Quotes - copy to purchase order
End-to-end workflow: Quote → Invoice → Purchase Order → Bills
I would like to see a more connected workflow in Xero that reflects how projects are actually delivered in practice.
Currently, quotes can be converted to invoices, but there is no ability to move from a quote into a purchase order. This creates a disconnect between customer-facing and supplier-facing processes.
A typical workflow for project-based businesses (e.g. construction, interiors, supply) is:
Quote issued to client
Quote accepted
Invoice raised to client
Purchase orders raised to suppliers based on the quote
Supplier bills received
Further invoices raised to client as required
Payments tracked across both sides
At the moment, this requires manual duplication between quotes and purchase orders, which is time-consuming and introduces risk of error.
It would be highly valuable to:
Create purchase orders directly from accepted quotes or invoices
Link quotes, invoices, purchase orders, and bills within a single job or project
Maintain a clear audit trail from sale through to cost and margin
Support staged invoicing within the same workflow
While Xero Projects provides cost tracking, it does not currently offer this end-to-end transactional flow.
This functionality would significantly improve efficiency, reduce duplication, and provide better visibility of project profitability.
Steven Macfarlane
shared this idea
Hi Steven, appreciate your feedback. We understand you’re looking for a quicker way to turn an accepted customer quote into a supplier purchase order without needing to manually recreate the details.
There is already a way to do this in Xero using the “Copy to...” option from the quote menu, which lets you copy the quote details into a new purchase order.
As this functionality is already available, I’ve updated the status of this idea to Existing Functionality and closed it for further comments and votes. If you need help using this feature, feel free to reach out to our Xero Support team.
