Purchase Order Template for Excel, Word and Google Sheets

A purchase order template gives your supplier a clear record of what you want to buy, where it should arrive and what you expect to pay. For distributors and consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands, it also needs to answer a practical question: does “20” mean individual units, cases or pallets?

Use the free copyable purchase order form below to record supplier details, case packs, agreed prices and delivery instructions. You can adapt the same form for Word, or follow the cell-by-cell setup for Excel and Google Sheets. A filled example shows the calculations and what to do when a delivery arrives short or damaged.

What should a purchase order template include

A purchase order template should include the buyer, supplier, PO number, delivery details, item descriptions, quantities, unit prices and order total. Add the ordering unit, pack size, agreed terms and approval details so purchasing, receiving and accounts payable can interpret the same document. For wholesale replenishment, those extra fields help prevent a case price from being mistaken for an each price.

The buyer issues the PO to the supplier. An internal purchase requisition asks for permission to buy, while an invoice is the supplier’s request for payment. If your team mixes these up, the guide to purchase requisitions versus purchase orders explains where each document belongs.

Copy this free purchase order template

Start with one supplier, one currency and one ship-to destination per PO. Replace every bracketed field, remove any unused lines and use terms already agreed with your supplier. This form records the order; it does not supply contract language or determine tax treatment for your business.

Purchase order details

PO number: [Unique reference] Revision: [00]PO issue date: [Date] Requested delivery date or window: [Date or window]Buyer business: [Legal or trading name]Buyer contact: [Name, email and phone]Bill to: [Billing name and full address]Supplier: [Supplier name and account reference]Supplier contact: [Name, email and phone]Ship to: [Warehouse or store name and full delivery address]Receiving contact: [Name and phone]Currency: [One currency for the whole PO]Supplier quote or agreement reference: [Reference and version, if applicable]

Items to order

Copy this table with its headings. Add as many item rows as needed. “Price per UOM” means the price for one of the units named in the order UOM column.

Merchandise subtotal: [Sum of line totals]Order-level discount: [Agreed amount, if any]Freight: [Agreed amount]Tax: [Confirmed amount]Other agreed charges: [Description and amount]Order total: [Subtotal − discount + freight + tax + other charges]

Terms and approval

Payment terms: [Agreed terms and the event that starts the payment period]Delivery method and receiving hours: [Method, appointment details and hours]Partial shipments: [Allowed / approval required / not allowed, as agreed]Substitutions: [Allowed items or approval requirement, as agreed]Product requirements: [Minimum remaining shelf life, temperature or labeling requirements, if applicable]Additional instructions: [Reference the approved specification or agreement]Prepared by: [Name]Approved by and approval date: [Authorized approver and date]Supplier acknowledgment reference: [Email, portal reference or signed acknowledgment]

Keep approval and acknowledgment evidence with the PO record. A typed approver name on a form does not establish that approval actually happened. Likewise, sending an order is different from receiving confirmation that the supplier can meet it.

Choose Excel, Word or Google Sheets

The right format depends on who prepares the order and how often the information changes. All three can hold the same fields. Your team still needs a consistent numbering method, an approval owner and a place to save the issued version.

Set up the purchase order template in Excel or Google Sheets

Create a workbook with an Order details sheet for the form fields and a Lines sheet for the item table. This keeps the formula references below stable. Use a separate Receiving sheet for internal delivery records, and exclude it from the copy sent to the supplier.

Build the line calculations

On the Lines sheet, put the seven item-table headings in cells A1:G1 in the same order shown above. Reserve rows 2 through 20 for items. Enter quantities in column E and agreed prices in column F as numbers, without typing currency symbols into the values. Use currency formatting to display prices.

In G2, enter the following formula, then fill it down through G20:

=IF(OR(E2="",F2=""),"",ROUND(E2*F2,2))

This leaves the total blank until both a quantity and price have been entered, then rounds the line amount to two decimal places. The examples use a currency with two decimal places. Adjust rounding if your currency or agreed pricing requires a different convention.

Add the following labels in F22:F27 and values or formulas in G22:G27:

These formulas work in standard English-language Excel and Google Sheets settings. Your locale may use different argument separators. If you insert more item rows, check that the subtotal covers every line and that the totals formulas still point to the right cells.

Enter unit prices after any line-level discount. Use the order-level discount field only for an additional discount that applies to the whole order, so the same reduction is not counted twice. Treat tax as a confirmed input here rather than applying one percentage to every item and charge without checking the applicable rules.

Check inputs before protecting formulas

Add validation for quantities and prices, then try a blank line, a zero-price sample, a normal order and an added row. A valid free sample should produce a zero line total; a missing price should remain blank and be resolved before issue. Flag negative quantities or prices for review rather than using them casually to record returns.

In Google Sheets, protect formula ranges to reduce accidental changes. Google notes that protected sheets are not a security measure: people can still copy or export data. Share a supplier-facing PO that contains only that supplier’s order, rather than your full purchasing workbook.

Use the purchase order template in Word

Paste the order details, item table, totals and terms into a new Word document. Save an untouched master. For each order, make a copy, enter a unique PO number and check that the supplier, destination and item rows are current.

For a short PO, calculate each line and total before issuing it. If the order has many lines or frequently changing quantities, prepare the calculations in a spreadsheet and transfer the checked results. Review the final PDF for cut-off columns, missing pages and a total that matches the approved order.

A filled purchase order example for a distributor

The following example is fictional and uses USD. A beverage distributor is ordering two products for one warehouse. Both prices are quoted per case, but the case packs differ.

The merchandise subtotal is $792.00. With a $0.00 discount, $45.00 freight, $0.00 tax and no other charges, the example order total is $837.00. The zero tax amount is an illustration, not a determination that a real purchase is tax-exempt.

For inventory planning, the tea order represents 240 individual units and the water order represents 360. The amount payable is still calculated from cases ordered multiplied by price per case. Multiplying the tea line by 12 again would incorrectly turn $360.00 into $4,320.00.

Keep the supplier’s item code on the PO even if your warehouse uses a different internal SKU. Record both when needed, with clear labels. A product’s retail barcode also may identify a different packaging level from the case being ordered; SKU versus UPC is a useful reference when deciding which identifiers to keep.

Fill out and issue the PO in five steps

1 Confirm the purchase and supplier

Check the approved purchasing request, available inventory and already-open orders before adding quantities. A merchandiser’s shelf observation or a field rep’s request can trigger a replenishment review, but the authorized buyer should confirm what needs to be purchased. Record the supplier quote or agreed price list so a later price question has a reference.

2 Confirm quantities in the supplier’s ordering units

Match the quantity, unit of measure and unit price on every line. Check case-pack multiples and minimum order requirements with the supplier. If you need 120 individual bottles sold in cases of 12, the order quantity is 10 cases. State the pack size rather than expecting the supplier or receiver to infer it from the description.

3 Check the destination and delivery requirements

Write the actual delivery address, warehouse or store identifier, and receiving contact. Include appointment requirements and receiving hours where needed. For products with storage or shelf-life requirements, reference the agreed specification. A delivery date should make sense for the supplier’s confirmed lead time and your receiving capacity.

4 Obtain approval and send the issued version

Have the appropriate person approve the order under your purchasing policy. Save the issued PO with its number and revision, then send the supplier that version. Ask for acknowledgment of the items, prices and delivery commitment. If the supplier proposes a substitution or delay, resolve it and record the agreed change.

5 Preserve changes and track the receipt

When quantities, prices or terms change, keep the original issued record and create a revised version using the same PO number with a clear revision identifier. Tell the supplier which version replaces the earlier one. Update your internal log and make the change visible to receiving and accounts payable. Do not let a silent spreadsheet edit become the only record of the agreement.

Track partial deliveries without closing the order early

A completed purchase order form is the starting record. You also need a receiving record that shows what happened after issue. Keep the supplier-facing PO intact and record each receipt separately, with the PO number, item, receipt date, delivery reference and quantities.

Use the same unit of measure as the PO, or document the conversion. Record delivered quantity and accepted quantity separately. Damaged or rejected goods need their own note and agreed resolution so they are not counted as available stock by mistake.

Suppose the tea line ordered 20 cases. The first delivery contains 18 cases, of which one is rejected for damage. If the supplier still owes replacements and no quantity has been canceled, 17 cases have been accepted and 3 remain outstanding.

For each PO line, calculate outstanding quantity as ordered quantity minus cumulative accepted quantity minus agreed canceled quantity. A negative result is an exception to investigate, such as an overdelivery or duplicate receipt entry. Do not hide it by automatically forcing every negative balance to zero.

The receiver should record the damage, and the buyer should agree whether the supplier will replace it, issue a credit or cancel the remaining quantity. Accounts payable can then compare the PO, receipt record and invoice using the agreed outcome. Marking the order “received” just because a truck arrived would hide the unresolved three cases.

For a wider view of approvals, receiving and invoice review, use the purchase order management guide. Keep this template as the reusable form inside that process.

Know when the template needs a connected workflow

A purchase order template works well when a small team can reliably keep issued orders, revisions and receipts aligned. Review the workflow when people repeatedly ask which version is approved, when partial receipts disappear into email, or when an inventory update depends on someone copying the same data into another system.

First identify the specific handoff that is failing. You may need clearer ownership, a shared order log or a more structured system. Test any new software with your actual case packs, approval rules and a partial-delivery example rather than judging it only by a blank PO screen.

Keep the order clear from purchase to receipt

The most useful template makes the next person’s job easier. A buyer can check the price basis, a receiver can count the correct units, and the person reviewing the invoice can see what was accepted and what is still outstanding.

SimplyDepo’s purchase order management software is designed for distributors and CPG teams that need a connected purchasing workflow. If the template exposes gaps between purchasing, field activity and receiving, book a SimplyDepo demo and walk through a real order with case packs, an approval and a partial delivery. Confirm the workflow and accounting requirements your team needs before changing systems.