Send a PO to a vendor
Email or WhatsApp a purchase order straight from the order page, and check it arrived.
Purchase orders reach vendors by email and WhatsApp straight from the order page — no copying details into another app. Most of the time you won’t need to send anything by hand: issuing a PO sends it automatically using the vendor’s saved contacts, and a PO held for approval goes out the moment the owner taps Approve & Send. This page covers the manual sends — a sent-back draft, a resend, and checking delivery.
Note: New to the terms here (PO, vendor, GRN)? See the Glossary.
Before you send
| Channel | What it needs |
|---|---|
| An email address on the vendor’s page. Works out of the box. | |
| The one-time setup under Settings → Communications (see WhatsApp for POs), plus the vendor’s WhatsApp numbers. | |
| WhatsApp group | The Meta provider selected in Settings, a group created on the vendor’s page, and at least one member joined via the invite link. |
Compose and send
- Open the order. A draft PO shows Send to vendor; an already-sent PO shows Resend.
- In the compose window, switch on the channels you want:
- Email — To is pre-filled with the vendor’s email; add Cc addresses by typing them or tapping a recent-email chip.
- WhatsApp — the vendor’s saved numbers are pre-filled; add or remove numbers as needed.
- WhatsApp group — posts the PO into the vendor’s linked group.
- Pick at least one channel, then tap Send (or Resend).
Resending
Resend whenever the vendor lost the message or the order needs to go again — it is available once a PO has been sent, and even after it has been received or closed. Each resend generates a fresh copy of the message, tracked as its own send in the delivery history, so there’s never confusion about which version the vendor has.
Know it arrived
Tap Delivery status on the order to open the comms panel. Every send is listed newest first (“Latest send”, then earlier sends), with one row per recipient and a status badge showing how far the message got.
If a message can’t be delivered after several attempts, a red banner appears on the order — “A message couldn’t be delivered”. It stays until you deal with it: tap Review & retry, check the email address or phone number is right (fix it on the vendor’s page if not), then tap Retry on the failed row.
The Purchase orders list also marks sent POs whose WhatsApp never went out with a small ! badge, so they’re easy to spot.
Fallback: share it yourself
If a vendor isn’t reachable by either channel, open the order, tap Download PO, then Print / download to print it or save it as a PDF and share it however suits — see Purchase orders and approvals for what the printed PO includes.