Fill in the order and download a print-ready .xlsx purchase order. Line totals, tax, shipping and the total are live Excel formulas, and there's an authorised-signature line at the foot.
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This purchase order template generator builds an Excel purchase order from a form in your browser, with every line amount, the subtotal, tax and the total written as Excel formulas and shipping in a cell you can change. The usual reader is the person who does the buying at a small business: a café ordering 200 takeaway boxes and 36 rolls of tape, or a workshop reordering fasteners from a new supplier who insists on a written PO before they will ship.
No field is required. Download the form empty and you get a blank template with the formulas in place and ten empty lines, which you can fill in inside Excel. The whole file is built in your browser.
The download is one sheet, named Purchase order, laid out top to bottom like this:
| Part of the sheet | What it holds |
|---|---|
| Top left | Your company name and address |
| Top right | PURCHASE ORDER, with the PO number and date under it |
| Vendor and Ship to | The supplier on the left, the delivery address on the right |
| Line items | Item (code or SKU), Description, Qty, Unit price, Amount |
| Spare lines | At least five empty lines after your items, ten lines in all at minimum, each already holding the Amount formula |
| Totals | Subtotal, the tax rate in its own cell, Tax, Shipping in its own cell, and Total |
| Terms | Your terms text |
| Sign-off | An Authorised signature line and a Date line |
The PO number is stored as text, so PO-0042 or 0042 keeps its leading zeros. Dates show as 25 Sep 2026. There are 14 currencies to choose from, and amounts round to the currency's smallest unit.
Each Amount is a formula. Here is the first line's, in a PO whose address runs to two lines:
=IF(OR(C12="",D12=""),"",ROUND(C12*D12,2))
// C12 quantity on this line
// D12 unit price on this line
// OR(...) keeps the amount blank until both are filled in
// ROUND(,2) stores the amount in whole centsRounding each line where it is calculated means the printed amounts add up to the printed subtotal, with no stray cent. The subtotal is a SUM over the whole Amount column, spare lines included, so a line you type into a spare row in Excel counts straight away. Tax is the subtotal times the rate, also rounded. Change the rate cell or the shipping cell and the total follows.
The sheet prints portrait, one page wide, with the print area set and gridlines hidden. The café order in the next section fit on one page.
This template charges tax on the goods only, and shipping is added after the tax. Whether that matches your vendor depends on the rules where the sale happens. Some US states, New York and Texas among them, tax delivery charges when the goods themselves are taxable. Others tax only the goods.
Here is the difference on the café order. The middle column is the downloaded file, checked in Excel for Mac:
| Tax on goods only (this template) | Tax on goods and shipping | |
|---|---|---|
| 200 boxes at $1.25 | $250.00 | $250.00 |
| 36 rolls of tape at $3.49 | $125.64 | $125.64 |
| Subtotal | $375.64 | $375.64 |
| Tax at 8.25% | $30.99 | $34.70 |
| Shipping | $45.00 | $45.00 |
| Total | $451.63 | $455.34 |
The right-hand column is what a vendor in a state that taxes delivery would put on the invoice: $3.71 more.
To switch, click the Tax cell in Excel. Its formula multiplies the Subtotal cell by the rate cell inside a ROUND. Add the Shipping cell to the subtotal part, so the pattern becomes ROUND((Subtotal+Shipping)*Rate,2) with your own cell references in place of the names. The total picks up the new tax by itself.
A business buying stock for resale, or one that holds a tax exemption, usually pays no sales tax at all, so set the rate to 0%. And the tax on a PO is only your estimate. The vendor's invoice charges the real figure.
The generator has no memory between orders. It makes one purchase order at a time, doesn't track the last number you used, and keeps no vendor list; the form isn't saved between visits either.
That puts it in the same place as a plain Excel template. A formula can't count upwards across files, which is why the usual answer in "auto-number my PO" threads on the Excel forums is a VBA macro that stores a counter in a hidden sheet. For a few orders a week, a simpler system works:
A number with a fixed width, like PO-0042 rather than PO-42, keeps that folder in order past PO-0999. The PO number cell holds text, so the zeros survive.
The purchase order is the first of three documents in a check. When the goods arrive, compare the delivery note with the PO (right items, right quantities). When the invoice comes, compare it with both. Accountants call this a three-way match. It catches a vendor who billed 250 boxes when you ordered 200, or charged last year's price.
It only works if the paperwork carries your PO number, which is why the default terms ask the vendor to quote it on invoices and delivery notes. Leave that sentence in.
The Terms block is also where the fields this template doesn't have should go: a required delivery date, payment terms such as net 30, and the name of whoever approved the order. Put them on separate lines in the terms box before you download.
A blank workbook gets you the same thing with more setup. Type the company, vendor and ship-to blocks at the top, then a table with Item, Description, Qty, Unit price and Amount. Put the Amount formula above in the first line and fill it down through a dozen spare rows. The subtotal is a SUM of the Amount column; tax, shipping and total go below it.
The print setup is where most home-made POs go wrong. Select the order and choose Page Layout > Print Area > Set Print Area. Set Page Layout > Width to 1 page in the Scale to Fit group, and check that Page Layout > Sheet Options > Gridlines > Print is unticked (the View tab's Gridlines box only changes the screen).
Building it yourself makes sense if you need columns this template doesn't have, such as a tax flag per line or a requested date per item.
When the vendor's invoice arrives, you may be writing one of your own for the job these goods are for: the Invoice Template Generator uses the same layout code, so the two documents match. If you order the same stock every month, the Inventory Template Generator builds a stock sheet whose Reorder column flags any item at or below its reorder level, which tells you what the next PO should contain.
Fill in the form above and click Download purchase order (.xlsx), then open the file in Excel to check it, print it or save it as a PDF. To build one by hand instead, lay out your company, vendor and ship-to blocks, a line-item table with a quantity times price formula on every row, and a SUM for the subtotal.
The buyer writes a purchase order before anything ships, to say what they want and at what price; the seller writes an invoice afterwards to ask for payment. A PO is not a bill. The vendor's invoice should quote your PO number so your accounts team can match the two.
At minimum a PO number, the date, your company, the vendor, where the goods should be delivered, each item with quantity and unit price, the total, and an authorised signature. Delivery dates and payment terms usually go in a terms section. This template has a Terms block above the signature line for them.
Excel can't do it with a formula, because a formula has no memory of the last number used; the usual forum answer is a VBA macro that stores and increments a counter. This generator makes one purchase order at a time and keeps no record of earlier numbers. Keep a list of issued POs and type the next number into the form.
It depends on where you are: some US states, including New York and Texas, tax delivery charges on taxable goods, and others don't. This template taxes the goods subtotal only. If your vendor will tax shipping, edit the Tax formula in Excel so it multiplies the subtotal plus shipping by the rate.
Yes, from Excel: use File > Save As (or Save a Copy) and choose PDF, or print to a PDF printer. The generator downloads an .xlsx, but the print area and one-page-wide scaling are already set, so the PDF comes out as the order page.
Open the downloaded file and use Insert > Pictures to place the logo beside your company name. The generator has no logo upload.