Add a PO number to your invoices

Business customers often ask for their purchase order (PO) number on the invoice, so their accounts team can match it to the order they placed. Invoice Inn can print it on invoices and credit notes. The PO number is off by default and works on every plan.

Turn on the PO number

1. Open Customize and stay on the Content tab.
2. Under Header, tick Display PO number.
3. Click Save. The preview next to the settings is built from your most recent fulfilled order, so it shows the PO number when that order has one.

Where the PO number comes from

When a document is generated, Invoice Inn looks in two places on the order and takes the first one that has a value:

1. Shopify’s PO number field. Shopify fills it when a B2B customer enters a PO number at checkout.

2. A line in the order note that starts with PO:, for example:

   PO: 4500012345

   Use this for orders without the PO number field, by adding the line to the order note in Shopify before the invoice is generated. The line has to start with PO: in capital letters. “po: 123” or “Ref PO: 123” is not picked up. Only the first such line is used.

Spaces around the number are trimmed, and anything past 100 characters is cut off.

The PO number is saved with the document when it is generated, and then stays as it is. Changing the order or its note in Shopify later does not change an issued invoice. It is saved even while Display PO number is off, so turning the setting on later also shows it on documents generated before.

Add or correct the PO number on one document

1. Open Documents and click Edit on the document’s row.
2. Fill in PO number under Document date. Leave it empty to remove the PO number from that document.
3. Click Save. The PDF is regenerated with the new PO number.

The field shows on every document while Display PO number is on, and on any document that already has a PO number.

How this shows on your invoice

The PO number prints as one line below the totals and just above the note, for example PO number: 4500012345. A document with no PO number has no line at all. The label follows the document language, so a German invoice reads Ihre Bestellnummer. You can rewrite it under Customize > Localization in the Translations card, under Titles, as PO Number Label.

Good to know

• Credit notes carry the PO number of their order too, and you can edit it on them in the same way.
• An e-invoice includes the PO number as the buyer’s order reference, whether or not Display PO number is on. A credit note without one uses the PO number of the invoice it corrects.
• The PO number is not in the CSV export. It lives on the PDF and in the Edit dialog.

See also

• Edit an invoice after it was issued
• Add the date of supply to your invoices
• What the B2B badge means