Enter your idea

So to be clear, you want me as a partner/business consultant to recommend software to businesses when this issue has been here for 10 years but has yet to be planned work?

From a technical standpoint, implementing this update would be fairly simple. Xero already has the capability to send invoices with attached documents via email. A programmer could easily adapt the existing code from the invoice email process and apply it to the Purchase Order (PO) email process, with only minor modifications to accommodate PO-specific fields and processes. The core functionality is already there—it’s just a matter of extending it to POs. This should be a straightforward task, requiring minimal effort.

This idea has been here for over a decade. Wow Xero, way to make your customers feel heard and respected.

Kelly M: you said 19 months ago that Purchase Orders needs an update before this can happen. When is this happening?

The number of similar comments below speaks for itself. Quite unnerving.

This feels like a pretty basic feature. We would benefit from it.

Having the ability to attach a document to a PO is extremley crucial in my job and it is becoming extremely time consuming, having to email the PO to myself, download it and create a new email to then send the PO with the attachment I needed to send. It is very painful. When I know it could be a simple step in xero. Please implement this step as soon as possible. You could literally save me hours of work a week. (I timed it, so I knew how much extra time I am spending having to do this extra step) I don't have that time to spare. Thanks

The vast majority of our projects include art files that are going to print or going to one of our decorators for embroidery, screen printing or other methods of printing. We always attach the artwork to the PO from the beginning. Not sure why you have an attach file option if it doesn't actually attach anything that can be emailed with the PO.

It was mentioned that this is not an option currently in the works as you have other updates to focus on. I think this is a really critical one that just about any business would want the ability to do.

Hi Kelly, I was the originator of this request and am a Gold Partner of Xero. I use Xero everyday and am extremely disappointed that this isn't even on the radar. I have been waiting for so long for this to be provided and am still needing it. Is there anything that can be done to bring this up the line ie how many people do you need supporting this to get in on the radar. If you can give me numbers I can get everyone of my clients to support it and I'm sure if I put a call out to the Xero community they would help as well. Thanks I look forward to hearing from you Carolyn.

Very frustrating. Xero please update this feature asap. We need to be able to attach documents to Purchase Orders.

@ Natalie Forsythe. I wouldn't count on there being an update. Some of these ideas have been here for decades. XERO DO NOT CARE about their current customers. Only about attracting more unsuspecting customers to an inferior product with discounted fees so they can increase them in the future after they are already hooked into the software.

Hi is there any update on the above as this was from march last year? This would be highly useful for our company

I am delighted that we now have the capability to add attachments to our Purchase Orders and Quotes. However, while Quotes and Invoices offer the option to include attachments when sending, this feature is not available for Purchase Orders.

Being able to send attachments directly with Purchase Orders would significantly reduce the time and effort required, as it would eliminate the need to process the Purchase Order through Xero and then send a separate email with the necessary attachments. Implementing this feature would be incredibly beneficial and greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

For small and large businesses having this feature would be a valued advantage, not only for adding quotations but especially for contraction and railway industries wanting scope of works added to the purchase orders.
To be able to see this when receiving the purchase order would save the recipient so much time and as our client base is mainly small sub-contractors might enable them to use the same accounts system.

This will save our estimator and sales lives

We will be happy to see the attachment function for quote and po.

As the construction company, whenever we send out Po and quote, we need to attach drawing.

We are desperate for the attachment function of PO and quotes.

Thank you.

We use an API to send over PO that have an attachment, and we need to keep that fee note when creating the bill, work around is too long and slow us.

Totally with @Dean Jenkins on this one...

I'd like to add to the stated Purpose for the idea here - it's not just additional specifications that may need to be sent, it's the actual orders. Xero is not order processing software, nor should it be. It does accounting. Orders are generated by all sorts of other software and the product database needs to be integral to those systems, not the accounting software. Otherwise you're faced with running duplicate product databases, which never works.

However, as has already been pointed out here, you need to send the order and the Purchase Order from Xero together, otherwise the functional and legal integrity is lost.

You don't have to be a techie to know that there is a real block in Xero thinking here. Attaching the document to the PO is already there, as is the ability to send the PO - it makes no sense not to be able to send the PO with the attachment it already has. Just like you can for an Invoice.

I'm sure the tech department could sort this in 5 minutes. It's obviously a question of management will.

Re the response from Xero (Kelly Munro, 13/3/23):
To say that the team is focussed on updating Purchase Orders, but not doing this easy, urgent and hugely requested update, is completely nonsensical.

That response is over a year old now. Please can someone from Xero come up with something positive to say about this.

Thank you.

Kelly, What sort of timeframe is this update?

Its a shame this is not going to be done anytime soon it really makes purchase orders useless. :(
Reading all past comments it is hard to believe that something hasn't been done about this before as it looks like we all find it a critical part of purchase orders.

Couldn't agree more Sunny Gill!

People (Your paying customer base) have been requesting this for YEARS!!!!

Unfortunately, Xero don't seem to care about their current customers, they just want to make it look pretty to attract more customers. The new customers will inevitably be unhappy with the product once they find out all the basic accounting features it should have, are non-existent and there are no plans to fix the inadequacies.