Sales Invoices - Field for Customer's Purchase Order Number
Adding customer’s purchase order number in the sales invoices.
Purpose: because some companies will not pay an Invoice without a PO, so it’ll make users’ workflow easier when they can search #PO to find the right invoice.

We appreciate users wanting more flexibility in the data they show on invoices. At present our teams are re-developing some of the base features across Sales with particular focus on new invoicing.
At this time, there are no plans for developing a fields for a PO number in invoicing. Focus is on existing features in invoicing.
It's good to get a renewed understanding of interest here on Product Ideas, and if there's any news we will update on this here.
In the meantime, there is a way the custom template can be edited to rename the Reference field as a 'Purchase Order Number' field - see more in the discussion here.
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Alex Serra commented
I've done some coding in my day and I can't understand why it seems to be so difficult for Xero to add more custom fields since its already part of the platform. You can literally copy and paste the code you are already using for "Reference" field.
I'm purchasing a 30 year old company with plans to operate it for another 30+ years. I really wanted to use Xero instead of QuickBooks but not having the basic functionality of adding custom fields to Invoices, Packing Slips, Contacts, etc...is, unfortunately a deal breaker. Every single one of Xero's competitors offer this functionality, it is extremely basic and troubling it was not included from the very beginning. There have been many requests by other users to add specific fields (ie PO#s) but it doesn't even need to be that hard, just give us 10 custom fields that we can name whatever we want on our advanced templates.
It appears that this functionality has been requested for years and years and years. I'm still in my trial period, but it looks like I will not be able to use Xero, and I love everything else about Xero. If you add up what I would have paid for the next 30 years, Xero just missed out on over $15,000 of revenue, now multiply that by who knows how many other customers you have lost, $30k, $90k, $200k? How much would it cost for your developers to add this feature?
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david pannell commented
This is pretty standard and required in the United States. None of my customers will pay an invoice without a purchase order number clearly defined.
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barrow Barrow commented
We are the same now , we need boxes for delivery note numbers and order numbers or we do not get paid quickly . Will need to switch to another invoicing package that offers these soon
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barrow Barrow commented
even any spare boxes would be great idea and very helpful
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Ria Lamb commented
Reference Numbers & Purchase Order Numbers are both vital for our business, especially now as many of our clients are moving to automated invoicing systems, have these two numbers separated ensures our invoices are processed correctly and not rejected.
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Hans Grootegoed commented
My two businesses have also moved to XERO, had we known this basic feature was missing we'd have reconsidered. We had this feature in our previous accounting software Infusion. My two businesses produce around 700 invoices per month, we need the customer PO on the Invoice. We also use the Reference Feild suggested as the "fix" by XERO. Come on XERO how hard can this be? We would require this field to be handled via API as well. We have integrated XERO with HubSpot and another internal system. I'm just floored that this has been ignore for so long. Hans Grootegoed - Cadpro New Zealand Ltd/Cadpro Australia Ltd
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Denise Smith commented
Further to my comment below, I noticed the "vote" number didn't increase when I voted. Not only that, the opening screen shows "31 comments". I just counted my emails (I opted to get notifications of new comments and have kept them) - 53 comments since I posted my original one, and there were many, many comments before I posted mine, so 31 is not right.
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Alex White commented
not good enough. We use the reference field as a job number, but not to be able to have a second field for client reference or PO number is very poor. I only discovered this after moving to Xero.
The reason you don't have many requests for this is that it is a deal breaker. People wont move to xero without it. you only get comments from xero customers who can sign in. ie customers that have been able to live with the status quo.
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Denise Smith commented
This has been requested for YEARS. I voted on this soon after my company started using Xero over six years ago and it had been requested years before that, and there were a lot more votes for it then (in the hundreds). I've just been able to vote again for this so votes seem to be disappearing as well, making it look less desirable than it is.
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Caroline Des-Rivieres commented
I notice this comment from @Kelly Munro in May 2022! 18 months later and nothing, what is going on?Please address this ASAP We need a reference number and a PO number so cannot edit the template.
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David Black commented
This is a fundamental business need - really disappointed Xero does not do this out of the box & clients are having to request fundamental business accounting functions from premium accounting software
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Liz Timms commented
I have only just moved to Xero and had no idea how much functionality is missing.
I thought being able to put a customer purchase order and our own sales order on an invoice would be a given.I'm coming out in a cold sweat after reading these comments.
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Simon Kemp commented
It is important that we can search by PO as well as invoice number, reference number etc.
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Luigi Liccardo commented
Fields for Customer PO Number and Job Name are crucial for invoicing. Customers use their PO number to cross reference invoices they receive. We use Job Name or Number to cross reference the invoice we send. It seems absurd that Xero invoices omit these fields from invoices.
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Paul Murray commented
Really? You cant add a PO number to the invoice template, such an easy fix! Poor from Xero!
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Darin Robinson commented
Custom free form text field in invoices.
There is a reference field but I have clients that ideally need 2 "reference" fields when dealing with a government department. The clients internal production / reference number and the govt dept Purchase Order number
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Denise Smith commented
Paul McRoberts - big ask - if you end up preferring quickbooks, could you put a comment on here about pros and cons compared to Xero, please? Xero has many good features but some things are (like this) are really irritating and I need solid info to try and convince my boss to change as this lack of PO field drives me nuts.
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Paul McRoberts commented
Kelly that's all well and good , but some of my customers want their job number and a PO number. I am trialling Quickbooks with a view to switching. I can't keep adding things manually .
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Natalie Trunley commented
This is actually insane- all big companies use a purchase order system! There are other fields that people need aswell- why can't you create something like quickbooks where you can decide how many boxes you need and what they are named?? You are losing a lot of clients because of not having a customisable invoice.
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Caroline Des-Rivieres commented
Allow me to emphasize the significance of including the PO number on the invoice, as it is specifically required for reimbursement by the NHS. Unfortunately, the reference box cannot be utilised for this purpose, as it is already allocated to another NHS reference.
It is crucial for our invoicing process to have the ability to reference the PO number on all invoices. Therefore, I sincerely urge your team to address this concern promptly and comprehensively.