A sales order is the confirmed order you record once a customer commits to buy. It captures what they have agreed to take, at what price, and where it ships to, so you have a firm order to work from before you invoice and deliver. A sales rep, a salesperson, or the owner usually raises sales orders.
A sales order is optional and, on its own, posts nothing: no ledger entry, no customer balance, and no stock is issued. You do not need one to sell, because you can go straight to an Invoice. Raise one when you want to lock in an accepted order, track it line by line as it is invoiced, and (if you turn the setting on) hold the stock the order commits.
You can raise a sales order fresh, or convert an accepted Quotation into one. Either way, when it is time to bill, you convert the sales order into an Invoice, which books the revenue, the receivable, and the stock issue. The order tracks how much of it has been invoiced.
Find sales orders under Sales & Customer → Sales Order.
Before you start
- The customer you are ordering for must exist in Customers. Picking the customer pulls in its billing and shipping addresses, its default sales rep, and its pricing (any wholesale price or default discount).
- Each line orders a product. At least one product line is required to save.
- A location can be set on the header and per line. The header location, if you set one, prefills each line. It is also the location whose stock is reserved, if reservations are on.
- A sales rep and a branch can be attributed to the order for reporting. Both are optional unless your template marks them required.
- You need the Create Sales Orders permission, granted per user under Permissions. List Sales Orders lets you open the screen, and Edit, Delete, View, and Print Sales Orders cover the rest. To convert a sales order you also need Create Invoices. See Users, seats & permissions.
A sales order is optional and posts nothing
Nothing in your accounts moves when you save a sales order, and you never have to raise one: you can sell straight from an Invoice with no order behind it. The customer balance shown on the form is for reference only; the order does not add to it. Revenue, the receivable, and the stock issue happen only when you invoice.
Raise a sales order
Open a new sales order
Go to Sales & Customer → Sales Order and select New Sales Order. The sales order form opens full screen.
Check the template
The Template picker sits in the toolbar at the top of the form. ZyncLedger pre-selects your default sales order template, so you can usually leave it. The template decides which fields the form shows and how the printed order looks; switch it here if you keep more than one layout. See Print templates for how these are set up.
Choose the customer
Select the Customer (required). ZyncLedger fills the Billing Address and Shipping Address from the customer's record, sets the Sales Rep to the customer's default, and prices the lines you add from the customer's pricing (any wholesale price or default discount). You can edit either address on the order; both are optional. The customer's current Balance shows below the field for reference.
If the customer has open quotations, ZyncLedger offers to pull their outstanding lines onto this order (see Convert a quotation into a sales order below).
Set the sales order date
Enter the SO Date (required). This is the date of the order.
Set the transaction number
The SO Number identifies the order. How you fill it depends on the number mode for sales orders:
- Automatic (the default): the field shows Auto-generated and ZyncLedger assigns the next number when you save. Leave it alone.
- Manual: you type the number yourself. It is required and must be unique across all transactions.
See Document numbering to change the mode or set up a multi-series numbering scheme.
Add the order details (optional)
Fill any of these that help:
Field What it does SO Reference Your own reference for the order, such as the customer's purchase-order number. Location The location the order is for. It prefills the location on each line, which you can still change per line, and is the location whose stock is reserved when reservations are on. Branch The branch to attribute the order to, for reporting. Sales Rep The rep to credit for the order. Prefilled from the customer's default. Add the order lines
For each item on the order, fill a row in the items table:
Column What it does Product (required) The item being ordered. Selecting it fills the description, price, and any tax and discount defaults, and sets the quantity to 1. Description The line text, prefilled from the product. Edit it for this order if needed. Location The location this line is fulfilled from. Defaults from the header location. Quantity (required) How many units are ordered. Must be greater than zero. Price (required) The unit selling price. Prefilled from the customer's price for the product; use the lookup beside the field to pull a recent or agreed price for this product and customer. Discount % / Discount Amount A line discount, entered either way. The amount cannot exceed the line's subtotal. Tax % / Tax Amount A tax to add to the line, entered either way. Tax Inclusive Whether the price already includes the tax (Inclusive) or the tax is added on top (Exclusive). Total The line value, calculated for you. A blank row waits at the bottom of the table, so a new line appears as you start filling the last one. To remove a line, select the trash icon at the end of its row. The Summary on the right totals the Total Items, Total Qty, Total Amount, Total Discount, Total Tax, and Final Amount as you type.
Add sales order notes (optional)
Use Sales Order Notes at the foot of the form for terms, delivery instructions, or any message to the customer. If you keep standard wording, pick it from the note selector to autofill; a note marked default fills in on its own for a new order.
Save
Select Save to save the order, Save & New to save and start another, Save & Close to save and close the form, or Save & Print to save and print this one. The order saves with a status of Open.
What it records (and what it does not post)
Saving a sales order stores the order and its lines. It does not post to the ledger, does not change the customer's balance, and does not issue any stock. There is no accounting effect at this stage by design: a sales order is a confirmed order, not a sale.
The order feeds the rest of the sales chain:
- When it is time to bill, you convert the order into an Invoice. The invoice books the revenue and tax, records the receivable, and issues the stock. So a sales order you invoice needs no separate document to post the sale.
- Each invoice fills in the invoiced quantity on the matching line and moves the order's status forward automatically (see below).
Reserving stock (optional)
A sales order can reserve the stock it commits, but only if the reservation setting is on. It is off by default. Turn it on under Settings → Inventory settings → Stock reservation, with Reserve quantity for open sales orders.
A reservation holds stock but posts nothing
Reserving is operational only: it never posts to the ledger, and it does not reduce your on-hand quantity or change any stock value. It only lowers the available quantity, where available is on-hand minus reserved, so the amount an open order has committed is set aside and not double-sold. Reserved quantity shows per location and in the inventory balance reports.
When the setting is on, saving an open sales order reserves each line's unfulfilled quantity (its ordered quantity that has not yet been invoiced) at the line's location. As you invoice the order, the reserved amount drops by what you invoice, and it is released entirely when the order is fully invoiced or deleted. The actual stock leaves inventory when you invoice, not when you reserve.
Order status
A sales order shows one status, and ZyncLedger sets it for you as the order is invoiced. You never set it by hand.
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Open | The order is confirmed and nothing has been invoiced yet. This is the status of every new order. |
| Partial | Some of the ordered quantity has been invoiced, but not all of it. |
| Closed | Every line has been fully invoiced. The order is complete. |
| Deleted | The order has been deleted (see below). It is kept for the record but its amounts are zeroed. |
Convert a quotation into a sales order
You can build a sales order from one or more accepted quotations instead of typing it from scratch. There are two ways in:
From the quotations list
On the Quotations list, tick each quote you are confirming (select more than one only if they are for the same customer), then select Create Sales Order. The order opens pre-filled with the customer and the outstanding lines from the quotes you picked.
From a new sales order
Open a new sales order and choose the Customer. If that customer has open quotations, ZyncLedger prompts you to fold their outstanding lines into the order. Pick the lines you want and adjust the quantities.
A line pulled from a quotation is capped at that quote's remaining quantity, so you cannot order more than was quoted on that line. You do not have to confirm a quotation in one go: pull part now and the rest later, and the quote's status tracks the progress.
Convert a sales order into an invoice
When it is time to bill the order, invoice it from the sales orders list:
Select the orders to invoice
On the Sales Orders list, tick the checkbox on each order you are invoicing. Select more than one only if they are for the same customer.
Create the invoice
Select Create Invoice. The invoice form opens pre-filled with the customer and the uninvoiced lines from the orders you picked. Adjust the quantities if needed, then save. See Invoice for the full billing steps.
Invoicing fills in the invoiced quantity on each order line and moves the order to Partial or Closed. You do not have to invoice an order in one go: invoice part now and the rest later, and the status tracks the progress.
Tips & gotchas
Quotation, sales order, or straight to an invoice?
Raise a Quotation to put a price in front of a customer before they commit. Use a sales order to confirm an accepted order and (optionally) reserve the stock before you invoice. Go straight to an Invoice when the sale is already agreed and you are billing it now. Each stage is optional; you can start at whichever one fits the deal.
Duplicate an existing order
To reuse an order, open its row menu on the list and select Copy to Sales Order. ZyncLedger opens a new order pre-filled from the old one, with a fresh number and the invoiced quantities reset. This needs the Copy to Sales Order permission.
Invoiced lines cannot be shrunk or reassigned
Once a line has an invoiced quantity, you cannot reduce its quantity below what has been invoiced, change its product, or change its location. Edit the order before you invoice against it, or correct the Invoice first.
You can only delete an order with nothing invoiced
Deleting a sales order sets its status to Deleted and zeroes its amounts; the record is kept so its history and number stay intact, and any stock it reserved is released. ZyncLedger blocks the deletion if any line has been invoiced (reverse those invoices first), or if the order's date falls in a period closed by the Ledger close date. Deleting an order that came from a quotation gives that quote's quantity back, so the quotation reopens for reuse.
Related
- Quotation is the priced offer a sales order can be built from. It is the step before a sales order.
- Customers are the parties you order for, and carry the addresses, default sales rep, and pricing that prefill the order.
- Products & Items are the lines you order.
- Warehouses & Locations are where lines are fulfilled from and where stock is reserved.
- Sales Reps are credited on the order for reporting.
- Invoice bills the customer and books the revenue, the receivable, and the stock issue. It is the next step after a sales order.
- Document numbering controls the order's transaction number.
