Purchase Orders

Order parts the proper way. No more texts to the rep at 6am.

• Build a PO on any job in under a minute
• Split a quote's parts across your suppliers and create every PO in one click
• Lines come through at each supplier's own prices when you've uploaded their pricebook
• Tell the supplier where it's going: your business address, the job site or pickup
• One click emails the supplier a clean PDF
• Statuses track what's been ordered, partially received or cancelled
• When the bill arrives, one button turns the PO into a supplier bill

A purchase order is what you send your supplier so they know exactly what to put on the truck. Cooledge keeps every PO attached to the job it's for so you (or your bookkeeper) can see what was ordered, what it cost and whether it actually arrived.

This is for tradies who want a paper trail without the paperwork. Send POs from the portal on desktop. Find them later on each job or in the Purchases hub.

What You Need

Before you send your first PO, make sure you have:

• An active Cooledge subscription
• At least one supplier saved with an order email. See Managing Suppliers →
• Portal access (POs are created on the desktop portal)

Heads up: POs are in Australian dollars only for now. Multi-currency is on the roadmap.

Ways to Create a PO

Four ways to start a PO. Pick whichever fits the moment.

1. From a job (the most common)

1. Open the job
2. Scroll to the Purchases tab
3. In the Purchase Orders section, click + New PO
4. The PO editor opens straight on the job, pre-tagged to that job number

This is the one you'll use most. The PO is automatically linked to the job so it shows up under the job's costs.

2. From the Purchases hub

1. In the sidebar, click Purchases
2. Click + New PO in the top right
3. Pick a job to attach it to (or leave it unattached for general stock)

Use the hub when you're ordering for the yard or for stock that isn't tied to a single job.

3. From a quote (the Materials card)

Every quote page has a Materials card. It's the one place on a quote for ordering parts.

• Create purchase orders splits the quote's parts list across your suppliers (more below)
• Export parts list shows when the quote has systems with parts
• Once a quote has POs, a link like "2 purchase orders on this quote" takes you to them. It opens the job's Purchases tab, or opens the PO over the quote when there's no job yet
• Order through AAD only shows if you have an approved AAD account and the quote is Accepted or Paid. See Supplier Ordering →

Create purchase orders

Click Create purchase orders and a window opens with one row per family of parts on the quote, in this order: Unit, Ducting, Controls, Materials, Add-ons and Other. Only the families on this quote show up.

1. If the quote is a draft with area options, pick the areas and options you're ordering for. On an accepted quote with more than one area, pick "All areas (combined)" or a single area
2. For each family, pick a supplier from the dropdown (start typing to search, or choose "New supplier..." to add one on the spot). Tick Not ordering for a family you don't need to buy
3. Want one item from a different supplier? Click the arrow next to the family to see its items, then change that item's dropdown from "Same as family" to "Not ordering" or "Choose supplier…"
4. Choose Deliver to: Business address, Job site (shown when the quote or its job has a site) or Pickup
5. Add a Reference if you like (e.g. "Job 2024-001 / Site Smith")
6. Click Create 2 purchase orders (the number is how many suppliers you've picked)

Cooledge creates one draft PO per supplier in one go, each with that supplier's lines priced from that supplier. Deliver to and Reference apply to every PO in the batch and you can still change the delivery address on each PO afterwards. The first new PO then opens, on the job's Purchases tab or over the quote when there's no job. A message tells you if any lines have no price yet.

Cooledge remembers the supplier you pick for each family and preselects it next time, for everyone in your business. Per-item choices aren't remembered and ticking Not ordering (or leaving a family empty) clears that family's saved supplier.

Things you'll see on the item list:

• The supplier's part. A linked item shows the supplier's SKU and name with Change. If the supplier has a pricebook but the item isn't linked yet, click Choose part and search that supplier's products. For a unit it opens on Suggested matches with the same model number and Show all lists everything. The link saves as soon as you pick, so every future takeoff and PO with that supplier uses it (even if you cancel the window). A supplier with no products shows "No pricebook". Linking parts needs the Growth or Scale plan, so on Starter an unlinked item shows "Not linked" (links you already have still work). Items in the Other family don't have a part
• A not-linked line. An amber line such as "Reece: 3 of 12 items not linked" tells you how many items that supplier has no part for. They still go on the PO, just without the supplier's SKU or price
• On PO tags. An item already on a PO for this quote shows a tag like "On PO-0041". It's there for information only and won't stop you ordering it again

If one supplier's PO can't be created, Cooledge says so ("No purchase order was created for Reece" plus the reason) and still creates the others.

Quotes with no parts list (trade, itemised, install-only and repair quotes) open the window in blank mode: pick a Supplier and click Create blank purchase order. On a quote with parts you can also click Start with an empty purchase order to do the same.

Supplier prices and part links come from your suppliers' pricebooks. See Supplier Pricebooks → to upload one.

4. From scratch in the editor

Same flow as option 1 but you add the lines manually. Useful for the odd one-off order.

Building the PO

The PO editor is where you do the work. Here's what's on it:

Supplier

Pick the supplier from the dropdown. Start typing to filter the list. The supplier's order email is what Cooledge will send the PO to, so make sure that's set up in Settings → Suppliers.

Reference (optional)

A short note for your records. Something like "Smith St rough-in" or "Job 2024-0142". Goes on the PDF the supplier sees.

Order date and expected date

Order date defaults to today. Expected date is when you want the gear on site. Both show up on the PDF so the supplier knows the timeline.

Description (optional)

A line of context for the PO as a whole, not the line items. Just the order in general.

Notes for the supplier

A free-text box under the description. Anything you'd normally scribble on the bottom of a paper PO: delivery instructions, gate code, site contact. It all goes on the PDF.

Deliver to

Tell the supplier where the order is going:

• Business address (the default) fills the address box with your business address
• Job site fills in the site address from the job (or its quote) when there is one. If there isn't, type the address into the box
• Pickup hides the address box. The PDF says "Pickup" instead

You can edit the address in the box before you save. The PO keeps the address as it was when you saved it, so changing your business address later won't change POs you've already raised.

Category

Below Deliver to there's a Category select: Materials, Subcontractor or Other. A new PO starts on Materials, or on the supplier's Default category if it has one (see Managing Suppliers). Change it if the order is for something else, like a subcontractor's work. Bills you raise from the PO take its category, so the cost lands on the right row of the job's Profitability card. The supplier never sees it.

Amounts are GST inclusive or GST exclusive

Above the lines, Amounts are switches between GST inclusive and GST exclusive. Under the Unit price heading you'll see "inc GST" or "ex GST", so you always know which one you're typing. Switching only changes how prices are shown and typed. It never changes the totals.

New POs start on your business default. To change it, go to Settings → Invoice Preferences, find the Default Tax Rate card, tick or untick Purchase amounts include GST by default and click Save Preferences. It presets new purchase orders, bills, expenses and credit notes and you can still switch each one.

Line items

This is the meat of it. For each item:

• Description of what you want
• Qty
• Unit price (what you expect to pay per unit)
• GST: pick GST 10% (the default for new lines) or No GST for anything GST-free. An older line saved with a different rate keeps that rate as its own option
• Charge mode: how the cost is passed on to the customer (Included, Pass-through, Markup or Internal)

Lines created from a quote or with From catalogue carry the supplier's SKU and it prints on the PDF. For lines you type yourself, put the model or part number in the description.

The line total and the PO total recalculate as you type. No need to hit a recalc button.

Add as many lines as you need. Use the up and down arrows to reorder. Click the bin icon to remove a line. The totals at the bottom of the editor update in real time: Subtotal, Tax and Total. That's the total your supplier sees on the PDF.

Where line prices come from

Lines on a PO created from a quote come through priced from that supplier wherever Cooledge can find a price. A small caption under each line tells you where its price came from:

• Supplier price: from the supplier's pricebook. If that price is 90 days old or more, a chip like "Prices from Mar 2026" appears next to it (amber from 180 days)
• Your catalogue cost, supplier price unconfirmed: an A/C unit the supplier had no price for, priced from the unit cost in your own catalogue instead
• No price yet: nothing to price it from, so the line is $0 until you fill it in

For the supplier price, Cooledge uses your actual buy price if you uploaded one. Otherwise it takes the supplier's list price and knocks off your category discount (or your supplier discount when no category discount applies). With no discounts set, it's the plain list price. Only A/C units fall back to your catalogue cost. Add-ons and materials don't.

Type over a price yourself and the caption goes away. If you're not sure what a price will be yet (some suppliers won't tell you until the bill), leave it at 0. You can update the PO before sending, or just send it as-is and update the totals when the bill comes back through the Convert to Bill flow.

To get supplier prices on your POs, upload the supplier's price list. See Supplier Pricebooks →.

From catalogue

When the PO's supplier has products in its pricebook, a From catalogue button sits next to Add line. Search by name, SKU or model and scroll for more (products load 50 at a time). Each result shows the name, SKU, unit and ex GST price. Pick one and Cooledge adds a line with the name, SKU, unit and price filled in.

Saving and Sending

Hit Save to keep the PO as a draft. It stays in your Purchases list. The supplier doesn't see it yet.

When you're ready, click Send to supplier. A confirmation modal pops up showing:

• Who it's going to (supplier name + order email)
• The subject line ("Purchase Order PO-0042 from Your Business")
• A summary panel with the PO number, total and number of lines
• A note that the PDF is being prepared, then "PDF ready to attach"
• An optional preview of the email body

Click Send. Cooledge emails the supplier with the PDF attached. The status flips from Draft to Sent. The send time gets stamped on the record.

Want a copy in your inbox?

You can have Cooledge CC your business email on every PO automatically. Turn on CC me on purchase order emails under Settings → Email Settings → Outbound Notifications. After that, every PO you send drops a copy in your own inbox too.

The Supplier Email Gotcha

If you save a PO against a supplier who doesn't have an order email saved yet, you'll see a yellow banner at the top of the editor:

This supplier has no order email yet. Add one to send POs to them automatically.

Click Open supplier settings in the banner to fix it in Settings → Suppliers. Once the email is saved, come back to the PO and the Send to supplier button will be live.

See Managing Suppliers → for how to add or update a supplier's order email.

What the Supplier Sees

The supplier gets a plain email with a one-page PDF attached. The PDF has:

• Your business name, ABN, address, phone and email at the top
• Your logo if you've uploaded one in Settings
• The PO number, reference, order date and expected date
• Your supplier's billing block
• A Deliver To block beside it: your business name, then the delivery address (or "Pickup"), then your business phone
• A line-by-line table: description, SKU, qty, unit price and line total. The unit price and total headings follow the PO's GST setting, e.g. "Unit price (inc GST)" or "Unit price (ex GST)"
• The totals: "Subtotal (ex GST)", "GST" and "Total (inc GST)"
• Any notes you typed

Nothing flashy. Just clear. No surprises when the bill comes back. The PDF inherits your business document theme (the same one used on your quotes and invoices), so colours and fonts match the rest of what the customer or supplier already gets from you.

When the Bill Arrives

The supplier delivers the goods, then drops you a tax invoice (a bill). Time to reconcile.

1. From the Purchases hub (or the job's Purchases tab) click + New Bill
2. The new bill form opens with a list of Convert from PO options at the top: every PO for that job (or supplier) sitting in draft, sent or partial status
3. Click the PO that matches the invoice
4. Cooledge creates a draft bill with the same supplier, lines, totals and Category carried across. The PO status flips to Received at the same time
5. Open the new bill. Check the totals match the supplier's invoice
6. If anything's different (different GST, a part substituted, a delivery fee added) edit the lines on the bill so it matches the actual invoice
7. Enter the supplier's invoice number and bill date
8. Save

The bill keeps a permanent link back to the PO. POs that have already been converted (status Received) won't appear in the Convert from PO list again, so you can see at a glance which POs are still outstanding.

If you click Convert from PO twice on the same PO (double-click, browser back, etc.) Cooledge returns the existing bill instead of creating a duplicate. Safe to retry.

This is the bit that saves you on a Friday afternoon. No retyping line items off the supplier's PDF. No "did we order that or not". The PO is the source of truth for what was ordered. The bill is the source of truth for what was charged. Cooledge keeps them paired up.

What if the bill total doesn't match the PO? Edit the lines on the bill side, not the PO. The PO is your record of what you ordered. The bill is the record of what you were charged. They're allowed to differ. That's the whole point of having both.

For more on bills see Supplier Bills and Credit Notes →.

PO Numbering

Cooledge gives every PO a number for you. They're sequential per business, starting at 0001. So your first one is PO-0001, next is PO-0002 and so on. You don't get to override the number. That way the supplier always sees a clean sequence with no gaps or duplicates.

PO Statuses

A PO moves through these states:

• Draft while you're building it, supplier hasn't been emailed yet
• Sent once you've emailed the supplier, Cooledge stamps the send time
• Partial when some (but not all) of the order has been received
• Received when everything's on site
• Cancelled if you pulled the order

You can move a PO between statuses manually in the editor as the order plays out. The status badge on the Purchases hub colour-codes everything so you can see at a glance what's still outstanding.

Note: once a PO is sent, the Send to supplier button locks out. The button tooltip will tell you why if it's greyed (e.g. "Already sent", "Set a supplier first", "Supplier has no order email").

Where POs Live

You can find your POs in two places:

• Purchases hub (sidebar → Purchases): every PO across your business with filters by status, supplier, date and job
• Job → Purchases tab: just the POs (plus bills, credit notes and expenses) attached to that one job

Both views show the same data. The hub is better for "where's my Reece order from last Tuesday". The job view is better for "what have we spent on Smith St so far".

A PO is an order, not a cost yet, so it doesn't come off the job's margin. The cost counts once the supplier's bill is recorded and approved. Until then, the job's Profitability card (owners and admins) shows sent and part-received POs as a note, for example "Open purchase orders: $380.00 not yet billed." (ex GST). More on that in Job Profitability →.

Tips for Clean POs

A few habits make life easier for everyone:

• Write clear descriptions. "150mm flex. R1.0. 6m" beats "duct". The supplier picker reads them too
• Include the model or part number in the description when you know it. Saves the supplier from guessing
• Group similar items. All the flex on one line block, outdoor unit and pipework together. Makes the PDF easier to scan
• Set the expected date. Even if it's a guess, the supplier knows whether it's a rush or a stock order
• Use the notes box for anything site-specific: delivery instructions, after-hours contact, forklift on site or no
• Check the supplier's order email before sending the first PO. Your plumbing wholesaler might want POs going to orders@, not the rep's personal email. Verify once, save yourself the dodgy phone call later
• Send the PO before you start the job. Sounds obvious, but suppliers love a bit of lead time. And it locks in the price on paper

Auto Duct Layout POs (AAD)

If you've used Auto Duct Layout to design a ducted system, the take-off can be sent to a supplier through the Supplier Ordering flow. Cooledge keeps a read-only record of that order on the job so you can see it in your Purchases list alongside everything else. You can't edit it from the regular PO editor though. Editing happens in the Supplier Ordering screen.

You'll spot AAD POs by the purple "AAD" badge on the PO number. Click "View AAD takeoff" to open the supplier ordering screen.

See Supplier Ordering → and Auto Duct Layout → for the full ducted workflow.

Common Questions

Why does a line say "No price yet"? Cooledge couldn't find a price for it: the supplier's pricebook doesn't have that part, the item isn't linked to one of the supplier's parts or you haven't uploaded a pricebook for that supplier. The line sits at $0 until you type a price. Link the item to the supplier's part with Choose part (or on the supplier's Links tab) and future POs pick up that part's price. See Supplier Pricebooks →.

Can I send some families to AAD and the rest to my wholesaler? Yes. In Create purchase orders, pick a supplier for each family (for example, units from one supplier and ducting from another). You can also move a single item to a different supplier. Cooledge creates one PO per supplier in one click.

What if one supplier's PO fails? The others are still created. Cooledge tells you which supplier missed out ("No purchase order was created for...") and why. Fix the problem, then open Create purchase orders again and pick just that supplier, ticking Not ordering on the families you've already ordered. The "On PO" tags show you which items are already covered.

Do I need an AAD account to create purchase orders? No. Purchase orders work with any supplier in your list. An AAD account is only needed to order through AAD from the Order through AAD block. See Supplier Ordering →.

Can I edit a PO after I've sent it? You can change the status (e.g. mark it partial or received), add notes or re-export the PDF. The line items lock down once it's sent though. If the order genuinely needs to change, cancel the PO and send a new one. The supplier sees a clean correction rather than a moving target.

What if I sent the PO to the wrong supplier? Cancel it. Cooledge won't unsend the email but cancelling locks the PO so it doesn't get reconciled to a real bill later. Then start a fresh PO against the right supplier. Maybe drop the wrong supplier a quick call so they don't load up the truck.

Do I have to use POs if I just buy from Bunnings as I go? No. For walk-in trade counter buys you can just log a quick expense on the job with a receipt photo. POs are for orders you're placing in advance, or for any supplier where you want a paper trail of what was ordered before the bill arrives. See Tracking Expenses →.

Can the supplier reply by email? Yes. The PO email comes from your business address (or your Cooledge reply address if you've got the unified inbox turned on). Any reply lands in your normal inbox. If you have unified inbox switched on, replies thread into the job's messages so the whole crew can see them.

What if the supplier picks the order short? Set the PO status to Partial and convert it to a bill for what actually arrived. When the rest turns up, edit the bill or raise a second one. Mark the PO Received when everything's accounted for.

What if the bill total doesn't match the PO total? Adjust the bill to match what the supplier actually invoiced you. The PO is your record of what you ordered. The bill is the record of what you were charged. They can legitimately differ (substitutions, freight, price changes). Cooledge tracks both separately for that reason.

Can I duplicate a PO? Not directly. The easiest copy is to open the old PO, read the lines off, then start a new PO with the same supplier and retype. (Yes that's clunky. Quick duplicate is on the roadmap.)

Why is the Send button greyed out? Hover over it. The tooltip will tell you. The common reasons: "Save first" (you've got unsaved changes), "Set a supplier first" (no supplier picked), "Supplier has no order email" (fix in Settings → Suppliers), "Already sent" (the PO is past draft) or "Read only role" (you don't have permission to send POs; talk to the business owner).

Can my team members create POs? Yes for standard team members. Read-only roles can view POs but can't create or send them. Set role permissions in Settings → Team.

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Related Articles:

• Managing Suppliers →: Add suppliers, set order emails, manage contacts
• Supplier Pricebooks →: Upload a supplier's price list so POs come through priced
• Supplier Bills and Credit Notes →: Convert POs into bills, reconcile against payments
• Tracking Expenses →: For walk-in buys, fuel, small consumables
• Job Profitability →: See how POs feed your job costing
• Auto Duct Layout →: The ducted layout tool that feeds POs with a one-click take-off

Need help with Purchase Orders? Email us at support@cooledge.com.au