you customize a purchase order in QuickBooks Online?: Within limits. Purchase order is one of the form types Custom form styles covers, so you can set a logo, a color, and which columns appear — but it is the sales form editor underneath, and there is no way to upload a design of your own or add your ordering terms. Missing Toolkit: Templates fills your Word document from the PO record instead.
Can the purchase order show our account number with the vendor?: Yes. It is read from the Account no. field on the vendor record in QuickBooks, so it lands on every PO to that vendor without anyone typing it. It is the field most often missing from a QuickBooks-rendered PO, and the one that gets an order routed correctly.
Does this create the purchase order in QuickBooks?: No. You raise the PO in QuickBooks as you normally would, and it keeps working with bills and receiving exactly as before. Missing Toolkit: Templates has read-only access and only generates the document you send to the vendor.
What happens to account-based lines?: They appear in the table alongside item lines. An account-based line — freight, a permit fee, anything booked straight to an expense account — uses the account name where an item line would use the product name, so nothing on the order goes missing.
Can the ship-to address be different from our billing address?: Yes. The ship-to address on the purchase order is its own set of placeholders, so an order drop-shipped to a job site or a second warehouse shows the address the vendor should actually deliver to.
Can I include custom fields from QuickBooks?: Yes. Custom fields on the purchase order come through as placeholders alongside the standard ones, so a project code, a requisition number, or an approver can appear on the document.

Send vendors a PO they can act on

Connect QuickBooks Online, upload your purchase order template, and generate your first branded PO in minutes.

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