# Create and manage purchase orders

> Create a purchase order for a production order, open or download it, export its material order details, and delete it.

Source: https://docs.vestislabs.com/production/purchase-order-manage/

A **purchase order (PO)** is the document you send to the factory for a production order. A production order can have several purchase orders. One is generated when you click **Create Order & Generate PO**, and you can create more at any time.

**Where to find it:** Production → Order Management → three-dot menu → Purchase Orders
**Requires:** permission `VIEW_BRAND_PRODUCTION`

## Where to find the purchase orders

There are two ways to the same list:

- On the **Production Orders** page, select the three-dot action button on the order's row and click **Purchase Orders**. The list opens in a dialog.
- Open the order with **View/Edit** and click the **Purchase Order** tab.

The list is titled **Purchase Orders for** followed by the production number. Each row shows the **Purchase Order No.**, **Created At** and **Actions**. If the order has none, the list shows **No purchase orders found**: "You don't have any purchase orders yet. Start by creating a new purchase order."

## Create a purchase order

1. **Open the purchase orders**
   Open the **Purchase Order** tab of the order, or the **Purchase Orders** dialog from the three-dot menu.

   ![The Purchase Orders dialog of an order with the New Purchase Order button and one purchase order in the list](https://docs.vestislabs.com/assets/production/assets/purchase-order-manage/60-purchase-orders.webp)

2. **Click "New Purchase Order"**
   Click **New Purchase Order** at the top right of the list, or in the empty state.

3. **Check the production details**
   The **Create Purchase Order** dialog says "Create a purchase order for production" followed by the production number. It shows the **Production Number**, the **Category** and the **Supplier** of the order.

   ![The Create Purchase Order dialog showing the production number, category and supplier of the order](https://docs.vestislabs.com/assets/production/assets/purchase-order-manage/61-create-dialog.webp)

4. **Click "Create Purchase Order"**
   Click **Create Purchase Order**. The button reads **Creating...** while it works.

The new purchase order appears in the list.

## Open or download a purchase order

1. **Open the actions menu**
   Select the three-dot action button in the **Actions** column of the purchase order.

   ![The actions menu of a purchase order with View / Download, Export Material Order Details and Delete](https://docs.vestislabs.com/assets/production/assets/purchase-order-manage/62-actions.webp)

2. **Click "View / Download"**
   The purchase order document opens in a new browser tab. See [The purchase order document](https://docs.vestislabs.com/production/purchase-order-document/) to print it or save it as a PDF.

   ![View / Download highlighted in the actions menu, the choice that opens the document in a new tab](https://docs.vestislabs.com/assets/production/assets/purchase-order-manage/63-view-download.webp)

## Export the material order details

Select the three-dot action button of a purchase order and click **Export Material Order Details**. The platform downloads the material order details of that purchase order as an Excel file. The action is disabled while a download is running.

## Delete a purchase order

1. **Click "Delete"**
   Select the three-dot action button of the purchase order and click **Delete**, shown in red.

   ![Delete, shown in red at the bottom of the actions menu of a purchase order](https://docs.vestislabs.com/assets/production/assets/purchase-order-manage/64-delete.webp)

2. **Confirm**
   The **Delete Purchase Order** dialog asks: "Are you sure you want to delete this purchase order? This action cannot be undone." Click **Delete** to confirm, or **Cancel** to keep it.

   ![The Delete Purchase Order confirmation with the Cancel and Delete buttons](https://docs.vestislabs.com/assets/production/assets/purchase-order-manage/65-confirm-delete.webp)

> [!WARNING]
> Deleting a purchase order cannot be undone. The production order itself is not deleted.