Purchase order statuses

Every purchase order has a status that shows where it stands. Statuses can change when you send a purchase order, when your vendor responds, or when you change the status yourself.

What each status means

Status	What it means	How it’s set
Draft	The purchase order hasn’t been sent. If your vendor already has its web link, for example from a PDF you shared, they can still approve or decline it.	Saving a new purchase order, or manually.
Pending	The purchase order is awaiting your vendor’s response.	Emailing a Draft purchase order or copying its web link, saving certain changes to a signed purchase order, or manually.
Approved	The purchase order is marked as approved, by your vendor or by your team.	Your vendor approves it on the web link, or manually.
Closed	The purchase order is complete. Your company decides what complete means, for example paid, items received, or work done.	Manually.
Declined	The purchase order is marked as declined, by your vendor or by your team.	Your vendor selects Decline on the web link, or manually.
Canceled	The purchase order is no longer active.	Manually.

Purchase orders don’t expire. If you need a deadline, include it in the purchase order’s Terms & Conditions.

If job costs are set to add purchase orders automatically, costs are added from Approved and Closed purchase orders. For details, see Add and manage job costs.

What your vendor sees

The purchase order’s web link shows your vendor where the purchase order stands.

• Draft and Pending: The purchase order shows Approve and Decline.
• Approved: The purchase order is marked Approved, or Signed & Approved if your vendor signed it.
• Closed, Declined, or Canceled: The purchase order is marked with its status.

Your vendor can approve or decline only a Draft or Pending purchase order. For details, see How do vendors approve a purchase order?

If the purchase order PDF includes the ‘view online’ banner, its button takes your vendor to the web link to approve a Draft or Pending purchase order. Otherwise, it takes them there to view the purchase order.

When your vendor approves or declines a purchase order, you’re notified by email, in the app, and by push notification, based on your notification preferences. A signed purchase order shows a Signed badge next to its status. Hover over it to see when the purchase order was signed and by whom.

Change a purchase order’s status

1. Open the purchase order.

2. In Purchase Order details, select the status at the top right.

3. Choose the new status.

   The status changes right away. You don’t need to select Save changes.

You can choose any status at any time, for example to move a Declined purchase order back to Pending.

If the purchase order is signed and you choose Draft or Pending, confirm the change when asked. Your vendor’s signature is removed.

Editing a signed purchase order

Editing an unsigned Approved purchase order doesn’t change its status.

Important: On a signed purchase order, saving changes to certain details removes your vendor’s signature and changes the status to Pending. This happens when you change the vendor, line items, Additional amount, Public note, Terms & Conditions, attachments, Purchase Order date, or Work date range. Changing the linked job doesn’t remove the signature.

Your vendor isn’t notified when this happens. Send the purchase order again to get a new approval. For details, see Send a purchase order.

Related articles

• Create and edit a purchase order
• Send a purchase order
• How do vendors approve a purchase order?
• Add and manage job costs