How to Use the Purchase Order Management Worksheet in QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise

Before you start

• You need QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise with Advanced Inventory. The worksheet is a Site Operations setting, and Intuit lists Site Operations among the Advanced Inventory features Enterprise users can buy or subscribe to.
• Inventory and Purchase Orders are Active must be checked in Items & Inventory company preferences. Intuit's Advanced Inventory steps check it before opening Advanced Inventory Settings.
• Enhanced Inventory Receiving has to be off. Intuit says the worksheet can only be turned on while it's off.
• To receive on a device, link a supported mobile barcode scanner or an Android phone on the Site Operations tab. Without one, you print the list and receive by hand.
• With multiple inventory sites on, Intuit says you need to assign a receiving bin location when you send a purchase order.

If Advanced Inventory isn't on yet, see What Advanced Inventory adds in QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise. Linking a device and adding warehouse users is covered in How to use the QuickBooks Desktop mobile app.

What the worksheet does

Intuit describes the worksheet as the place where you pick which purchase order gets received and send it to the QuickBooks Desktop Warehouse app. You can also follow your purchase orders there by site, status or vendor. The worksheet has two tabs.

Step 1: Turn on the worksheet

1. 1Go to Edit > Preferences.
2. 2Select Items & Inventory, then the Company Preferences tab.
3. 3Make sure Inventory and Purchase Orders are Active is checked.
4. 4Select Advanced Inventory Settings.
5. 5On the Site Operations tab, check Enable Purchase Order Management Worksheet.
6. 6Select OK.

The same tab turns on the Sales Order Fulfillment Worksheet, and it's where you add mobile devices. Intuit's Site Operation article calls it the Site Operation tab, while its other articles say Site Operations. If Advanced Inventory Settings is grayed out after you bought Advanced Inventory, go to Help > Manage my License > Sync License Data Online. Then close and reopen QuickBooks.

Step 2: Send a purchase order for receiving

1. 1Go to Inventory > Purchase Order Management Worksheet.
2. 2On the Purchase Orders tab, check the purchase order you want to receive.
3. 3If multiple inventory sites are on, assign a receiving bin location.
4. 4Open the Send to Device drop-down. Choose Send to Device to send it to the app or scanner, or Print & Receive to print it for manual receiving.
5. 5Assign a receiving employee and add a note, if you need to.
6. 6Select Send or Print.

Once a purchase order is sent to be received, its status is Sent for Receiving. When the receiving agent sends the results back from the device, the PO Progress tab shows what was received and any notes. Intuit's articles don't describe the receiving screens inside the app. If your warehouse tracks bins, see How to use bin locations in QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise.

Step 3: Finish the receipt on the PO Progress tab

1. 1Go to Inventory > Purchase Order Management Worksheet and open the PO Progress tab.
2. 2Select the purchase order you want to update.
3. 3Open the Actions drop-down and choose View Receive list, Create Items Receipt or Create Bill.

• View Receive list opens a form for receiving the items by hand.
• Create Items Receipt creates an item receipt for the selected purchase order.
• Create Bill creates a bill for the selected purchase order.

The worksheet is only available while Enhanced Inventory Receiving is off. With it off, Intuit says you either enter a bill that also adds the items to inventory, or enter an item receipt and record the bill against it later. Intuit's receiving article says an item receipt raises the inventory asset account and accounts payable. The receiving screens are covered in How to receive inventory against a purchase order.

Step 4 (no scanner): Print and receive by hand

1. 1The warehouse manager uses Print & Receive to print the purchase order list and hands it to the receiving agent.
2. 2The receiving agent marks each item received and returns the list.
3. 3On the PO Progress tab, the manager double-clicks each line and enters the quantity received.
4. 4The manager then creates the bill or item receipt to finish, as in Step 3.

These manual steps come from Intuit's Purchase Order Management Worksheet article. Intuit has a separate article, Use the Purchase Order Fulfillment worksheet, which says the PO Progress worksheet is where manual entries go. Its list of manual steps was empty when we checked it on October 21, 2026.

What the statuses mean

How Enhanced Inventory Receiving affects the worksheet

• You can turn the worksheet on only while Enhanced Inventory Receiving is off.
• Once Enhanced Inventory Receiving is on, the worksheet is no longer available.
• Enhanced Inventory Receiving can't be turned off.
• Intuit's workaround is to restore a backup made before you turned it on. You lose every change made after that backup.
• Intuit suggests backing up the company file and testing Enhanced Inventory Receiving in a sample file first. If your warehouse receives through the worksheet, we suggest making that decision before you build your receiving process around it.

What changes with it on is covered in How to use Enhanced Inventory Receiving.

Common problems

• Enable Purchase Order Management Worksheet won't turn on: check whether Enhanced Inventory Receiving is on. If it is, the worksheet isn't available.
• Advanced Inventory Settings is grayed out: sync your license data from Help > Manage my License, then reopen QuickBooks.
• Send to Device doesn't reach the scanner: the device has to be linked on the Site Operations tab. Expired passcodes and other linking errors are covered in the mobile app guide.
• QuickBooks asks for a bin location: with multiple inventory sites on, assign a receiving bin location before you send.

Where QuickBooks Desktop leaves the work to you

• Someone chooses each purchase order to send and assigns the receiving employee and bin.
• With Print & Receive, every received quantity is typed back in by hand.
• Creating the item receipt or bill is a separate step on the PO Progress tab.
• The worksheet shows receiving status. Intuit's article doesn't mention expected dates, so late and short orders still need a call or email to the supplier.
• Switching to Enhanced Inventory Receiving later means giving the worksheet up.

To find orders that are past due, see how to find open and late purchase orders.

How Logistify helps

Logistify doesn't receive inventory, enter item receipts or create bills. The Procurement Service follows up with suppliers on open purchase orders. Your team still sends each purchase order for receiving and records what arrives.