The Sales Orders tab helps you record and monitor orders received from customers.
Sales orders act as an umbrella over multiple invoices and delivery notes, allowing you to track complex fulfillment scenarios.
Use sales orders when there is a delay between order placement and invoice issuance, or when orders require multiple shipments or partial invoicing.
If customers receive invoices and deliveries immediately upon ordering, you may not need sales orders as they are fulfilled instantly.
Sales orders are particularly useful for tracking partial fulfillments, back orders, and monitoring overall order completion status.
Before creating sales orders, ensure customers are set up in the Customers tab, as every order must be linked to a customer.
To create a new sales order, click the New Sales Order button.
For more information see: Sales Order — Edit
The Sales Orders tab displays information in customizable columns.
The Date column shows the date of the sales order.
The Reference column displays the reference number of the sales order.
The Customer column displays the name of the customer who placed the sales order.
The Sales Quote column displays the reference number of an approved customer quote. Use this column only if you are using the Sales Quotes tab.
The Description column displays the description of the sales order.
The Qty to Deliver column shows the quantity of items that have been ordered but not yet delivered or invoiced.
The Order Amount column displays the total amount of the sales order.
The Invoice Amount column shows the total from all sales invoices linked to this sales order.
While typically one invoice is linked to one order, you may invoice customers in stages with multiple invoices.
This column helps ensure the total invoiced amount matches the order value.
The Invoice Status column displays the invoicing status of each order.
Possible statuses are: Invoiced (fully invoiced), Partially Invoiced (partially invoiced), Uninvoiced (not yet invoiced), or Not Applicable (when order amount is zero).
This helps you quickly identify which orders still need invoicing.
The Delivery Status column shows whether ordered items have been delivered.
Status is Delivered when all items have been delivered, or Pending when items remain to be delivered.
Click the Edit Columns button to select which columns to display.
Learn more: Edit columns
To monitor whether sales orders have been invoiced, enable the Invoice Amount and Invoice Status columns in Edit Columns.
If you use the Inventory Items tab, you can track delivery status by enabling the Qty to Deliver and Delivery Status columns.
An order is considered closed when its Invoice Status shows Invoiced and its Delivery Status shows Delivered.
Note that order status does not indicate whether the customer has paid. Payment tracking is handled in the Sales Invoices tab.
The primary purpose of tracking sales orders is to ensure that orders are accurately invoiced and fulfilled.
To convert a sales order to an invoice, click View on the sales order, then click Copy to and select New Sales Invoice.
This method works best when one order will have exactly one invoice.
For orders requiring multiple deliveries, create a New Delivery Note linked to the sales order, detailing what is being delivered.
The delivery note can then be copied to a New Sales Invoice, maintaining proper linkage to the original order.
When a sales order is created, it increases Qty Reserved and decreases Qty Available under the Inventory Items tab.
This reserves inventory for the order without creating a delivery obligation.
Only when an invoice is issued does Qty Reserved decrease and Qty to Deliver increase, creating the actual delivery obligation.
This workflow supports businesses that dispatch goods only after payment, as invoices can be issued after payment is received.
Use Advanced Queries to filter, sort, and group sales orders.
For example, you can display only sales orders with pending deliveries.
Learn more: Advanced Queries
Sales orders can be edited at any time, even after partial invoicing or delivery.
To cancel an order, click Edit on the sales order and check the Cancelled checkbox.
To duplicate an order, click View on the sales order, then use the Clone button or Copy to option.
For recurring orders, go to Settings tab, then Recurring Transactions, then Recurring Sales Orders.
Learn more about recurring transactions: Recurring Sales Orders — Pending